Community Board rejects Aquifer Signs

By [Colleen Curry] While community boards from Harlem to Bryant Park have celebrated plans for new signs commemorating one of New York"s hidden treasures, a board on the Upper East Side has overwhelmingly rejected the Parks Department proposal. Community Board 8, covering 59th Street to 96th Street, from Fifth Avenue to Roosevelt Island, passed a resolution last Wednesday formally rejecting a plan to install signs celebrating Old Croton Aqueduct, the main source of New York"s first clean water drinking system. Two of the planned 13 signs that would be installed along park pathways lie in Board 8"s jurisdiction. Community Boards 5 and 7, which also oversee land that would be affected by the plan, approved the proposal, along with the Public Design Commission and the Central Park Conservancy, according to Parks Department spokesperson Philip Abramson. The department hopes to install the signs in the fall of 2011. â??This project is important because the Old Croton Aqueduct was the first system to bring potable water to New York City, said Therese Braddick, the deputy commissioner of capital projects for the Parks Department, in a statement. â??Much of the aqueduct is located directly underneath Parks properties and we hope to promote public knowledge of this â??wonder of the world," as it was acclaimed when it first opened in the 1840s. Members of the board cited objections to the signs" height, at 7-and-a-half feet tall, calling it intrusive to the park"s natural landscape, according to Peggy Price, the co-chair of the board"s parks committee. Opponents also worried about the addition of relatively unimportant signs to the landmark site. â??Some of the concern was about having unnecessary signage in the park, Price said about the board"s vote. â??The Old Croton Aqueduct is linked to the park and the reservoir, but some members felt the system was not a large part of what the park has and represents. Price said that the board"s earlier recommendations to the department for modifications to the signs, including a reduction in size, were not adopted. The signs, designed by landscape architecture firm Nancy Owens Studios, contain three panels including a map, a short history of the aqueduct and site specifics of the particular locations of the signs. â??The overarching reason is that this is a landmarked park, and there should be a very important reason for putting stuff in there, Price said. The Parks Department will present their plan to the Bryant Park business improvement district and to the Landmarks Preservation Commission next. If Community Board 8 remains opposed to the plan when the Parks Department seeks final approval from the PDC, they can present public testimony to the commission at that time, Abramson said.