-- Christine G. testified before the NYC Department of Planning last week against the zoning changes that would be needed to build where the parking lot is now. See below.
-- A couple members and staffers from community Board 4 have agreed to meet with Carl B. and Christine G. on Monday, Sept. 21 to hear the Block Association's concerns.
-- Christine G talked with both Gale Brewer (who represents the north side of West 55th street) and Christine Quinn (who represents the south side of West 55th street) about the MTA site.
-- Environment: The site is what's known as a brownfield site and is contaminated with petroleum and other organic products, including gasoline, benzene, xylene etc. An environmental impact study was done on the whole Western Rail Yard project (of which the MTA site is a tiny part) -- See especially chapter 12 with respect to MTA site at this link: http://nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/
Caption: Members of City Planning Commission on Sept. 9, 2009
Testimony before the New York City Department of City Planning (September 9, 2009)
Christine Gorman, President, West 55th Street Block Association
Good morning. My name is Christine Gorman and I am the president of the West 55th Street Block Association. We have a wonderful community between Eighth and Ninth Avenues with 1000 residents and we have had a Block Association for the past 31 years.
We are fed up with the Clinton Special District zoning laws being continually chipped away at – not just in our neighborhood, but throughout the Hell’s Kitchen area. The latest example is the attempt to shoehorn much-needed affordable housing into an extra-dense, over-tall apartment building at West 54th and Ninth instead of making affordable housing a large and permanent part of the main Hudson Yards site.
Here is why we’re so angry:
• In 2002, a developer wanted to build extra stories at 321 W 54th near Ninth Avenue. Community Board 4 successfully fought that and no variance was issued.
• In 2004, the Nicole at West 55th and Ninth asked for a zoning variance. This time, the neighborhood lost an air rights battle and an 18-story building was built – although CB 4 managed to negotiate a setback.
• Now, just 5 years later, we’re hearing about plans to lift both height and density restrictions at the MTA site at West 54th and Ninth. The strategy is clear – if at first you don’t succeed in gutting the rules, try, try again.
• We are also very worried about the soil and water contamination that has occurred over the years at the Ninth Avenue site, which used to be a bus depot. Longtime residents remember when gasoline actually filled up the basements in buildings that were downhill of the site. A spill was discovered in 1997 and has been registered as DEC Spill Case 96-13939.
The City’s own environmental impact study cites extensive contamination with petroleum, benzene, xylene and other volatile organic compounds at the Ninth Avenue site. This will require soil removal and “appropriate vapor mitigation systems” –whatever they are – to protect workers and residents. And why should we believe that stirring up all those chemicals won’t cause a health problem?
Time after time, we are told it is better to cover up brown field sites like this one with plastic, clean dirt, grass and trees – not to stir up the chemicals underneath them. Why is the Ninth Avenue site any different?
We have seen what happens when regulators in the banking and insurance industries get too cozy with the groups they are supposed to regulate. Our nation’s entire economy nearly collapsed and still hasn’t recovered. We’re seeing the same problem now with developers and city planners.
There was a reason to preserve the Clinton Special District in 1974 and there still is one today. We strongly oppose granting any zoning variances for the site at W 54th and Ninth Avenue. What we need there is a park, NOT another overgrown apartment building that is too tall and too dense and doesn’t fit into the architecture of the surrounding neighborhood.
No comments:
Post a Comment