New York University will present a plan to add 3.1 acres of publicly accessible open space in Greenwich Village, at Community Board Two's Parks, Recreation and Open Space Committee meeting tonight. The plan is under the university's NYU Core strategy, part of the university’s 20-year, city-wide plan for growth dubbed NYU 2031: NYU in NYC.

Rendering Courtesy of NYU

The university's plan calls for the addition of 40,000 sq ft of public parkland, totaling more than four acres to be used by the university community and the neighborhood. It also includes landscape improvements to the university-owned streets bordered by West 3^rd Street, West Houston Street, Mercer Street, and LaGuardia Place. The improvements include pedestrian entries, the rebuilding of a current playground and dog run, quiet seating, pathways, lawns, flowerbeds, and an increase in the number of trees.

"Functional, accessible open space is a vital resource in creating an interconnected community," says Alicia Hurley, vice president for university relations and public affairs. "With this in mind, the NYU Core plan's open space component aims to create inviting public space that is accessible, diversified, and beneficial to the community."

The Dept. of City Planning certified the NYU Core proposal to add new academic facilities to its own property in the Washington Square area on Jan. 3. That action kicked off the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, a seven-month approval process that involves the Community Board, the borough president, the Planning Commission and the City Council.