Senior center must be green

Controversial plans for a new senior center in Central Park narrowly passed some of their last hurdles this week, as the City Planning Commission made votes necessary for the center to be built. But in one concession to opponents’ arguments, a majority of commissioners managed to require that the center be an environmentally friendly building.

Commissioners voted 5-2 to approve a favorable report on the environmental impact of using five acres of Central Park for the complex. But the actual permit to use the land only passed 4-3. And in another 4-3 vote, they required the center be built as a certified green building.

The report, prepared by a consultant with the help of city staff, stated that concerns about traffic, noise, open space and other such problems were either negligible or, like bird habitat that could be created elsewhere, could be made up through mitigation efforts. A separate vote stated that the one unavoidable impact, its aesthetic effect on the surrounding area, was worth the benefit of the center.

“We are definitely taking open space,” commission Chairman John Scandura said. “But the statement says we are making a value judgment here. We are sacrificing open space because we have a need.”

Opponents of the project were not convinced.

“Aesthetics have a significant impact to the core of park,” said Mindy White, who led the Save Central Park group that unsuccessfully fought the ballot initiative that called for the senior center. “Aren’t parks all about the views?”

White also said the effects of noise and displacement of habitat were bigger problems than portrayed in the report.

Those who had fought the project did gain one victory: requiring the center be built to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards of the U.S. Green Building Council, rather than just encouraging them. Staff estimated extra costs would be about $330,100 for LEED certification or a little more than double that for the higher LEED Gold certification, compared to the roughly $23 million estimated cost of the center.

Those who voted against requiring green building said they still supported the idea but wished to give the City Council the final say.

Getting such a rating for the building would be at least some consolation for the loss of public space, said Commissioner Elizabeth Shier-Burnett, who opposed building the center.

“If we’re taking a park away, open space from our children’s children’s children, for a segment of our population, the very least we can do is make it LEED-certified and as green as possible,” she said.

The plans have 10 days to be appealed to the City Council, which is widely expected to happen. The council would then have its own chance to look at both the environmental impact and the permit for land use.