Developer funded group proposes to build public plazas under Queensboro bridge underpasses

 

LIC Post

A plan to transform a gritty area under the Queensboro Bridge ramps into a vibrant public space is starting to take shape–with an architect considering designs that would include a basketball court, a dog run and a large seating area.

The plan, called the “Long Island City Ramps” project, would cost $5.5 million and involves revitalizing 50,000 square feet of underutilized space beneath the road ramps that lead to the Queensboro Bridge in Court Square.

The area that is set to be revamped includes a 17,000 square foot site along Dutch Kills Street which is currently being used by a DOT contractor for roadside parking.

The second area is a 33,000 square foot adjacent space that is being used by the NYPD School Safety division as a parking lot. Unlike the Dutch Kills Street space, much of this space is not covered by a ramp and will provide a large open area with plenty of sunlight.

The two ramps converge above Jackson Avenue.

Queens unicorns?

Forgotten NY has the story of ramp and step streets in the borough.

Seriously stupid

So is there one DOT crew that installs these and another that comes and takes the plastic off? Or did someone just do a half-assed job, which is what I suspect?

Ramp removal planned on Clearview

From the Queens Chronicle:

The New York State Department of Transportation plans on closing the two pedestrian ramps under the Long Island Rail Road trestles on the east and west sides of the Clearview Expressway in Bayside.

“The ramps are underutilized and in poor condition,” the agency said in an advisory. “A recent inspection of these ramps has indicated that they have exceeded their service life.” They will be closed on Friday and removed at an undetermined date.

According to Auburndale Improvement Association First Vice President Henry Euler, who heard about the plan at a Community Board 11 meeting, the agency should have reached out to community members before making any decision.

“They said, ‘Oh, people could walk to Corporal Kennedy Street or Francis Lewis Boulevard,’” he told the Chronicle. “Well, that’s kind of a far trek to take to get from one side of the tracks to the other. In our community they should have things available for people for their convenience.”

Willets ramps need “Re-evaluation”

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) have determined that changes to the proposed Willets Point development – including the recent addition of a 1.4 million square foot “Willets West” mega-mall on parkland, and the expansion of the total size of the project from 62 acres to 108.9 acres – may require a “Re-evaluation” of the Environmental Assessment prepared in 2011 by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) in support of new access ramps to and from the Van Wyck Expressway to enable the project. Such a re-evaluation by the FHWA and NYSDOT could necessitate the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement, and spur new legal challenges by project opponents who have always called the ramps the project’s Achilles heel.

For its part, NYCEDC has long asserted that new Van Wyck access ramps are necessary precursors to the full development of the 62 acre Willets Point site – including the 5,000+ units of housing that were touted as the project’s linchpin. But other expert analyses have shown that the proposed new ramps can never adequately address the very severe traffic congestion that a developed Willets Point will impose on the Van Wyck Expressway, the Whitestone Expressway and other nearby highways and local roads.

Back in 2010, the New York Times exposed state officials’ “frustration with the city’s inability to provide reliable information and the pressure it was placing on them to expedite their analysis” of the proposed Van Wyck ramps.

In 2011, NYCEDC submitted a draft Environmental Assessment for the ramps to NYSDOT and FHWA. A very contentious public hearing was held, at which numerous Queens civic associations expressed opposition to the ramps and the questionable traffic analyses, and called for an independent expert review of the future traffic impacts. However, NYSDOT and FHWA arranged no such review.

Instead, in early 2012, NYSDOT and FHWA affirmed the Environmental Assessment, which then became the basis of a “Finding Of No Significant Impact” (FONSI) issued by the FHWA, concluding that constructing the Van Wyck ramps will have “no significant effect on the human environment.” Issuing the FONSI means that no Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will ever be prepared for the proposed ramps.

