By N. Clark Judd

City officials have decided to re-think their denial of public access to Jerome Park Reservoir.

After maintaining for years that access could not be granted due to security concerns, Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Commissioner Anne Canty on May 29 told members of the project's monitoring committee that her boss, Emily Lloyd, will convene a working group of DEP of- ficials to again study access to the reservoir's edge. Neighborhood activists have been campaigning for waterfront access at the reservoir since 2005.

Ms. Lloyd is stepping back from the city's previous position two weeks before her deputy is scheduled to explain it, in a dialogue with activists Anne Marie Garti and Karen Argenti, at the monitoring committee's June 19 meeting.

Instead, Ms. Canty will explain the DEP's review process, and how the public and the Croton Facility Monitoring Committee, which comprises representatives from affected community boards, City Councilman Oliver Koppell, Borough President Adolfo Carrión Jr. and the city agencies working on the project.

"What's happened is DEP has decided to revisit the issue, and that's actually a good thing," said Greg Faulkner, who chairs the committee and Community Board 7. "They're saying maybe the conditions have changed, and we ought to decide that's something we can do."

At the committee's April meeting, Ms. Garti questioned a November letter Ms. Lloyd sent to the president of Amalgamated Housing Corporation that explained the reasons why she would not allow public access at the reservoir. Her contention was that one particular statement in the letter - that "the water in Jerome Park Reservoir is only minutes from entering the city's distribution networks" - was false. She argued her case strongly enough that Mr. Faulkner decided to set up time at the upcoming meeting for her to present her argument side-by-side with an explanation from Ms. Canty.

Father Richard Gorman, chairman of Community Board 12 and another committee member, was skeptical of Ms. Lloyd's decision to change her tune.