By Albert Amateau
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has called on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to take a deeper look into the environmental impacts of the World Trade Center Memorial and Redevelopment Plan.
In an Aug.7 letter responding to the L.M.D.C. call for public comment on the draft generic environmental impact statement for the proposed trade center redevelopment, Silver said that important aspects of the project were either not mentioned or need to be expanded.
“The At-Grade-Alternative for the Route 9A reconstruction must also be added to the lists of projects to be studied,” said Silver, who estimated that an at-grade 9A reconstruction would cost about $700 million less than the tunnel bypass between Vesey and Liberty Sts., which is favored by Governor Pataki.
In an Aug. 4 letter to the state transportation department, Silver recalled that the department was exploring the possibility of building pedestrian bridges over Rte. 9A. The speaker said he believed bridges over the highway were a better choice than a tunnel. “I strongly urge N.Y.S.D.O.T. to include pedestrian bridges in the final plan, especially one in the Morris St. vicinity. This will add a minor amount to the cost but provide major access opportunities to residents, workers and visitors on both sides of the highway,” Silver said
Community Board 1 on July 29 expressed strong doubts about whether the tunnel project was worth doing in the light of other Downtown transportation needs. The community board, which previously supported the tunnel reconstruction, passed by a vote of 25-10 the resolution expressing “serious reservations about the cost-effectiveness of the West St. bypass.”
Nevertheless, Tim Carey, president and C.E.O. of The Battery Park City Authority, and a close associate of the governor, told Downtown Express at the beginning of August, “There’s not an at-grade option. The governor said he wants a tunnel.”
City Councilmember Alan Gerson was strongly critical of the remark. He noted that much of the Battery Park City community has been opposed to the tunnel and that the state transportation department proposed two alternatives. “The governor’s position would suggest that there is no option at all,” Gerson said.
However, in his comments to L.M.D.C., Silver said, “Since the New York State Department of Transportation is considering both of these options … it is essential that the analysis of this [at-grade] alternative be included [in the W.T.C. environmental study] as well.”
The Assembly speaker, whose district includes most of Lower Manhattan, also urged the L.M.D.C. to include a study of the impact of winds on the neighborhood in the scope of the redevelopment project.
“The height and placement of the buildings, the design of the Memorial and the placement of through streets on the W.T.C. site are all certain to create wind patterns which will be detrimental to people and elements on the ground level,” said Silver.
The speaker also said that the full-length Second Avenue subway project, not mentioned in the draft environmental impact secondary study area, must also be included in the final E.I.S. The secondary study area encompasses all of Lower Manhattan south of Canal St. and west of Pike St. from the Hudson River to the East River.
“This new subway project is currently in the M.T.A. Capital Plan… and is expected to begin construction by the end of 2004,” Silver said. “The completion of this project will affect development trends in a major way by resolving the extreme congestion on the Lexington Ave. subway lines and stations,” he added.
Silver said the L.M.D.C. should pay special attention to the noise and air pollution at construction sites and staging areas, which could severely impact nearby residential and business neighborhoods. “All mitigation measures must be monitored and if not successful, new methods must be developed and instituted,” Silver said. He said the L.M.D.C. should make public the type of air monitoring and the list of substances being monitored during construction.
Citing a recent residential housing survey by Community Board 1, Silver said that more than 13,000 new residential units, increasing the population of the district to 60,000, are expected in the next two years. “By 2015, the year the [W.T.C. redevelopment] is expected to be completed, the assumption is that the population of the C.B. 1 area will reach even greater heights,” said Silver, who urged the L.M.D.C. to consider the project’s impact on a greatly increased residential population.
Michele McManus, an L.M.D.C. spokesperson, said that all comments would be reviewed as part of the environmental review process for the World Trade Center Memorial and Redevelopment Plan. “L.M.D.C. will issue a generic environmental impact statement in the late fall, which will also be subject to a public comment period,” she said.
