Testimony

Testimony to the City Planning Commission

September 19, 2012

Industrial Retention in New York City’s Waterfront Revitalization Program

Introduction

The City’s adopted Waterfront Revitalization Program (WRP) creates the standard for reviewing discretionary development and siting decisions on the waterfront, and in so doing it is a de facto land use framework that sends signals to the market and sets the tone for public agency action. The Pratt Center for Community Development is concerned that language within the proposed WRP update will convey to property owners and to industrial businesses that industrial areas along the waterfront can be rezoned. This conflicts with the strategy embodied in the Industrial Business Zone (IBZ) policy which aims to reduce real estate speculation by signaling to property owners and businesses that the areas will not be rezoned for residential use.

In support of Int. 434 and Int. 435

Testimony to the Committee on Consumer Affairs

Lee Wellington, Planning Fellow

Apri. 24, 2012

Good morning. My name is Lee Wellington, and I am a Planning Fellow at the Pratt Center for Community Development. The Pratt Center works to strengthen communities by bringing together professionals, educators and graduate students from the fields of architecture, urban planning, community organizing and economic development to collaborate with community-based partners and build sustainable and successful city neighborhoods. The Pratt Center has provided technical assistance and conducted policy research on issues that are closely linked to Int. 434 and 435—from the regulations associated with starting a vendor marketplace, to foodpra access and its relationship to downtown redevelopment, to participatory planning in diverse communities across all five boroughs.

Crotona Park East/West Farms Rezoning and Text Amendment

Testimony to the City Planning Commission

Elena Conte, Organizer for Public Policy Campaigns

July 27, 2011

Commissioners, Chair Burden, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Elena Conte and I offer these comments on behalf of the Pratt Center for Community Development and in support of those made by our community-based partner, the Bronx River Alliance.

The Crotona Park East and West Farms neighborhoods have undergone tremendous change in recent decades, in large part due to the activism of local people working in productive partnership with government agencies to create a diverse and healthy community that supports long-time residents and welcomes new ones. The developments that will be made possible by the proposed rezoning are the direct beneficiaries of the increase in land value and desirability of the neighborhood born from these efforts. They are also the direct beneficiaries of the $120 million investment of City, State, and federal money in the restoration of the Bronx River and the creation of the Bronx River Greenway, a significant public investment that seeks a stronger mechanism for its protection.

Yet the draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed rezoning reveals that still the existing amount and quality of open space in the area is grossly insufficient for the current population which is majority people of color and majority working class; the ratio of open space access is a paltry .74 acres per 1,000 people, far short of the standard of 2.5 acres that the Department of City Planning calls for. The proposed action would make an already deficient condition significantly worse – decreasing that ratio by 6.6 percent, a result identified by the DEIS as a significant adverse impact that requires mitigation.

The Pratt Center is here to testify today in opposition to HPD’s proposed extension of 421-a eligibility from 36 months to 72 months for projects initiated prior to the 2007-08 extension of the 421-a exclusion zone.

By expanding the exclusion zone, in which affordable housing is required as a condition of the tax abatement, the City Council and State Legislature clearly intended to spur the creation of affordable housing alongside market-rate development in neighborhoods that had become -- and remain -- highly attractive for real estate development. The legislature passed its measure in mid -2007 and proceeded to give developers until mid-2008 to get foundations in the ground without having to include affordable housing as a condition of receiving the tax abatement within the expanded exclusion zone. Since then, projects begun prior to June 2008 have had three years to come to completion and claim the tax benefit under the old rules. Now HPD is talking about changing the rules at the very end of the game, and calling it halftime.