In the last minute, near-midnight closing session of the New York State Legislature in June 2013, our local Senator and Assembly members pushed through a revolutionary proposal to radically change the appearance of the Hudson River waterfront.
But if the New York City Planning Department doesn’t take action and create a viable plan, this change could transform the waterfront we know into a nightmare like Donald Trump’s Riverside South or Battery Park City.
When they passed this amendment, the legislature authorized the Trust to sell “unused development rights” worth potentially billions of dollars over the next fifty or hundred years to developers overlooking the park.
However, no one knows the location or extent of these “unused” arbitrary rights because they have not been clearly defined. Presumably, they will be determined using Floor Ratio Area calculations that are based on zoning law. (Floor Ratio Area describes the maximum allowable square feet of building floor allowed in relationship to size of the lot as zoned.)
Local zoning laws will have a huge impact on the final appearance of the waterfront. One important condition contained in this amendment to the Hudson River Park Act that the legislature pushed through is that this change could take place “if and to the extent designated and permitted under local zoning ordinances.”
Since the New York City Planning Department controls local zoning ordinances, that means the ball sits in their court, where it has been sitting for nearly two years. Only they, by creating a clear and transparent plan, can place limits on these “unused development rights.”
There are many essential steps before the waterfront project can proceed, and these steps involve major zoning changes subject to ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure). During ULURP, local community boards can express non-binding opinions. But that process cannot begin until City Planning does its job and prepares a plan to make its vision clear.
The Planning Department has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape an extraordinary Hudson River District by determining how these unused air rights over the water can be distributed on top of those unused air rights already existing on such properties as the St. John Terminal across from Pier 40.
In Vision 2020, the Planning Department shows a beautiful green shoreline bordering the Hudson River Estuary with boat landings for kayaks, canoes and sailboats. But they don’t acknowledge that green shoreline would be compromised if their zoning laws allow the surrounding area to be overbuilt like Penn Yards above West 31st Street.
Right now there is no plan.
Future articles in this series will explore what the community can do to influence the outcome of the waterfront transformation, as well as examining what type of space would most benefit the community.