But the Environmental Assessment and the FONSI are based upon analyses of traffic associated with the 62 acre Willets Point development that NYCEDC had promoted up until mid-2012. Just weeks after the FHWA issued the FONSI, then-Mayor Bloomberg announced the expansion of the Willets Point project to include a 1.4 million square foot “Willets West” mega-mall on parkland located west of Citi Field stadium. Adding the mega-mall nearly doubles the total size of the project from 62 acres as originally promoted, to 108.9 acres as NYCEDC now intends. It also increases the total amount of retail space at the site from 1,700,000 square feet, to 2,650,000 square feet. NYSDOT and FHWA never considered the traffic impacts of any such mega-mall, when evaluating the proposed Van Wyck ramps which enable the development.

When Mayor Bloomberg announced the vastly expanded project, Willets Point United, a coalition of area property and business owners, wrote to the FHWA:

“FHWA’s approval of the Van Wyck ramps and the FONSI is explicitly based on an Environmental Assessment for the prior project. That approval and FONSI, and the Environmental Assessment on which they are based, are no longer applicable because they were for a different project than is now being planned, and they should be withdrawn. The FHWA must do a new environmental review for the same reasons that the City is now doing a supplemental EIS.”

FHWA and NYSDOT emails recently obtained by documentary video producer Robert LoScalzo show that beginning in late 2012, NYSDOT required that NYCEDC explain the ways in which the revised Willets Point development (including the “Willets West” mega-mall) differs from the development as originally proposed and that was the basis of the ramps’ Environmental Assessment and FONSI. NYCEDC responded by directing NYSDOT to the project’s full Supplemental EIS, and later by providing a four page “Summary of changes in the Willets Point Development Plan and the Willets Point FSEIS.” The FHWA then requested that NYCEDC “prepare a table illustrating the current changes to the Willets Point Development Plan Project versus what was approved in the March 2012 NEPA Environmental Assessment,” and NYCEDC provided such a table on September 23, 2014.

A week later, on September 30, 2014, Uchenna Madu, NYSDOT Director of Planning and Project Development, wrote to Thomas McKnight, NYCEDC Executive Vice President:

“We have reviewed the summary of changes to the Willets Point Development Plan SEIS compared to the March 2012 EA FONSI issued by the FHWA. Our initial assessment is that a Re-evaluation of the 2012 Environmental Assessment would be required. We will follow up with you for an in-person meeting in the coming week with FHWA staff, NYSDOT and if you wish to bring in your Environmental Consultants (I believe AKRF).”

All of this begs the questions:

• If the FHWA and NYSDOT are “Re-evaluating” the Environmental Assessment because its data is no longer accurate due to the project’s expansion, has the FONSI issued in 2012 been rescinded? 
• Will the FHWA and NYSDOT finally require a full Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Van Wyck ramps? 
• And, are the ramps now considered unapproved – meaning there is no clear path at the moment to develop all of Willets Point?

Crazy tree cost

From the Daily News:

The city Parks Department is charging the MTA $520,550 to remove and replace 15 large trees from city property to enable an authority construction project. That breaks down to $34,703 apiece.

"Is that a typo?" shocked Metropolitan Transportation Board member Jonathan Ballan said Monday at the MTA Finance Committee meeting.

The Parks Department has a "standard basal area replacement formula" it uses to calculate the cost of replacing trees on city property, an MTA resolution states. The MTA needs a forestry permit from the Parks Department to remove the trees located around the Manhattan on-bound and off-bound ramps to the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. The MTA Bridges and Tunnels division wants to replace the ramp.

In case additional trees need to be removed beyond the 15 for the ramp replacement, the MTA Finance Committee approved spending up to $750,000 for removal and replacement.

So, if that's how much it costs to remove trees, why aren't developers being forced to pony up when they remove them?

DOT to close dangerous bridge ramp at night

From the NY Times:

Cars have slammed into a beauty salon and shattered the windows of a Caribbean restaurant over the years, each after failing to navigate a turn at the base of the Queensboro Bridge where it unspools into Long Island City, Queens.

