By WILLIAM MATHIS

Emily Lloyd, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), brought good news, mixed with reserved optimism, on creating a pilot program that provides community access to the Jerome Park Reservoir in a meeting June 22 of the Croton Facility Monitoring Committee (CFMC).

The committee invited Lloyd to discuss long-standing issues about the inaccessibility of the reservoir due to the years-long construction of the Croton Water Filtration Plant beneath Van Cortlandt Park’s Mosholu golf course. The reservoir has been fenced off due to claims by the DEP about the potential for security threats to the water supply.

Lloyd announced that steps would begin this summer to open the reservoir up to local residents. “I think it is time that we can undertake the pilot program that is recommended here,” said Lloyd, holding up a copy of the 2011 Report and Recommendations by the Jerome Park Reservoir Access Working Group that called for a pilot program granting access. “And we’ve been talking about it and there’s a lot of language in here about safety and all kinds of things like that.”

Sometime this fall, the DEP will host a guided walking tour of the reservoir, allowing guests to walk around the reservoir and learn about its history and importance from tour guides. Possibly on the same weekend, people will be invited for a two-hour period to walk or jog around the reservoir’s perimeter.

“I was frankly surprised and shocked, but pleasantly surprised and I just think this is a tremendous thing for the 350,000 people living near the reservoir,” said Gary Axelbank, a neighbor and longtime fighter for access to the reservoir, adding the battle for access has gone on for 20 years.

Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, a longtime critic of the plant, called the pilot program “welcome news.” “I hope it is the beginning of a long-term access plan so that Bronx residents can enjoy one of the city’s most beautiful resources now and in the future,” he said.

Lloyd told the committee that the DEP is working on building partnerships with nine to10 schools in the area to make the reservoir an educational resource. They are developing a curriculum to teach students about the water supply and then bring the students in for a tour of the facility. Teachers will also receive education on how to teach their students about this issue.

“This will increase the amount of recreational space that is available for residents of the Bronx in an open-air landscape without having to leave the city,” said Councilman Andrew Cohen, in a statement. Cohen’s entire district overlaps with the reservoir.

In addition, as soon as next month, committee members will be invited to take a tour of the plant, which went online in May.

Committee members and attendees of the meeting viewed the proposals with great enthusiasm. The committee chair, Adaline Walker-Santiago, stood and thanked Lloyd for her efforts.

But despite the promises for controlled access in the near future, Lloyd stressed her continued dedication to ensuring the security of the reservoir. “I don’t want to raise expectations too high,” she said. “I am very concerned about security.”

Lloyd said that the DEP requested the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau “take a real look” at the site to better understand potential security threats and sensible ways to mitigate them. For years, the DEP cited terrorism concerns for the closure of the reservoir, drawing skepticism from the community.

The committee also resolved to form a task force that would include committee representatives, elected officials and community members to work with Lloyd on implementing the pilot days and also to work towards future access to the reservoir.

“I want to make sure we work together to get this resolved,” Walker-Santiago said. She cited the recent success of creating a pedestrian bridge in Van Cortlandt Park as evidence of the potential gains that cooperation between government and citizens can bring to the neighborhood.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.