The Jerome Park Reservoir, which has been closed off to the public, will be opened for a trial run in November.

The massive reservoir, bordering Goulden, Sedgwick and Reservoir avenues, has been cordoned off with two chain-link fences by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which holds joint oversight of the reservoir with the Parks Department. The DEP has long cited security concerns and operational costs as one reason why it has kept the reservoir closed.

“Within the last 20 years, the only time the public has been allowed access beyond the fences was for a one-day event called ‘Hands Across the Reservoir’ in 1995,” explained Gary Axelbank, a longtime advocate for the opening of the reservoir to the public. Community members and elected officials have deemed the restrictions to the reservoir over the years an overreaction. “Those fences provide, as far as I’m concerned, very little protection,” he said. “And to keep a community that has health issues and in need of recreation space out of the areas around the reservoir is unfair.”

The latest presents the closest step advocates have taken to gain access to the reservoir, one of the more majestic sights in the borough. To proponents, the reservoir has been a source of curiousity, yet completely denied by neighbors living a stone’s throw from it.

But Axelbank, a lifelong resident of the Bronx and a JPR pilot access task force member, is optimistic about the prospect of a full access to the park in the future. “The process of achieving consistent public access to the Jerome Park Reservoir is a step one. We have many ideas and objectives, but the only way any of them will happen is if we do it one step at a time,” said Axelbank.

The Jerome Park Reservoir was utilized for recreational purposes when it was first built in 1905. Its perimeter would ultimately be fenced off in the 1980s during construction of the reservoir’s dividing wall. Public access was completely cut off after the 9/11 attacks, and limited access was only granted to the DEP, construction workers at the site, and visitors who underwent advanced screening and supervised visits.

Through efforts by activists like Karen Argenti, community leaders and a letter from Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. to Cas Holloway, a community think tank dubbed the Jerome Park Reservoir Access Water Working Group (WWG) was established in 2011 to determine ways to access the reservoir’s perimeter.

“I’ve been working on this issue for almost 20 years,” said Argenti, a longtime advocate of reservoir access who also represents the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality. “Now is the time to open the reservoir.”

The research report by the WWG concluded a pilot program granting access to the reservoir should take place, with an emphasis on security integrity of the reservoir and public safety. The report also suggested the DEP not commit to permanent public access until after it determined the success of the pilot project.

But Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, a longtime champion of the reservoir, wants a permanent opening. He also wants better green space around the park. Dinowitz has since introduced legislation that would transfer control of the reservoir’s outer green space from the DEP to the Department of Parks. The measure has yet to pass in Albany.

“I want the area surrounding the Jerome Park Reservoir to be designated as parkland,” said Dinowitz. “I want people to be able to enjoy it, bike around it, jog around it.

The pilot access program has placed heavy restrictions on what could be brought into the grounds of the parks and where people could go. Visitors will be barred from bringing in any cell phones, bags or cameras into the reservoir grounds.

The two-day event will feature a two-hour guided tour limited to 25 people on Nov. 14 (the original date was Oct. 3). There will also be an opportunity for the public to run or jog across the two-mile perimeter of the reservoir at 12:30 p.m. Tickets to the two-day guided tours placed online are already sold out.

Entry to the reservoir grounds will be through the Gate House on the west side of Goulden Avenue, south of 205th Street.

The DEP did not respond to questions pertaining to this article.

Editor’s Note: The print version of the article stated the tour would take place Oct. 3, based on information we received by press time. Due to inclement weather, organizers postponed the tour to November.