Red tape has stalled plans to install the city’s first free public observatory in a Bronx park, and organizers now fear they may have to scrap the project.
A grand opening for the dome in Jerome Park near the Bronx High School of Science was planned for this spring. But in recent months, the city unexpectedly asked the Association of Amateur Astronomers, which runs the project, to take out $5 million in general insurance before opening. The group was also recently informed that the legal department and the Department of Buildings would have to review the project.
“We put a can a little bit bigger than a port-a-potty on a patch of grass that no one is using,” said Bart Fried, executive vice president of the Association of Amateur Astronomers. “It shouldn’t take two and a half years to get back to where we were two and a half years ago.
Meanwhile, donors to the association are questioning the delay.
“We are starting to get inquiries from people who have donated money. Like, ‘What’s the status? What’s happening? I gave you good money,” Fried said.
The project was originally estimated to cost $100,000 and would fulfill the association’s long-term goal: opening the first fully public stargazing facility. The 9.5-foot-tall, 6.5-foot-wide metal dome was at Nassau Community College until 2019. The structure will house the powerful Celestron Edge HD telescope capable of providing views of our solar system, including comets, asteroids, the sun, and all planets, including the dwarf planet Pluto. The association plans to operate the observatory seven nights a week with special programming for Bronx Science students.
“We are working with the association in good faith to finalize the agreement and will continue to follow the city-mandated processes that must be completed prior to the contract,” Parks Department spokesman Gregg McQueen wrote in an email.
That was a marked change from January, when McQueen wrote to Gothamist that the agency expected construction on the project could begin in the spring, once a deal was finalized and a contractor selected.
But in March, parks staff asked the Astronomical Association to submit information about programming and operations that it said it had turned over more than a year ago.
Earlier this month, Fried received a 35-page draft of the parks department’s contract with the association that handles the operation and maintenance of the structure. According to Fried, this document will take several more months to complete.
The deal requires requirements that surprised Frieda, including a review by city attorneys. The Parks Department is also asking the Association of Amateur Astronomers to increase its insurance coverage from $1 million to $5 million. Fried said the association hopes to negotiate a compromise on that number.
“We’ve never had a lawsuit in 97 years!” Fried said, adding that he had previously been told the project would be fast-tracked.
The Parks Department is also seeking a Department of Buildings review. According to the DOB’s own estimates, it takes an average of nearly nine weeks to approve a project in the Bronx. Fried said such an inspection seems unnecessary, given that the observatory can easily be moved.
“It’s just held down by a few screws. And there are no utilities. We can unscrew it, pick it up and drive it on a whim,” Fried said.
Fried said it would be a miracle if they broke ground in the fall. The most serious consequence of the delay is that they cannot receive funding from the project’s largest donor, the Jay Pasachoff Trust, until an agreement is reached with the parks department.
The association was frustrated but determined to see the project through – even if it meant finding another location.
“I’m not going to die until this thing is built somewhere in this city,” Fried said. “Then I might get hit by a bus. I do not care.”