Community Board 2 approves park, plaza and street safety measures; grants multiple license recommendations
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Summary
Manhattan Community Board 2 on Wednesday passed a slate of unanimous resolutions supporting Washington Square Park dog‑run renovations, the creation of Hudson Square Plaza, a West 3rd/Bleecker safety redesign, expansion of school slow zones under 'Sammy's Law,' and transmitted numerous license renewal recommendations to city and state agencies.
Manhattan Community Board 2 approved a batch of resolutions and license recommendations at its March 2026 full‑board meeting, advancing park improvements, a new plaza and street‑safety measures while approving routine licensing recommendations.
The board unanimously approved a Parks & Waterfront resolution to renovate both Washington Square Park dog runs with synthetic turf that excludes rubber pellets, citing maintenance and safety considerations. The board also backed the creation of Hudson Square Plaza by demapping a short block of Little 6th Avenue between Spring and Broome streets, conditioned on limited commercial programming, farmer‑market preference for food vendors, school engagement, rigorous trash and rat mitigation, and design features to preserve safety and overnight visibility.
Traffic & Transportation presented three resolutions that the board adopted in omnibus: a street‑space redesign for West 3rd and Bleecker Streets (reconfiguring sidewalk extensions, relocating and widening the bike lane, and adjusting parking/delivery space), a request that the city apply 'Sammy's Law' slow‑zone standards (20 mph broadly; 15 mph for school streets) across the district and the congestion pricing zone, and a call for Lyft/Citi Bike to meet contractual obligations and provide a minimum two‑week membership credit to riders after systemwide winter failures.
The Land Use committee sent comments to the Department of City Planning on the affordable housing 'fast track' methodology, urging an appeals process for calculation errors, inclusion of off‑site affordable units in datasets, and transparency on developer contributions.
Several licensing committees moved omnibus actions: Cannabis Licensing recommended two adult‑use dispensary renewals to the Office of Cannabis Management; SLA 1 and SLA 2 advanced multiple approvals and denials with stipulations for on‑ and off‑premise liquor license changes and sidewalk/roadway seating; Street Activities & Resiliency approved or denied a set of event applications, flagging a recurring pedestrian‑path concern at a named location.
The board conducted an uncontested election of officers (reported by the district manager) and adopted corrected minutes for February. Where votes were recorded as unanimous, that is noted in committee reports; several items were taken in omnibus votes at the full board and recorded as passing. The full text of the committee resolutions will be available in the board packet.
What happens next: committee chairs will transmit the board’s recommendations to the responsible city or state agencies and follow up on conditions specified in several resolutions (e.g., programming limits for Hudson Square Plaza, design clarifications from Landmarks).
