<< Back
Landmarks
Request for Support from Central Park Conservancy for a regrading and accessibility enhancement project of the Dairy Access Path in Central Park
At the regularly scheduled monthly Community Board Five meeting on Thursday, May 14, 2020, the following resolution passed with a vote of 41 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining:
WHEREAS, Central Park was designated a scenic landmark by the Landmark Preservation Commission in 1974, located in Manhattan and bounded by 59th Street, 110th Street, 55h Avenue and Central Park West, constructed between 1853 and 1876 by famed landscape architects Olmsted and Vaux; and
WHEREAS, The Dairy, located at 65th Street, serves as a general visitor center for Central Park and provides information on the Park’s design, history, events and programs; and
WHEREAS, The Dairy is an original element in Central Park, designed by Vaux and erected in 1870, with a combination of architectural styles characterized as “Victorian Gothic,” including a loggia made of wood with geometric gingerbread borders; and
WHEREAS, The Central Park Conservancy (“CPC”) has submitted a request for support for a project to rebuild the Dairy access path and the crosswalk to provide ADA accessibility and improved integration into the landscape; and
WHEREAS, The CPC will retain the original 14’-0” width of the original Dairy access path in its adjusted location and will add an ADA-compliant ramp with steel low profile railings adjacent to the path to provide accessibility; and
WHEREAS, The CPC will protect and retain the existing landscaping adjacent to the rebuilt path and new ADA ramp; and
WHEREAS, The CPC also proposes to replace in-kind the bluestone paving bands in the loggia and to install brick pavers in the loggia in a herringbone pattern; and
WHEREAS, The Dairy access path renovation project has a budget of approximately $1 million and is completely funded from private sources; and
WHEREAS, The Dairy access path renovation project is expected to begin shortly and be completed by Spring 2021, with park users directed to an alternate site during the work; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five finds that the Dairy access path renovation project as proposed by the CPC will be beneficial to the community and is complementary to the existing landscape and architecture in the spirit of Olmstead and Vaux’s design; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends approval of the request for support from Central Park Conservancy for a regrading and accessibility enhancement project of the Dairy Access Path in Central Park.