Committee on Parks and Recreation meeting
April 1, 2026, 11:00 AM
The Committee on Parks and Recreation held hearings on four parks-related bills: a map of trails on parkland (Int 0577), a study on increasing green space across community districts (Int 0740), a citywide wildlife management plan (Int 0806), and a cool pavement pilot project in city parks (Int 0805). No votes were taken.
What was discussed
- Committee on Parks and Recreation called to order The Sergeant-at-Arms opened the April 1, 2026 hearing and, after a brief delay, Chairperson Ty Hankerson called the Committee on Parks and Recreation to order.
- Chair Hankerson frames the Council's Earth Day package of four parks bills Chairperson Ty Hankerson opened by tying the hearing to Earth Day and outlined the four bills before the committee: Int 740 (his own) directing a study of the community districts with the least green space; Int 577 requiring at least 300 miles of formalized, mapped trails; Int 805 creating a
- Council Member Wong presents his cool-pavement and wildlife bills Council Member Phil Wong, sponsor of Int 805 and Int 806, said the cool-pavement pilot would protect children from dangerous heat in parks and playgrounds and the wildlife-management program would give the city a shared mission for its wildlife, and thanked Chair Hankerson for hearing the bills.
- Parks Department witnesses sworn in Committee Counsel Kris Sartori swore in the New York City Parks witnesses before their testimony.
- New York City Parks testifies on all four Earth Day bills Acting Deputy Commissioner Marit Larson delivered the administration's testimony. She called the Int 577 mandate to add 300 miles of trails impractical, noting Parks has mapped roughly 450 miles and expects to have delivered over 300 miles of formalized trails within the year; welcomed the intent of
- How many Community Parks Initiative projects has the city completed, and will it expand funding? Acting Deputy Commissioner Marit Larson said 70 of the 127 CPI sites are complete with 57 more active, and pointed to $425 million in baseline mayoral capital funding since fall 2021 — about $50 million a year to renovate 10 sites annually for a decade.
- Could New York fund parks through a special park district or tax-increment financing, as other cities do? Chief Mark Drury said Parks is intrigued by such models but not prepared to opine, noting the agency could not adopt them at its own discretion and that they would require broader regulatory and policy decisions in consultation with OMB and the Mayor's Office.
- Does Parks encourage the formation of conservancies and friends-of-parks groups? Chief Mark Drury said Parks does encourage them as a valuable engagement and maintenance tool, though not a necessity, and had no new conservancies to announce.
- Which neighborhoods does Parks consider most in need of green space, and has it published the data? Acting Deputy Commissioner Marit Larson described the One NYC goal of getting 85% of New Yorkers within walking distance of a park by 2030 and the Neighborhood ULURP program that identified 19 priority community districts — listing priority districts in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island
- When will Parks deliver the overdue Local Law 10 report on greening dead-end and highway-adjacent land? Chief Mark Drury said he could not speak to the report's status and was unsure the prior administration ever designated a lead entity, and committed to following up with an update on the report, which was due in 2024.
- Why is Parks waiting for DOT's pilot instead of starting its own cool-pavement program in parks and playgrounds? Council Member Phil Wong pressed the administration on Int 805, arguing Parks was passing responsibility to DOT and shirking its duty to protect children from heat. Chief Mark Drury said running two parallel pilots is not a thoughtful use of resources, that DOT's pilot covers comparable pedestrian
- Does Parks track dog-waste complaints and fines separately in its parks? Chief Mark Drury said dog waste is a tracked data point in the agency's comprehensive parks inspection program and can cause a park to fail inspection, but he did not have complaint or summons figures on hand and offered to provide historical data afterward.
- What is the plan to bring green space and recreation centers to underserved southern Brooklyn districts? Acting Deputy Commissioner Marit Larson pointed to the Neighborhood ULURP program, rezonings, and school-yard partnerships as the primary tools for dense neighborhoods with little green space. Chief Mark Drury praised the recreation-center model, citing Shirley Chisholm and three or four new centers
- How many trail miles are in poor condition, and how many formalized miles are in Staten Island? Acting Deputy Commissioner Marit Larson told Council Member Frank Morano that Parks has already formalized 275 of a mapped 450 miles by screening out unsafe, redundant, or poor-condition trails on the way to its 300-mile goal, and said she did not have the Staten Island breakdown on hand.
- Does the Walk-to-Park metric account for park quality and safety, or just distance on a map? Acting Deputy Commissioner Marit Larson said the metric measures access during a park's open hours, and that Parks separately holds every park to an agency quality and condition standard.
- What are the costs and benchmarks for the cool-pavement pilot and the wildlife-management bill? Chief Mark Drury told Council Member Frank Morano that DOT's cool-pavement pilot is still in planning and expected to launch in the fall as a two-year effort, and that Int 806 would create a citywide wildlife advisory board and plan whose cost the agency could not yet estimate.
- Will Parks site the cool-pavement pilot in neighborhoods that meet both heat and income thresholds? Chief Mark Drury told Council Member Yusef Salaam that Parks already undertakes many heat interventions and that, to his understanding, DOT's cool-pavement pilot is directed to prioritize high-heat-vulnerability neighborhoods, though he offered to confirm.
- Will the wildlife-management plan address rats and rodents, not just coyotes and raptors? Chief Mark Drury told Council Member Yusef Salaam that the city takes rat mitigation seriously with dedicated Parks teams working with the Health Department, but said he could not speculate on what the proposed advisory board would choose to include.
- Which Manhattan districts fall below the green-space standard, and has Parks tapped NYCHA and schoolyard space? Acting Deputy Commissioner Marit Larson told Council Member Yusef Salaam that Parks' focus districts do not currently include Manhattan and she did not have that borough's per-district data on hand. Chief Mark Drury described work with NYCHA on community-garden spaces and adjacent playgrounds, and
- How will Parks prioritize dense Upper Manhattan districts that have no mapped trails? Acting Deputy Commissioner Marit Larson told Council Member Yusef Salaam that Parks is working with partners in High Bridge and Inwood to formalize northern Manhattan trails and publish them online, and pointed to the Natural Areas Conservancy's 'Path Keepers' program as a way to expand trail
Agenda
4 items
- Int 0577-2026 A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to a map of trails in parks or properties under the jurisdiction of the department of parks and recreation Hearing Held by Committee
- Int 0740-2026 A Local Law in relation to a study on increasing the amount of green space in various community districts Hearing Held by Committee
- Int 0806-2026 A Local Law in relation to the development of a citywide wildlife management plan Hearing Held by Committee
- Int 0805-2026 A Local Law in relation to a cool pavement pilot project in parks Hearing Held by Committee