By Patrick Hedlund
As debate over efforts to rezone and landmark the Lower East Side rages among residents, preservationists and developers in the community, the city has moved even closer to declaring its intentions for the neighborhood with possible determinations to come as early as the end of the year.
The Department of City Planning plans to release a final scope work toward the end of 2007 regarding a rezoning proposal encompassing more than 100 blocks on the Lower East Side and East Village, said Jennifer Torres, an agency spokesperson.
She said the department is “carefully considering” revised multi-point plan proposed by Community Board 3 at a scoping hearing in late June – which requests the inclusion of more affordable housing and tenant protection measures – as well as other comments received from the community.
After issuing the final scope of work, the department will begin preparing a draft environmental impact statement, which Torres noted could take about six months to complete. Following the D.E.I.S., City Planning will initiate the official public review process, known as ULURP, which would likely take an additional seven months, she added.
Realistically, that means the Lower East Side could begin to see rezoning implemented as early the end of 2008, according to the spokesperson.
C.B. 3 has thrown its support behind the proposal, granted City Planning takes into account an 11-point plan introduced by the board to make 30 percent of newly developed units in the area affordable, as opposed to the department’s original plan of 20 percent. The board would also like the rezoning to include anti-harassment and anti-demolition provisions.
“My understanding is that [City Planning has] been pretty receptive to things that the community board recommended,” said C.B. 3 chairperson David McWater, who noted the board would be amenable to negotiating the proposal. “I haven’t heard anything negative so far, so I’m hopeful.”
He said the board’s plan would prevent further over-development in the neighborhood and encourage affordable housing.
Roberto Ragone, president of the Lower East Side Business Improvement District, said he has no problems with the rezoning plan outside of the BID, but he is concerned that downzoning may hinder business activity.
“We’re totally in favor of the city’s zoning proposal north of Houston,” Ragone said of, referring to the East Village portion. “South of Houston, we have this commercial accent that needs to be preserved.”
He believes any major downzoning of the Lower East Side’s commercial properties would act to discourage innovative business tenants, or the “creative economy,” and light manufacturing from moving in. Ragone also touted the BID’s own rezoning plan, which calls for bigger buildings closer to the waterfront and near transportation hubs.
However, landmarking the Lower East Side, another hot-button issue that’s received support from the community board and other neighborhood organizations, has met with criticism from developers and property owners since its proposal by the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in mid-2006.
The plan, which calls for a 20-block swath of the L.E.S. to be designated a historic district, was most recently championed by the newly formed Lower East Side Preservation Coalition, a collection of neighborhood civic organizations. The proposed historic district would run from E. Houston St. to just below Canal St., and include the commercial and residential stretches along Allen, Orchard, Ludlow and Essex Sts.
“I think people are very interested in seeing the area landmarked,” said Renee Epps, the Tenement Museum’s executive vice president. “And I think with all the development that’s occurring, it becomes more and more critical.”
Lisi de Bourbon, spokesperson for the Landmarks Preservation Commission, said the agency had documented 2,308 buildings on the Lower East Side by the end of September as part of an ongoing citywide survey. The documentation includes collecting basic information including a description of the structure, when it was built, its style of architecture and the name of the architect.
The sweeping survey, which de Bourbon said began in September of 2006, includes the documentation of over 18,000 buildings citywide. She did not, however, give a timetable for when L.E.S. landmarking status could be determined.
At least one local real estate developer has repeatedly sounded off against landmarking, saying an overarching plan would freeze local development and stem what he considers positive growth on the Lower East Side.
Sion Misrahi, a developer who has brought new retail to the neighborhood, accused the Tenement Museum of acting in its own interests by trying to turn the area into “Disneyland.”
“How do you strip people of their right to build over their one-story structure?” said Misrahi. “You strip people of a valuable asset; you’re just taking money away from people. How do you do that?”
Misrahi, an L.E.S. resident, agreed with Ragone that the city should not move to limit development on valuable sites near large subway stops. He said if plans to broadly landmark and rezone the area are successful, he won’t be around to see it.
“Probably, I will move out of the neighborhood,” Misrahi said of how he would react to any possible changes. “There’s better places to put my money… You’ve eliminated store rentals, you’ve eliminated any future development – you’ve just destroyed an entire area.”
