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Community board hears plans for Clarkson School 'open street' with gate and street seat
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Summary
DOT, Open Plans and Project for Public Spaces described a privately funded Clarkson Open Streets pilot centered on a wooden 'street seat' and curb‑embedded gates to close Clarkson Street to traffic during school hours; the school will staff daily operations and DOT said installation is targeted for next school year.
Community Board 2 on March 28 heard a presentation about a school‑focused Open Streets pilot on Clarkson Street between Hudson and Varick, where the Department of Transportation is working with nonprofit Open Plans and Project for Public Spaces to add a wooden street seat and sturdier, curb‑embedded gates for daily closures.
Janine Kiley, chair of the Community Board 2 traffic and transportation committee, opened the meeting and introduced the item. Kyle Gorman of DOT said the project builds on an existing Open Streets program that already closes Clarkson on weekdays during the school year so children can use the roadway for outdoor learning and recreation. He said DOT will lead curb extension work and that the physical gates and the wooden seat will be installed around the same timeframe, with the goal of completing the work by the start of the next school year.
Sabina of Open Plans said the group ran two years of outreach with the three co‑located schools and surrounding businesses, surveying 264 faculty and students and 132 residents and business representatives. That process, she said, identified seating and traffic safety as primary local priorities. Elena Madison of Project for Public Spaces described the proposed street seat as a roughly 20‑by‑6‑foot wooden platform with benches and metal planters and said the design places the seat across from the school because the school facade is currently covered in scaffolding.
On operations, Open Plans and Project for Public Spaces said the school administration is responsible under an existing agreement with DOT for opening and staffing the Open Street during the approved hours. A member of the public asked who will have keys to the proposed gates; DOT and project staff said the gates are user‑operated levers (not keyed) that allow closure without a lock, though they said DOT could explore locking options while preserving emergency access.
Funding for the seat and gate, Elena said, comes from a private grant administered through Open Plans; the work is not being paid for from DOT capital funds. DOT noted it will first pilot painted curb extensions and amenity elements where appropriate and will pursue concrete or permanent installations after required approvals.
The committee and several public commenters raised questions about e‑bikes, emergency access and trash collection. DOT said the Open Streets hours are scheduled to avoid truck‑route peak hours and emphasized continued monitoring; Open Plans said it is developing a maintenance plan with the school and school staff.
At the committee business session, members agreed by voice to share the Clarkson materials widely for comment and recorded an informal voice 'aye' in support of the plan as presented; no formal roll‑call tally was recorded in the transcript. The committee asked DOT and the applicant groups to clarify trash collection and finalize a maintenance plan before construction.
The next procedural step: the applicants will continue engineering and fabrication work and DOT staff said they will return with additional details and outreach materials for the board and community.
