By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Officials at Yeshiva University are reviving a plan to create a public plaza on the street that runs through its campus after the plan was rejected by the city in 2008.
The university hopes to create a green space for public use on West 185th Street, between Audubon and Amsterdam avenues, which already serves as a limited use area with restricted traffic regulations and no parking.
University spokesman Jeffrey Rosengarten, who serves as vice-president of administrative services at the school, told members of the Community Board 12 traffic and transportation and parks and cultural affairs committees Monday night that the school is prepared to use its $3 million of its own money to convert the space if given the green light.
"This could be a quiet space where people can come and enjoy the neighborhood," Rosengarten said, describing the design sketches of the space as preliminary.
Once the school receives approval, Rosengarten estimated the project would take two years to complete.
The next step is for the university is to get city approval, which it hopes to receive next month.
Washington Heights is waiting for another public plaza, the Plaza de las Americas, which is being created by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Department of Design and Construction (DDC) and the Washington Heights Inwood Development Corporation (WHIDC).
The city plans to open that plaza on West 175th Street, between Broadway and Wadsworth Avenue, by 2013.
