P3 Ordered to Leave Pier 40 by July 15

By Arthur Schwartz

Back in 1997, six years before Hudson River Park first opened, the Greenwich Village Little League (GVLL) and the Downtown United Soccer Club, large youth sports organizations in the Village, proposed to then Governor Pataki that they be allowed to construct a ballfield in the middle of Pier 40. The governor agreed but months later word came out that this 16 acre pier was going to be leased entirely to a parking lot operator. A lawsuit ensued (I was the lead lawyer) alleging breach of contract, and violation of the State Environmental Quality Review Act. We got a Temporary Restraining Order the night before the lease was to take effect (signed in a judge’s kitchen). Then Governor Pataki personally intervened and we settled in late 1997.

Part of what we settled for was a field on the roof (financed by the state), an indoor soccer space, and another indoor space to be used for classes, batting cages, etc. The settlement placed control of the space to the Pier Park and Playground Association (P3), a newly created not-for-profit. For 25 years P3 provided a half-million dollars of annual programming for hundreds of children including a low-cost summer sports camp. That space became even more valuable when the courtyard in the center of the Pier was converted into ballfields and directly connected to the playing fields in 2005 (after another lawsuit).

That indoor program, the camp, and that space, are now threatened with termination. If the Hudson River Park Trust (Trust) has its way, P3 will no longer have a permit for the indoor space on the south side of the field. Both GVLL and Downtown Little League (DLL) are petitioning the Trust to keep the organization in place, but P3 has been told it must vacate by July 15.

In a letter to the sports groups, the Trust said that while it values youth baseball and all the league does for kids, it “had to make the extremely difficult decision to terminate the longstanding permit…We made this determination based upon significant permit violations related to unauthorized construction at Pier 40 that now must be repaired for safety. Please know that this decision was not made lightly.”

In response to an inquiry by the Tribeca Citizen, the Trust declined to elaborate on the nature of the unauthorized construction other than to say it was significant enough that they could not responsibly ignore it. P3 has denied doing any inappropriate or unauthorized construction in the space, which it has improved continuously since 1998.

P3 will be able to use the Pier 40 fields this summer and beyond for its camps and other programs, since the permitting for the fields is a separate process. They also continue to hold a permit to use that indoor space exclusively, but they pay rent or fees for its use. GVLL and Gothams, the citywide travel baseball team, run their operations out of the space. DLL (which serves Tribeca, FIDI, and Battery Park City) also uses the indoor space for coaching and practice.

“The P3 facility along the south side of Pier 40 has functioned as home-base for GVLL,” the league’s president wrote to parents, noting that she will be urging the Trust to reconsider. “It is where managers go to pickup and drop-off equipment. It is where we train coaching staff on safety, hold manager meetings and organize tryouts. It is where our kids attend hitting, pitching, catching and fielding clinics after school and during off-seasons.” Shutting down the P3 facility would also cause serious damage to the Little League program and the broader downtown baseball and softball community.

The future of the space has not been determined, but Trust President Noreen Doyle said that they will not seek a commercial use there in the future, but rather something that will serve the community and likely youth sports. “We are committed to listening to our community about how this space can continue to serve the youth sports community that is such an integral part of both Pier 40 and Hudson River Park overall,” she wrote to GVLL. “We will be working with Community Board 2, our Advisory Council, and league leadership on the best way to begin that conversation…We certainly recognize the incredible and unique value that the indoor space at Pier 40 has provided to our baseball and softball communities over the years.”