Now, not just the ramp — with a dangerous curve that city officials say has claimed three lives in recent years — but the entire outermost Queens-bound lane of the bridge will be shut down at night, when the emptied-out bridge may tempt drivers to speed.

The southernmost lane of the bridge, formally the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, has a breathtaking view for those traveling on that side of the bridge; the New York City skyline is visible from the passenger side window. It will be closed beginning on Monday from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily, according to a statement released Tuesday jointly by the Department of Transportation and the New York City Police Department.

Queensboro Bridge ramp claims another life

From DNA Info:

An NYPD officer and mom of two was killed when her car struck a metal railing at the base of the Queensboro Bridge near a "death trap" accident zone early Tuesday, catapulting the vehicle into a storefront that was destroyed in a fatal crash two years ago, officials said.

In a tragic twist, the driver, Elisa Toro, 36, of The Bronx a 10-year veteran who worked out of Manhattan's 17th Precinct, was ejected from her car when she hit a barrier that was designed to stop out-of-control cars from hitting the stores near the ramp, according to the officials.

Police say she had been driving east off the bridge, near Crescent Street, when she hit the railing about 1:50 a.m., sending her car careening out of control, the NYPD said.

The car then bounced into a cement barrier and flipped onto its side, skidding along until it struck a vacant store at 25-06 Queens Plaza South — the same shop that was destroyed in a crash two years ago, the NYPD said.

The officer — a mother of two sons — was thrown from the car and pronounced dead at the scene, Kelly said.

Why the hell should taxpayers foot the bill for the Wilpons' highway ramps?

From Crain's:

Two days before the New York City Council is set to issue a preliminary but critical verdict on a $3 billion plan to build a huge retail complex at Willets Point, Queens, local officials have raised the ante. They have asked for the city to guarantee it will pay $70 million for traffic ramps leading into the development, which will ultimately include hotel and residential space, from the Van Wyck Expressway.

On Wednesday, two City Council subcommittees are set to vote on the plan, one of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's biggest economic development projects. His administration has already spent more than five years and millions of dollars putting it together. From the subcommittees, the plan will go in front of the full City Council as early as next week for a final vote. Usually, the wider Council votes in line with the decisions of its subsidiary committees.

The city has previously pledged to pay for the ramps, but the funds have not yet been allocated to the project in the city's capital budget. The Council, including Councilwoman Julissa Ferraras, whose district encompasses Willets Point and who is negotiating with the city, is asking that the ramps be woven into a deal the city arranged last year with the massive project's developers, The Related Cos. and Sterling Equities.

In response, Willets Point United has issued an open letter to the Council Members:

Apparently, you are DISREGARDING a primary objection of the community to the entire proposed project: the 1.4 million square foot shopping mall that would be built on 30+ acres of Queens parkland. Opposition to that mall on public parkland includes the Queens Civic Congress, which consists of 100+ civic associations throughout Queens; the Roosevelt Avenue Community Alliance, which recognizes that a mall at that location will destroy and displace numerous family-run businesses in Corona and Jackson Heights; and Queens Community Board 3, which voted 30-1 to DENY this application in part because CB3 opposes the mall on parkland; among many other groups that are opposed because of the MALL.

Regardless of whether or not the City provides $70 million for highway ramps, the community DOES NOT WANT THE PROJECT, because of the mall on parkland. Therefore, if you respect the will of the people, you will vote "NO".

But even if you succeed in obtaining an ironclad guarantee from the City of $70 million for highway ramps – and we don't believe an ironclad guarantee is possible now – that alone still does NOTHING to guarantee the housing and affordable housing, which a large sector of project opponents wants to see built. That's because regardless of the availability of $70 million, the project contract between Sterling/Related and NYCEDC still allows Sterling/Related to pay a cost-of-doing-business penalty of $35 million (in 2025), and build NO housing. Moreover, simply setting aside $70 million for highway ramps does not alter the text of the contract which states: "For the avoidance of doubt, in no event shall EDC or the City be required to construct the Ramps as part of the Development." [Contract Section 3.3.]

