More information: The Architectural and Historical Resources of Riverdale
Officers and Directors
Annual Reports
Mission Statement
The Riverdale Nature Preservancy works
to protect and preserve the natural beauty and neighborhood character
of the Riverdale area through public information, monitoring of
development, and long-term planning.
Our History
The Riverdale Nature Preservancy continues a long legacy of environmental
preservation in this picturesque section of the Bronx.
The first summer settlements in the area nestled homes and carriage
roads into the hills, lest they intrude too greatly on the area’s
natural beauty. Riverdale’s historic district is a relic of
that time. When New York City proposed extending the Manhattan street
grid into the area, prominent landowners thwarted the plans by designing
and building Fieldston and individual residences in the way of the
newly-mapped streets. The Park District Protective League convinced
landowners along the Hudson River to contribute land to what is
now Riverdale Park, and fought against development that it considered
inappropriate. The Riverdale Community Planning Association (RCPA)
worked with the community and City to design new zoning for the
area in the mid 1950s, at a time when apartment houses and shopping
centers were a real possibility for the whole area. The RCPA’s
vision, of denser housing atop the ridge (and along the Henry Hudson
Parkway) balanced by a wide ribbon of single-family, detached homes
and the existing institutions on the slopes above the River, and with
commercial development placed so that traffic would not infringe
on residential streets, still defines the community today. Later,
residents sought extra zoning protection for the trees, steep slopes,
and other natural features of the area through the mapping of a
Special Natural Area District (SNAD). This was accomplished in 1975.
Following the approval of the SNAD regulations (locally known as the Greenbelt Law), a group of residents formed the Friends of the Greenbelt to monitor development under these protective zoning regulations.
Veterans of these actions and other concerned residents
came together in 1986 under the banner of the Riverdale Nature Preservancy, with a mission to conserve, restore, and preserve the natural
features, historic resources, and character of their neighborhoods.
Today, the Preservancy monitors development projects in and around
the Riverdale Special Natural Area District and contributes to long-range
planning efforts in our neighborhoods. Our aim is to ensure that
trees, slopes, and other elements of the natural environment are
preserved and to ensure that new developments and expansions will
not overwhelm our public facilities and streets. We work with city
officials and staff, neighborhood organizations, elected officials,
and residents to ensure that zoning regulations and project plans
respond to the needs of our residents and to the preservation of
our Greenbelt.
More Information 
To read more about the History of Riverdale and the area's historic
sites, click on the link below.
» The Architectural
and Historical Resources of Riverdale, The Bronx, New York:--A
Preliminary Survey 
(4.8 MB)
For descriptions of issues we are currently working
on click
here.
Officers and Directors
Paul J. Elston
Honorary Chairman
Donald J. Cohn
Chairman
Franz Paasche
Peter S. Kohlmann
Co-Presidents
Sandy Shalleck
Treasurer
Mary Bandziukas
Secretary
Marcia Allina
Paul J. Anid
Stephen F. Byrns
Charles D.F. Cohn
Jodie Colon
E. Allen Dennison
Elizabeth Haase
Steve Hammer
Lorance Hockert
Peter Joseph
Hilary Kitasei
Robert Kornfeld
Robert Lynch
Barbara Michaels
Aaron Mittman
Susan Morgenthau
Sherida Paulsen
Robert Reich
Eric Seiff
Laura Spalter
Dart Westphal
Barry Willner
Mary Bandziukas, AICP
Program Director
Gilbert Kerlin
Founding Chairman
Annual Reports
» 2003/2004
» 2002
(28.9 Kb)
» 2001
(42.2 Kb)
» 2000
(24.6 Kb)
» 1998/1999
(1.8 Kb)
» 1997
(1.4 MB)
» 1996
(164 Kb)
» 1995
(142 Kb)
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