Image via petition.

More than 1,000 people have signed an online petition urging the city to rethink a redesign of the Lasker Pool and rink in the northern section of the park. The $150 million project reimagines the entire Northeast section of the park, attempting to better connect various natural areas and upgrade the current pool and ice rink. The groundbreaking is planned for spring 2021.

A rendering.

But the petitioners worry that the new pool and rink will be too small for the growing population that lives near that section of the park, and result in fewer people being able to play hockey in the winter. “I’m at Harlem Meer almost every single day and love the prospect of an upgrade but a good friend shared concerns about the details,” wrote Kim Watkins in a message sharing the petition on Twitter. “Shrinking the pool is NOT acceptable! ‬⁩That’s not equity. Uptown families need MORE space not less.”

The petition says that the pool will be shrunk to less than two-thirds of the current size and removes the wading pool for kids. In the winter, the ice area in the winter will shrink from two rinks to one.

Any plan that downsizes the ice skating facilities at Lasker will penalize all of the Central Park ice hockey players, their opponents and their fans.  The only two other locations for competitive ice hockey in Manhattan — Chelsea Piers and Riverbank State Park — are currently operating at or near full capacity with no plans to expand once Lasker closes.  Removing the ice hockey location at Lasker in Central Park slashes ice hockey and ice skating as affordable recreational amenities for present and future generations to enjoy in New York City’s most well-known park.”

But the Central Park Conservancy, which is footing two-thirds of the bill for the project, says that the petitioners have some numbers wrong — and that the logistics of upgrading a very outdated facility make it impossible to keep the current dimensions. The conservancy responded to the petition in a point-by-point explanation below:

• The existing facility is failing and cannot be renovated. It must be replaced.
• • Ever since Lasker was constructed, chronic flooding—a result of diverting the historic watercourse into a culvert—has had a devastating impact on the site and the facility.
  • The rink infrastructure is failing, and the refrigerant it uses is banned—it can no longer be manufactured or imported as of January 2020; the rink will not be viable in the near-term when the refrigerant runs out.
  • The pool bottom is failing, and the pool leaks chronically and excessively. The heaving of the pool bottom during the process of freezing it for skating has compromised its integrity. It is beyond repair.

• A pool as large as the existing one cannot be constructed with as building as small

The existing facility does not comply with current code and operational requirements for support space and amenities (toilets, showers, staff space, etc.), nor with current federal accessibility standards or local sustainability standards required of new public buildings. A new facility is required to comply with current codes and standards—including NYC Building Code, NYC Health Code, ADA, and NYC Energy Code, among others—which requires more space.

• We have designed the largest possible pool and rink that can meet current requirements and function on the site

The new facility is designed to provide the largest possible pool and rink that can fit on the site given (1) current code and operational requirements, and (2) the need to restore the disrupted connection between the Loch and Meer, which has caused flooding of the facility ever since it was constructed.

• The new pool and rink will be more than 75% the size of the existing (not less than two-thirds, as rumored)

It will still be larger than an Olympic size pool, and one of the largest public pools in the city. It will continue to be one of the few pools in the city to accommodate 50-meter lap swimming.

• The existing facility is one pool that converts to a rink (not a “Pool and Rinks Complex”)

• • The existing facility was designed as a single sheet of ice. The current operator uses fixed partitions to divide it into two areas for concurrent uses, diminishing the recreational skating experience.
  • Like the existing facility, the new design includes one sheet of ice. Unlike the existing, it will provide a full-size rink for recreational skating, which will also be able to accommodate regulation hockey (the existing rink provides for neither).
  • The new rink can also be divided using deployable partitions to accommodate concurrent programming.

• The wading pool will be replaced by a splash pad, expanding water play opportunities for young children
• • A splash pad is being provided instead of a wading pool because the Parks Department, like many municipalities, has moved away from providing wading pools due to increasing health and safety concerns and requirements, and has begun converting existing wading pools to splash pads.
  • Splash pads have the benefit of significantly expanding the season of use (because they don’t require lifeguards), serving a much broader age-range, and being universally accessible.
  • Children learning to swim may use the main pool with an adult, as does Parks Aquatics staff for their Learn-to-Swim programs.

The conservancy also sent the following statement.

“The project is designed to improve the quality of life for the millions of Park users who will benefit from this major redevelopment in the Park’s north end by repairing the damaged historic landscape and restoring the disrupted stream course between the North Woods and the Harlem Meer, which has caused flooding of the current facility ever since it was constructed in the 1960s. The failing facility must be completely replaced, as it is beyond repair. The new facility has been designed to provide the largest pool/rink possible on the site while complying with today’s codes and restoring the natural water flow between the Loch and Meer. Unlike the existing facility, the new facility will be open and accessible to the local community year-round.”

The Parks Department also sent the following response: “The most important aspect of this transformative project will be our ability to create a place that provides the millions who visit, especially the surrounding community, with a world-class facility that is more welcoming and can better serve all who come to the Harlem Meer for generations to come.”