Board 8 Backs Away From Central Park Tennis Bubble Plan

Shifting from its initial support, Community Board 8"s parks committee decided to wait before taking a position on a proposal to install bubbles over the Central Park tennis courts during winter months. The resolution, issued at an April 15 committee meeting, also requested â??the speedy receipt of additional information from the Parks Department. The proposal first came before Board 8 in February 2009. At that time, the committee supported the bubbles in â??concept and approved the Parks Department"s plans to â??hire an outside organization to develop, maintain and operate the proposed indoor facility in Central Park. But after more details of the plan emerged in recent months and Community Board 7, across the park, expressed reservations, Board 8 asked to review the proposal again. â??I am thinking that the resolution that passed in "09 was probably passed in haste and in error, said Board 8 parks committee member Michele Birnbam. Birnbam also expressed qualms about the wording of the 2009 resolution, which stated: â??Any final CB8 approval will be contingent upon the bubbles using opaque materials that would prevent the courts" lighting from spilling into Central Park. That made it sound as if the board"s only concern was the prevention of light pollution, ignoring the other effects the bubbles would have on the community. The proposal calls for a 15-year concession to construct four, 35-foot opaque bubbles over all but two of the courts, which would be used to store equipment. That equipment includes two generators that would provide light, heat and compressed air to keep the bubbles inflated, as well as four 2,300-gallon diesel fuel tanks that would power the generators. Currently, the Parks Department allows free play on the courts during the off-season. Bubble construction would not affect the summer tennis season: The project would begin mid-November 2010 and end late March 2011. Once the basic bubble structure has been added, it could be converted quickly for indoor or outdoor play. The most common concerns about the plan have been the increased fees, which would range from $30 to $100 per hour (by comparison, the hourly rates at Alley Pond Tennis Center in Queens range from $25 to $58 per hour, and indoor rates at Prospect Park in Brooklyn only go as high as $70 per hour); unsightly 35-foot-high bubbles; and adverse environmental effects from the diesel generators. Mel Wymore, chair of Board 7, attended the April 15 meeting and said she also thought the review process for the proposal ought to be slowed down. â??It is about the taking of public property and making it private, and that is a consideration that really demands a public process that is much more involved than what has taken place here, Wymore said during the public comment section of the meeting. â??At face value, tennis in the park sounds great. But when you really think about it, it is more like putting a Post-It note on a Picasso. You really have to think about what the impacts of this are long term, what precedents it sets and what are the underlying rationales for making this happen. Board 8, citing the lack of open space in the neighborhood, recently voted against a similar Parks Department proposal for a year-round tennis bubble at the Queensboro Oval, under the 59th Street Bridge. The courts there are currently only covered in the winter, with softball teams using the space during warmer months. Last week, the Parks Department sided with the board and decided to keep that space open during summer months.