By Elizabeth O’Brien
Community opposition to the residential tower proposed for Chambers and West Sts. has kicked into full throttle with the approach of Tuesday’s public hearing on the development.
Local residents are planning to show up in force to protest the 35-story residential tower planned for the city-owned lot known as 5C, bounded by Chambers, Warren and West Sts. While Community Board 1 members have discussed the project at many meetings over the years, the public hearing will offer residents a larger forum to voice their concerns to the developer and city officials.
The March 30 public hearing is required under the city’s formal review of the project, which began last month and is expected to continue for another six months. The community has mixed opinions on whether the hearing might convince Scott Resnick, the developer, to make the changes it has pushed for: a reduction in the building’s height and the construction of a 40,000-square-foot community center instead of the 18,000-square-foot recreation space slated for the site.
“I would bet dollars to donuts at the end of this discussion there will be a lot of pleased people,” said Bob Townley, a member of C.B. 1 and the director of Manhattan Youth, a nonprofit youth services provider. Manhattan Youth will be one of the community groups using the recreation center.
On the other hand, Sandy Bridges, the principal of P.S. 234, said she has no sense that the developer is receptive to community concerns.
“I don’t get the feeling they really care,” Bridges said. She added that she found it “off-putting” that the developer’s office had not contacted her to discuss ways to protect P.S. 234 when construction starts in early 2005.
The top-ranked elementary school, located directly beside the 5C lot, will absorb the brunt of the building’s expected impact on the neighborhood. The community fears dust and noise during construction, and shadows and congestion once the building is complete.
A draft environmental impact study on the project presented a detailed analysis, conducted by city contractors, of the various ways the development will affect the community. In one particularly stark assessment, it said of the shadows the building will cast, “the significant adverse impact identified for Washington Market Park could only be mitigated by reducing the height of the proposed building to below 250 feet.”
The community would like to see the building reduced from its planned 360 feet, along with an expansion of the proposed community center. In the months leading up to the public hearing, some community board members disagreed about the best way to achieve these two goals, debating when to signal a readiness to negotiate with the developer. Some worried that one goal would take precedence over the other.
But in the week before the public hearing, the community board seemed united in equal support of both goals. In its April meeting, the Tribeca committee of C.B. 1 will draft a resolution on the developer’s application through ULURP, the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.
Through its response, the community hopes also to set a precedent for site 5B, across from 5C and bounded by Warren and Murray Sts. on the north and south and Greenwich and West Sts. on the east and west. While no plans have been finalized for the site, city officials said earlier this month that the development would likely include a residential tower taller than 5C.
Janel Patterson, a spokesperson for the city Economic Development Corporation, said there was still time for community suggestions to be incorporated into the 5C design. As part of the ULURP process, city agencies, the Manhattan borough president and the City Council will all review the development proposal.
City Councilmember Alan Gerson, whose district includes 5C, said there’s work to be done: “It’s clear the plan for 5C requires considerable modification.”
The public hearing on site 5C will be held on Tuesday, March 30, at 6 p.m. in the P.S./I.S. 89 auditorium at 201 Warren St. in Battery Park City.
Elizabeth@DowntownExpress.com
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