BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | Updated Wed., Aug. 2, 3:15 p.m.: Community Board 2 released its online survey on the “Future of Pier 40” on Monday. A series of monthly meetings by a C.B. 2 working group have failed to generate much turnout. So the e-survey is an effort to cast a wider net and capture a greater sense of the community’s sentiment on how to redevelop the 15.4-acre W. Houston St. pier.
The survey can be found at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/community-P40F .
The questionnaire queries community members regarding what they do and don’t want to see at the massive former shipping pier, which is simultaneously both a key commercial cog and recreational site in the 5-mile-long Hudson River Park.
One question, for example, asks respondents if they would accept taller towers on Pier 40 — which would involve re-massing of the existing three-story pier shed structure, and likely some additional development using the pier’s other existing development rights — in return for opening up new space on the pier. Or, on the other hand, the survey offers, is it more important to keep structures low along the waterfront in Hudson River Park?
Another question asks if people think the pier is a good place to generate solar or wind power.
The survey allows some space at the end for respondents to “express any additional thoughts” about Pier 40.
The C.B. 2 Future of Pier 40 Working Group hopes to have its recommendations for the pier in place by the end of the year. The Hudson River Park Trust — the park’s state-city governing authority — has made it clear it would like to use as much as possible of the pier’s remaining development rights on the pier itself. If the pier’s existing shed structure is razed, the amount of development rights available on Pier 40 would equal about half the floor area of the Empire State Building.
The Trust also wants to change the Hudson River Park Act of 1998 to allow commercial office use on Pier 40 as a revenue generator for the waterfront park.
Ironically, back in 2012, developer Douglas Durst pitched a plan for commercial offices on Pier 40 while the Trust and local youth sports leagues were then favoring residential development on or next to the pier. The falling out saw Durst resign as chairperson of the Friends of Hudson River Park. In turn, as first reported by The Villager, Durst recently has been funding The City Club of New York’s lawsuits against the Trust’s $250 million Pier55 plan, which Barry Diller would fund.
