March 6, 2006

Honorable Amanda Burden, Chairperson
New York City Planning Commission
22 Reade Street
New York, NY  10007

Re: East River Plaza Special Permit Renewals, ULURP Nos. N040493CMM & N040494CMM and C 990099(A) ZSM (General Large Scale Special Permit) and C 990100 ZSM (Public Parking Garage Special Permit) East 116th-119th Sts., Between Pleasant Avenue and the FDR Drive, Manhattan

Dear Chairperson Burden:

I am writing, as a concerned resident and businessperson of the East Harlem community and the managing director of the Business and Residents Alliance of East Harlem (BARA), to request that the City Planning Commission (CPC) reconsider the decision of the 1999 City Planning Commission and not renew the above referenced special permits for the proposed East River Plaza Project (Home Depot  & Costco).  This request is made for the following reasons:

1. Under Section 11-42 of the Zoning Resolution, Lapse of Authorization or Special Permit Granted by the City Planning Commission, there is no language in the text that indicates that this is a ministerial action as indicated in the CPC review session on February 21, 2006, but rather it should be a discretionary act because of changed environmental conditions and proposed large scale projects in this neighborhood have changed the context since the initial Large Scale Development and Accessory Parking Garage Special Permits were approved in 1999.
   
   
2. The proposed shopping center can be built as-of-right in a C4-4 zoning district without having to generate greater bulk through a Large Scale Development Special Permit that would modify side and rear yard regulations and height and setback requirements in this predominantly low-rise, low-density residential neighborhood.
   
   
3. Under Section 74-743 of the Zoning Resolution, with respect to Special Provisions for Bulk Modifications, it states that the CPC shall grant a special permit if the distribution of floor area and bulk will not block or obstruct light and air to the occupants of nearby buildings.  The proposed building height of the shopping center is equivalent to 11-residential stories and the parking garage is equivalent to 9-residential stories and will dwarf the adjacent rowhouse of 3-4 stories.
   
   
4. Under Section 32-19 of the Zoning Resolution, Use Group 10 (department stores) is not appropriate in local shopping or local service areas because of the generation of considerable pedestrian, automobile and truck traffic.  Use Group 10 is meant to serve a wide area, ranging from a community to the whole metropolitan area, and is, therefore, appropriate in secondary, major or central shopping areas.  Therefore, the initial decision of the CPC to approve the placement of this shopping center in this residential neighborhood, which is not a local or service area, and not a secondary, major or central shopping area, was not in conformance with the language of the Zoning Resolution.
   
   
5. The increase in parking from 527 spaces as-of-right in a C4-4 zoning district to 1,248 spaces under the proposed Accessory Parking Special Permit could be in violation of the federal Clean Air Act, as amended through 1990.   In 1973 the state prepared a Transportation Control Plan to comply with federal clean air standards in the borough of Manhattan south of 110th Street in response to the federal Clean Air Act of 1970.  Since it has now been determined that East Harlem now has the highest rate of asthma hospitalization in the nation, in a study done by The Mount Sinai Hospital in 1997, it is time the city and state revisit the Transportation Control Plan to include all of East Harlem.  The as-of-right parking, as well as the increased parking under the special permit, could also be in violation of the pending federal Community Environmental Equity Act, which looks to address the unfair burden minority neighborhoods have in increased pollution; President Clinton’s Executive Order no. 12898 of 1994, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority and Low-Income Populations, to insure that minority/low-income neighborhoods are not saddled with an unfair share of pollution; and finally the Civil Rights Act of 1964, if a project contributes to an unfair share of pollution in minority neighborhoods even if it has passed ordinary tests of environmental law.
   
   
6. Under Section 74-53 of the Zoning Resolution, with respect to Accessory Group Parking Facilities in Large Scale Residential Developments, the permitting of modifications to the number of permitted parking spaces shall be granted by the CPC only upon the conclusion that such use is so located to draw a minimum of vehicular traffic to and through local streets in residential areas.  Commercial trucks are not permitted on the East River/FDR Drive and would be required to travel through the local streets.  In addition, the only way to access the project site from the south for vehicular traffic is through the local streets since there is no exit from the northbound lanes of the FDR Drive.  Clearly, the granting of this parking garage special permit is not in conformance with the language in the Zoning Resolution.
   
   
7. It is not responsible city planning to site a major shopping center with a special permit for increased parking directly across the street from a public school with several thousand school children.  According to a Community Board 11 Task Force Report of 1998-99, there are 14 schools, day care centers, and after school programs within a five-block radius of the East River Plaza project with a student population of close to 5,000, including the school directly across the street.
   
   
8. Home Depot has already built two big-box stores in midtown Manhattan at West 23rd Street and East 59th Street without any accessory public parking, because of zoning restrictions due to the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act.   East Harlem, which has the highest hospitalization rate for asthma in the country, deserves the same health considerations as those areas in more affluent areas of Manhattan.

In 1998-99, a Community Planning Board no. 11 subcommittee issued a Task Force Report on the East River Plaza Project, which was overlooked by its own Community Board, the Borough President, the City Councilperson, the City Planning Commission and finally the Mayor in approving this project, which highlighted several major concerns if this project went ahead.  Some of these concerns were the following:

1. The shopping center would mean the loss of approximately 800 jobs, in small businesses that provide the same merchandise (this has already begun with the closing of some small businesses).
   
   
2. Approximately 145 jobs would be lost through the eminent domain process of condemning twelve privately owned small businesses and properties (this has already been completed).
   
   
3. There would be approximately 17,000 more cars and diesel-fuel trucks on a daily basis traveling through the local streets of this neighborhood.  Air pollution, noise and vehicular danger would increase in a neighborhood that already has the highest rate of asthma in the country and where 5,000 school children surround the project site.

Finally, the developer of this project has never executed a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that would at least provide meaningful job training, construction and post-construction employment that would offset the negative effects of this shopping center or assisted in establishing a neighborhood preservation fund that would help mitigate the increased traffic and pollution.  If these special permits were to be approved by the CPC, prior to the execution of a CBA with the Community Board, the developer would not be compelled to execute such an agreement.  It is my understanding that both Community Board No. 11 and the office of the Manhattan Borough President have been given thirty days (February 21 through March 23, 2006) to review these applications for special permit renewals.  In closing, request is hereby made that you reconsider these Special Permits and not renew them, thereby helping to alleviate what could make a bad condition worse. 

Sincerely Yours,

Raymond Plumey, FAIA*
Architect & Planner, P.C.

RP/ndp

*Recently elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects.

Honorable Mayor Bloomberg
Honorable Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough President
Honorable Melissa Mark-Viverito, City Councilperson-8th District
Members of the City Planning Commission
Honorable Jose Serrano, State Senator-28th District
Honorable Adam Clayton Powell, IV, State Assemblyman-68th District
Lino Rios, Chairperson Community Board No. 11
Javier Llano, District Manager, Community Board No. 11
Alan J. Steinberg, Regional Administrator, Environmental Protection Administration
Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense
Peggy Shepard, WE ACT for Environmental Action
William Miller & Scott G. Bullock, Institute for Justice