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PLANET’s original offer to design and build the park for the city was a new concept to the Board of Directors of ALCA and PLANET and to everyone in the city government.   “PLANET began this process over three years ago in 2002 when we held our Renaissance Park design charrette in Chicago,” explains Jim Martin, CLP, PLANET chairman of the Renaissance Park project, who has been working as the PLANET liaison to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

The design charrette consisted of approximately 30 PLANET (then ALCA) members who are some of the top landscape architects and designers in the country.  After creating a very special design for the site, members of the project team worked for 18 months to revise the plans to meet the demanding requirements of many New York City agencies. By the end of 2003, when it appeared that the final design obstacles had been overcome, ALCA signed an agreement to design and build Renaissance Park by December 31, 2004.

By July of 2004, the plans were presented to the final approval authority, the New York City Arts Commission. Unfortunately, the plans were not approved. Instead, PLANET was requested to work with a recommended New York City sculptor on revising the water feature and the pavement design. In January of 2005, when PLANET received the preliminary designs from the sculptor, they found the sculptor proposed design no longer reflected the original plan prepared by PLANET members; it was estimated to be significantly more costly to build; and would have required a completely new plan review and approval process that had already taken two years.

By March of 2005, after the agreement between PLANET and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation had expired, in order to facilitate the building of the park and to alleviate concerns on all sides, the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation decided to move forward to build the project. Prior to ALCA’s interest in designing and building Renaissance Park, the Department of Parks had received community support and preliminary approval for a simplified park design that will now be built under the approval and supervision of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.
 
“Due to a family concern on September 11, I feel a strong connection to this park,” says Martin.  “This was the location where police and firefighters staged the initial rescue and then the recovery from the World Trade Center” he explains.  “This was also the site that was the farthest south that the general public could venture.  They hung letters, ribbons and signs along the fence that bordered this half-acre.  I truly feel that this is a great location for a park that we can all be proud of and that this is a wonderful way for PLANET members to honor the many heroes of 9-11.”