UWS garden land swap near done
4/11/2017
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BY SARAH NELSON PUBLISHED OCT 4, 2016 AT 4:08 PM (UPDATED OCT 4, 2016)
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The agreement would reduce the size of La Perla but keep it on two adjacent lots
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Parks and barks
A pending land swap would allow Manhattan Valley community gardeners to keep roughly twothirds of their plots at La Perla garden on West 105th Street. Photo: Sarah Nelson
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A land swap agreement that would allow Manhattan Valley community gardeners to cultivate on two contiguous lots awaits just the consent of the city’s Economic Development Corp. http://www.westsidespirit.com/localnews/20161004/uwsgardenlandswapneardone
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4/11/2017
UWS garden land swap near done | Manhattan, New York, NY | Local News
About a year ago, the owners of two roughly 17foot by 100foot lots — the nonprofit Manhattan Land Trust, which owns the easternmost lot, and two neighborhood families, which together own the middle of the garden’s three lots — agreed in principle to swap plots. But a deed restriction for the easternmost lot that calls for it to “be used in perpetuity for open space purposes” complicated matters. For the exchange to go forward it needs approval from the EDC, meaning that the restriction must in effect piggyback on the swap.
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A subsequent endorsement of the agreement by Community Board 7 and Councilman Mark Levine has since bolstered the chances for ratification by the EDC of an “unusual process,” the director of the Trust for Public Land’s New York City Program, Andrew Stone, said. “They OK’d the concept and said they would cooperate,” Stone said. “They understood what we wanted to accomplish.” The easternmost lot was sold in 1999 by the EDC to the Trust for Public Land. It was conveyed to the Manhattan Land Trust about six years ago. The trade would allow the gardeners at La Perla, just east of Columbus Avenue, to continue to tend to dozens of roughly fourfoot by eightfoot raised beds as they have since the mid1990s, albeit on arable land reduced by about onethird. The gardeners received permission from the two families — Elizabeth and Douglas Kellner and Lizabeth and Martin Sostre — to use the middle lot about 1995. But a steadily increasing tax bill on the lot — the families now pay nearly $16,000 in annual property taxes — convinced the families to sell the lot, Kellner said. La Perla’s fate had been uncertain since spring 2015, when the two families decided to sell the 17foot by 100foot property they purchased for $500 at public auction in the late 1970s. The sale of the lot, now assessed at about $350,000 — and its likely development — would have made it especially difficult for the gardeners to salvage their venture on two essentially separate lots.
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The holdup gave the gardeners an additional season at the garden. Liz Hall, decadeold La Perla member, said the longer the garden remains a whole entity, the better. “(The swap) is obviously a very sad thing for La Perla, but we recognize that a lot of gardens just disappear altogether,” she said. “At least this way we get to keep the garden. It’s important for the neighborhood to have these green spaces. Levine, who represents the district, agreed, but called a swap the best possible outcome. “It’s a loss to lose green space like this. There’s no way to sugarcoat it,” he said last year. But “to have split the property down the middle would have been devastating.” La Perla, translating literally to ‘The Pearl,” exists as a jewel to the community. Once a haven for crime, the neighborhood has undergone a renaissance in the last few decades. The garden’s website describes La Perla as an “inspiration and a way of life.” The green space is now home to murals, benches, personal garden plots and a plethora of flora and fauna. Concerts are often held on the small, wooden stage located in the corner of the plot.