It's quite sad that Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is at the mercy of a bunch of Machine hacks...one of which is soon retiring from the Council (and likely will become a deputy BP), one of which is running for Speaker and the third who has no problem shortchanging her community in order to advance her political career.

Tweeders, all.

Marshall demands taxpayers build ramps for Wilpon's shopping mall

Save FMCP has a copy of the Borough President's ULURP decision with respect to the Mets shopping mall on mapped parkland.

QBP WilletsWest ULURP by Save Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

Here are the highlights:

- "There were 2 speakers in favor and 20 speakers opposed to the application" at the Borough President's hearing.
- "Phase 1A/1B will be a $3 billion dollar private investment..." Okay, but the mall first has to turn a profit and recoup this money before "affordable housing" - which is used interchangeably with "low-income housing" will be built. In other words, nothing will happen after the mall.
- "The full buildout and impacts of this construction will occur over the next few decades." Hmmm. I thought this was all supposed to be done by 2025. Sounds more like 2125 now.
- "Funding must be committed to the design and construction of the Van Wyck Expressway Access Ramps." That's right, Helen is demanding that our tax dollars be used to build ramps so that the Wilpons can build a shopping mall in a public park.

City not required to build required Willets Point ramps

From the Times Ledger:

Developers of the $3 million Willets Point project are not contractually required to build affordable housing in part because the city wants to shield itself from a potential lawsuit.

The Bloomberg administration did not want to risk paying out legal damages to the developers — Related Cos. and Sterling Equities, the real estate arm of the New York Mets — should the city fail to build additional ramps off the Van Wyck Expressway, an essential precursor to constructing the housing component of the project, officials and the companies said at a recent meeting.

“If for some unforeseen reason [the ramps] didn’t get built, they didn’t want us to have a right to sue the city,” Glen Goldstein, president of Related Retail, said at an April 25 meeting with Community Board 7. “It was done so there would be no liability from the city to the joint venture.”

After passing the City Council with much fanfare over the affordable housing component of the project in 2008, the 62-acre project was subsequently split into two phases by the Bloomberg administration.

The first phase was then split into two more phases by the joint venture, which inked a contract with the city in August 2012 to develop 23 acres.

The first phase entails cleaning the historically contaminated soil. Then the Queens Development Group will build a hotel and small retail stores along 126th Street across from Citi Field, a temporary parking lot behind that and a 1.4 million-square-foot mall west of Citi Field in a parking lot leased to the Mets.

The housing component, including affordable units, is slated to be built on the temporary parking lot in the second phase beginning in 2024, but there is no guarantee that will happen. The ramps are required to start, yet the city is not required to build them.

Mets & EDC bring details of sweetheart deal to CB7

From the Times Ledger:

The 1.4-million-square-foot mall proposed for the parking lot of Citi Field called Willets West is more like the Wild West in terms of zoning regulations, Community Board 7 learned last week at a meeting where many details of the $3 billion Willets Point redevelopment project were revealed.

A delegation from the city Economic Development Corp. also told board members that there is no contractual requirement for new ramps off the Van Wyck Expressway and that the Queens Development Group, composed of Sterling Equities and Related Cos., have a first shot at building the third phase of the project, which has not yet gone out to bid.

The mall is the first phase, along with a hotel and a strip of retail along 126th Street across from Citi Field. Housing, more retail and a school are in the second phase. The city has not selected a company to build the third phase.

The partnership is seeking city approval to build an interim parking lot in Willets Point during construction of the mall. The developers also need the green light for a proposal to host community recreational activities on the lot when patrons of the Mets are not parking there. The plans then call for the lot to be torn down to accommodate the housing component.

“We want to talk about zoning controls because there are none,” CB 7 Vice Chairman Chuck Apelian said at the meeting, referring to the mall site, which is mapped parkland.

