board backs museum expansion

About 100 Upper West Siders skipped the Mets season finale to watch a different rivalry play out between the American Museum of Natural History and community members opposed to its proposal for the Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation.

The board approved the museum’s landmarks application by a vote of 37 to 1, with 3 abstaining. Citing their belief in the importance of science education and the value of cultural institutions like the museum, board members were generally in favor of the Gilder Center. Acknowledging opponents’ complaints and adding some of their own, several members expressed excitement for the expansion and credited museum officials for working with the public to hear their thoughts.

Most members of the public who spoke expressed vehement disapproval.

The museum has a long way to go before construction can begin. Though the board approved the landmarks application, which addresses the new building’s design and its quarter-acre intrusion in Theodore Roosevelt Park, it will still have to be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Committee before the rest of the process can move along.

The museum’s plan to take up 11,000 square feet of Theodore Roosevelt Park has been a major source of community opposition, as many neighbors and residents who live in the area resent the loss of what feels like private green space. Cary Goodman, an outspoken Gilder Center opponent, said the museum “is using the concept of scientific education as a rationale for ripping down trees, for fouling the air, for violating the principles of anthropology.”

Other community members listed concerns ranging from the sustainability of the expansion, the ways in which the center will be used, the possibility of the museum expanding further into the park and the design of the new building.

Much to the dismay of those who have been fighting this project since it was announced over a year ago, State Senator Brad Hoylman, Council Member Helen Rosenthal and a representative for Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer all expressed support for the Gilder Center.

Several more supporters, including the Columbus Avenue BID and the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, also backed the new facility.

“Our children have grown up going to this museum hundreds of times,” said a resident and father whose apartment faces the future construction site. “I just want to say that we’re in support of it as a family on the Upper West Side. Its museum and the educational opportunities that we’ve gotten to take part in have changed our life as a family.”

Much of the board’s discussion reflected confusion about two proposed motions. The board added language requesting that architect Jeanne Gang consider using different building materials, but a motion to ask the museum to consider a different plan to circulate visitors – one that would minimize disturbing park users – failed.

“The architect [should] reconsider the material of the back side of the Gilder Center so they are consistent with the adjacent back sides of the courtyard of the campus,” said Page Cowley, who proposed the motion regarding building materials out of a desire to avoid the use of plaster. Things got tense when parks committee chair Jay Adolf disagreed, saying the motion was irrelevant to the purview of the night’s topic.

Other board members commented on the potential for added traffic congestion on Columbus Avenue, questioned the amount of the Gilder Center that will be used to host private events and lamented that the process prevented the board from being able to consider the entirety of the project all at once.

The expansion plan will next go before the Landmarks Preservation Commission next Tuesday, Oct. 11.