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UWS garden land swap near done | Manhattan, New York, NY | Local News
News
Columns\OpEd
Milestones
Out & About
City Arts
Food & Drink
Voices
Property & Business
Letters to the Editor
UWS garden land swap near done
SEARCH
BY SARAH NELSON PUBLISHED OCT 4, 2016 AT 4:08 PM (UPDATED OCT 4, 2016)
ShareThis
The agreement would reduce the size of La Perla but keep it on two adjacent lots
Photos
MOST READ
Parks and barks
A pending land swap would allow Manhattan Valley community gardeners to keep roughly twothirds of their plots at La Perla garden on West 105th Street. Photo: Sarah Nelson
‘Citizen Jane’ documentary profiles urban activist Virtually Professional Virtually Professional Textile art in the cathedral
A land swap agreement that would allow Manhattan Valley community gardeners to cultivate on two contiguous lots awaits just the consent of the city’s Economic Development Corp. http://www.westsidespirit.com/localnews/20161004/uwsgardenlandswapneardone
‘Citizen Jane’ documentary profiles urban activist The Earring of Madame…X 1/4
4/11/2017
UWS garden land swap near done | Manhattan, New York, NY | Local News
About a year ago, the owners of two roughly 17foot by 100foot lots — the nonprofit Manhattan Land Trust, which owns the easternmost lot, and two neighborhood families, which together own the middle of the garden’s three lots — agreed in principle to swap plots. But a deed restriction for the easternmost lot that calls for it to “be used in perpetuity for open space purposes” complicated matters. For the exchange to go forward it needs approval from the EDC, meaning that the restriction must in effect piggyback on the swap.
Impressions and opinions Raising the baton Surrogate's Court Notice
MOST COMMENT ED
A subsequent endorsement of the agreement by Community Board 7 and Councilman Mark Levine has since bolstered the chances for ratification by the EDC of an “unusual process,” the director of the Trust for Public Land’s New York City Program, Andrew Stone, said. “They OK’d the concept and said they would cooperate,” Stone said. “They understood what we wanted to accomplish.” The easternmost lot was sold in 1999 by the EDC to the Trust for Public Land. It was conveyed to the Manhattan Land Trust about six years ago. The trade would allow the gardeners at La Perla, just east of Columbus Avenue, to continue to tend to dozens of roughly fourfoot by eightfoot raised beds as they have since the mid1990s, albeit on arable land reduced by about onethird. The gardeners received permission from the two families — Elizabeth and Douglas Kellner and Lizabeth and Martin Sostre — to use the middle lot about 1995. But a steadily increasing tax bill on the lot — the families now pay nearly $16,000 in annual property taxes — convinced the families to sell the lot, Kellner said. La Perla’s fate had been uncertain since spring 2015, when the two families decided to sell the 17foot by 100foot property they purchased for $500 at public auction in the late 1970s. The sale of the lot, now assessed at about $350,000 — and its likely development — would have made it especially difficult for the gardeners to salvage their venture on two essentially separate lots.
Fighting for pocket parks | Manhattan, New York, NY | Local News
1 comment · 1 week ago Columbia unfurls Manhattanville campus | Manhattan, New York, NY | Local News
1 comment · 1 week ago Jimmy Breslin’s journey
2 comments · 2 weeks ago Crime Watch | Manhattan, New York, NY | Crime Watch
1 comment · 4 weeks ago
Manhattan West Side ... 630 likes
Like Page
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Be the first of your friends to like this
The holdup gave the gardeners an additional season at the garden. Liz Hall, decadeold La Perla member, said the longer the garden remains a whole entity, the better. “(The swap) is obviously a very sad thing for La Perla, but we recognize that a lot of gardens just disappear altogether,” she said. “At least this way we get to keep the garden. It’s important for the neighborhood to have these green spaces. Levine, who represents the district, agreed, but called a swap the best possible outcome. “It’s a loss to lose green space like this. There’s no way to sugarcoat it,” he said last year. But “to have split the property down the middle would have been devastating.” La Perla, translating literally to ‘The Pearl,” exists as a jewel to the community. Once a haven for crime, the neighborhood has undergone a renaissance in the last few decades. The garden’s website describes La Perla as an “inspiration and a way of life.” The green space is now home to murals, benches, personal garden plots and a plethora of flora and fauna. Concerts are often held on the small, wooden stage located in the corner of the plot.
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