NYC Parks: Rules and Charter
Sections
What counts as a park
Everything Parks controls is a “park” in the rules.
That includes beaches, waters and the land under them, pools, boardwalks, playgrounds and recreation centers.
Who runs it
The Department of Parks and Recreation runs them. A Commissioner heads it.
Being the agency in charge of land is called jurisdiction. Everything under Parks’ jurisdiction counts as a park.
Land Parks runs is not always protected parkland. See Parkland.
Where the rules come from
The Parks Department exists because the City Charter creates it.
Its Commissioner writes the Parks Rules, known as 56 RCNY (Title 56 of the Rules of the City of New York). They have the force of law.
The rules apply wherever the Parks Commissioner has jurisdiction. They add to every other law; they do not replace it.
The department’s job: keep up the beauty and utility of every park, square and playground.
From Charter to penalty
State law
Courts hold parkland in a public trust. Selling it or using it for something else needs State approval. See Parkland.
Park rules
Now the rules themselves. First, when a park is open.
Hours
Open 6 a.m. to 1 a.m., unless other hours are posted.
The Commissioner can close a park, or part of one, for public safety.
Not allowed
Cutting, removing or destroying a tree. Pruning counts.
Killing, cutting or uprooting plants.
Carrying gardening tools or plants, unless Parks allows it there.
Planting anything without written approval.
Construction, staging or excavation without a permit.
Metal detectors, except on unvegetated beach.
Walking on newly seeded lawn. Entering fenced areas marked no entry.
Climbing statues not meant for climbing.
Glass bottles and containers.
Camping without a permit.
Ignoring a park sign, or a lawful direction from Parks staff.
A permit or written approval is Parks’ written OK. It must come before the work starts. Permits shows how.
If a rule is broken
Breaking any of these rules can lead to two separate cases.
A summons to OATH, the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. The amount comes from the Parks penalty table.
Also a “violation” under the Penal Law, in a separate case.
Some rules are also misdemeanors under the City’s Administrative Code, with added penalties. Destroying a tree is one.
The Charter caps ordinary civil penalties at $300. Misdemeanor rules can go higher.
Two misdemeanor rules
Ignoring a lawful direction from the Police, a lifeguard or the Parks Enforcement Patrol is a misdemeanor too.
Level 1 check
What Parks controls
The Charter chapter that creates Parks also lists what it controls.
The 350-foot zone
Parks sets curb lines and street surfaces within 350 ft of a park.
Paths, roads and park-streets
Partner parks
The Parks Rules also apply in Hudson River Park, Battery Park City and Brooklyn Bridge Park, by agreement.
More detail: other Charter powers
Plan the park system, connected to federal, state and county parks.
Manage gifts and bequests for parks, on terms agreed with the donor.
Make rules with the force of law, the same in every borough where practicable.
Run nature education and conservation, and keep areas for their natural beauty.
Review other City agencies’ recreation programs and their budget estimates.
Parkland
Not all land Parks controls is protected parkland. A community garden lot, for one, is not, unless mapped as parkland.
When parkland is protected
Courts hold parkland in a public trust. Using it for a non-park purpose is called alienation. It takes a State law first.
Uses substantially similar or related to park purposes need no State law.
Permits
On land Parks controls, many activities need written authorization before they start.
General permit terms (written for events)
A permit is not always enough. On dedicated parkland, a substantial intrusion for a non-park purpose needs State law, even if the land is restored later. See Parkland.
Variances
A variance is written permission from Parks for something banned by the Parks Rules alone. It cannot excuse a ban in another law.
Two grounds:
- Real difficulty or hardship the applicant did not cause.
- The variance’s conditions would keep the park beautiful and useful.
Trees
Trees have their own permit. Removing a Parks tree takes a permit and replacement trees. Pruning without permission counts as destroying.
How Parks rates a tree
Parks turns the four ratings into a number of trees.
Dead, seriously diseased or hazardous: no replacement, unless the applicant caused the hazard.
More detail: location examples
Parks weighs a large tree under utility wires, a tree important to an allée (a double row of trees along a path) and a tree giving shade over a playground.
Minimum replacement
Replacements are counted in caliper inches. Caliper is a trunk’s diameter, in inches. Each new tree is 3 inches caliper unless Parks says otherwise.
The rules set a floor and, in zoning districts R1, R2 and R3, a ceiling. (On these districts, see Zoning: Districts.)
Enter the removed tree’s trunk diameter in inches. The rules count removals in caliper inches but do not say where to measure. Parks measures size at 4½ ft. Confirm the count with Parks.
Removal steps
More detail: street trees under zoning
Where the Zoning Resolution requires street trees, the owner may be required, or may choose, to pay Parks to plant them.
Cut without permission
Civil penalty. $1,125 on default, when the person charged does not answer.
Misdemeanor. Jail, a fine, or both.
Paid in replacement trees, based on the tree’s appraised value (its worth as Parks rates it). Removed: its full appraised value. Injured: the before-and-after difference. Tree damage
Planning a park job
Permits, trees and penalties meet on a real job.
Job checker
Civil penalties
Level 2 check
Tree damage
A tree cut without permission also costs damages. Parks seeks them on top of every other penalty.
Removed without a permit
The tree is rated like any other, with two changes.
Injured, not removed
An injured tree is appraised twice, before and after. The difference is owed.
Damaged beyond recovery
The tree comes out, stump included. The permittee pays, or whoever caused the damage if there is no permit.
It is rated on its condition before the damage.
Where replacements go
The horticultural officer, a Parks staff member, picks the locations and sets the planting time in the permit, within the 60-day or next-season limit.
The permittee can propose other locations in writing.
Changing parkland
Both records from Parkland can change: the City Map, and which agency is in charge.
Changing the map
Nothing changes the City Map except as the Charter allows.
Changing jurisdiction
DCAS, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, assigns City property to agencies.
A garden lot can move to another agency, with ULURP review where it applies. Some property is under joint jurisdiction.
State-owned parkland
The State-law rule on alienation does not cover State-owned parkland.
Community gardens
Garden lots, from the last section, are run through GreenThumb, the Parks division for the City’s urban gardening program.
Its gardens sit on City lots under Parks’ jurisdiction.
Transfer steps
A Transfer moves a garden lot to another agency for a use other than a garden or open space.
Alternate sites
Level 3 check
Glossary
Quiz
Flashcards
Questions
Sources
Each § mark opens a quote checked word for word against the official text, with a link to the section.
Referenced, not quoted
- Administrative Code Title 18 (Parks), incl. §18-146 and §18-147
- 56 RCNY Chapters 2–4 (permits, marinas, moorings)
- Zoning Resolution §26-41 (street trees)