The land is currently leased to the Mets, but converting its use to a mall would require a sublease involving the city Parks Department, the partnership and EDC.

The developers and the city said the zoning would be outlined in that sublease, and would closely resemble the commercial zoning outlined in the special Willets Point District.
But the CB 7 board had a problem: The lease will be drawn up by Parks and EDC, according to city representatives, not the City Planning Commission, which typically oversees zoning.

The board and members of a group opposed to the development also questioned EDC about ramps off the Van Wyck Expressway that are required to build the housing in the second phase.

According to the partnership’s plan, those ramps are slated for construction by the city in 2021 and completion in 2024 and are estimated at $50 million in today’s dollars, but there is nothing in the contract stipulating they have to be built.

Another car crashes on Queensboro off-ramp

From the NY Post:

Another car crashed today zooming off the 59th Street Bridge ramp that leads to Queens Plaza South and Crescent Street, which was the scene of two deadly crashes just over a year ago.

The car, a taxi, flew off the ramp and smashed into some scaffolding in front of a row of shops at 4:52 p.m., said cops. The cabbie refused medical attention.

“I saw it coming straight for me! I just ran,” said deli worker Preet Singh, 25.

“I wouldn’t be standing there. It’s like a death zone,” said Wilfredo Carbajal, 43, a super at a nearby building who recalled three other crashes at the site since early last year.

The city has tried to improve the intersection over the last year, by adding new signs, rumble strips, flashing lights and reflective tape, officials said.

Joe Crowley pushed for ramp approval despite pleas from constituents

From Willets Point United:

In this morning's Crain's we get a further report on the FHWA's boneheaded and indefensible decision to approve the Van Wyck ramps-against the wishes of every single Queens civic group that we have spoken to. What struck us the most was just how clueless Congressman Virginia Joe Crowley is about all this:

"The state Department of Transportation will need to approve design and construction of the ramps, but the federal approval was seen as the much bigger hurdle. Rep. Joseph Crowley played a key role in keeping the ramp issue high on the agenda of the Highway Administration and state Department of Transportation, a spokeswoman for the congressman said. Mr. Crowley stressed to them the job creating impact the project would have for Queens."

We understand why someone who lives in Virginia but who gorges at New York City feasts would be interested in all of those jobs-ca ching! We can hear all of the change being counted down at the headquarters of the Queens Democratic Party. Contractors, real estate developers, construction unions-everyone but the residents of the borough who will suffer through the gridlock that this project will create if it ever goes through. But Virginia roads will still be quite passable, thank you Joe.

But what the Crowley comment underscores is how ass backwards the regulators are. The Congressman understands that the development is contingent on the ramp approval-and by doing so dramatizes just how badly wrong the FHWA is when it accepts as its baseline the building of the development and its ridiculous assertion that the 62 acre project won't have any significant impact "on the human environment." Maybe not in Virginia.

Fuzzy math at Willets Point

From Willets Point United:

...EDC is stymieing our attempt to get information about its purchase of properties belonging to House of Spice and Fodera Foods...

...there's the matter of the $400 million that the city has allocated for the land purchases.What we know is that NYCEDC's written responses to questions posed by prospective Phase 1 developers includes the statement that no City capital funds are available to acquire Willets Point property beyond Phase 1 (other than the properties already acquired).

We don't know whether that means that the full $410 million will be consumed by Phase 1 acquisitions, or whether a decision was made to scale back the $410 million to a lower number sufficient only for Phase 1 (and if a decision was made, by whom). Inquiring minds want to know.

So we understand why EDC will not reveal this information but why should the tax payer be allowed to foot the bill for behind closed doors sweetheart deals that give privileged property owners great financial leverage to hold up future development? When all is said and done on Willets Point it will go down in the city's history as a scandalous shame and perversion of basic democratic principles.

And with all that said, the ramps still don't work!