Willets Point Rezoning Should Consider Green Manufacturing Alternatives
August 14th, 2008
Yesterday, MAS testified at the City Planning Commission hearing regarding the Willets Point rezoning plan. First and foremost, MAS stressed that the plan, which includes an urban renewal action that will allow for the use of eminent domain, must reflect the results of an inclusive planning and monitoring process. In regards to the rezoning – from manufacturing into a mixed-used residential and commercial district – MAS suggested the City conduct a thorough examination of the plan’s implication for long-term, industrial and manufacturing job growth, including a justified strategy deployment of public resources tied to agreed upon community benefits. Finally, MAS raised concerns over the purported high standards of sustainable neighborhood planning Willets Point aims to achieve. The full testimony is after the jump. Continue Reading>>






The buildings in Harlem are brick and stone, And the streets are long and wide, But Harlem’s much more than these alone, Harlem is what’s inside.
MAS is pleased to announce that New York City Council Land Use Committee voted this morning to approve a proposed plan for the former Con Ed Site on the East River between 38th and 41st streets on the East River. The plan provides an easement that would enable the realignment of the FDR Drive and the construction of a deck over the highway which will facilitate the creation of a waterfront park on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan that MAS has been advocating for.
On October 3, the City Planning Commission held a hearing on two plans for the expansion of Columbia University into Manhattanville. One was the university’s plan, the other was Manhattan Community District 9’s 197-a plan — a community-based plan for the same area. The challenge is that the plans contain, in some part, contradictory visions.
Over the course of the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) for the Hudson Yards proposal, several of the city’s leading civic groups, including the Municipal Art Society, have recognized many of the same opportunities for improving redevelopment plan.
On June 21, the City Planning Commission certified the zoning text for the Hudson Yards Development Program, formally beginning the public review period for a proposed 40 million square feet of development west of 8th Avenue.