Council committee hears Broadway Junction map change as MTA, Parks defend playground swap

A New York City Council subcommittee on zoning and franchises opened a public hearing on LU358 on the Broadway Junction Station city map amendment, a proposal by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to amend the city map by removing a portion of Sackman Street and to allow expansion of the Broadway Junction station complex into Callahan Kelly Playground.

The change would eliminate roughly 9,600 square feet of existing playground to accommodate a larger station headhouse and associated grade and block-dimension changes; Parks and MTA said the demapping would convert the closed Sackman Street bed into approximately 11,000 square feet of replacement parkland to satisfy the parkland alienation and replacement requirements tied to the MTA project.

The plan, part of a roughly $400 million MTA accessibility program to deliver step‑free access at Broadway Junction, drew detailed questioning from Council Member Nurse about on‑the‑ground impacts. "For years, my constituents have shared with me that this area is routinely overrun with parked MTA cars, which has prevented adequate street cleaning and sanitation," Council Member Nurse said during her opening remarks. She repeatedly pressed MTA representatives for a plan to stop workers' vehicles from occupying sidewalks and blocking sanitation operations and asked for regular local hiring statistics tied to the project’s 20% local targeted worker goal.

Arturo Espinosa, who identified himself as a representative of MTA’s real estate department, described why the city map amendment is needed: the project requires expansion of the station headhouse at Van Sinderen Avenue and, because the station footprint is adjacent to parkland, earlier legislation permitting parkland alienation required replacement parkland. "We worked with Parks to identify the street bed of Sackman Street and we put that into the alienation legislation," Espinosa said. Elizabeth Ernish, a Parks project administrator, said Parks' design has already kept the number of park elements within the expansion footprint to a minimum and that Sackman Street has been closed and used as open space since the park reconstruction completed in 2023.

Committee members asked for specifics on schedule, maintenance and jurisdiction. Espinosa told the subcommittee construction has already commenced and said the accessibility improvements are expected to be completed within three years. Parks said Sackman Street is currently under DOT jurisdiction and that, once the map change is complete, the parcel would be transferred to Parks; Parks staff said they are already maintaining the closed street under an MOU and that the department has absorbed that maintenance into its regular operations for Callahan Kelly Playground.

Council members repeatedly raised sanitation and public‑space maintenance as unresolved issues. Nurse told the MTA applicants she had provided site photographs to the committee and demanded a coordinated plan with the Department of Sanitation to allow street sweepers to access sidewalks. "I brought you some photos, which I will pass to you. This is a regular appearance at Broadway Junction," she said. Nurse also told MTA and Parks she expects a concrete plan with timelines for cleaning and enforcement and for worker parking to be moved off sidewalks.

No votes were held. The subcommittee opened public testimony for LU358, heard no public witnesses who sought to testify on the record, closed the public hearing and laid the item over for further committee consideration.