IDA also approves tax -exempt bonds for 2 health care entities and 1 private school. On October 9, 2007, the New York City Industrial Development Agency voted to provide financial assistance to four entities.

IDA awarded the Bronx Parking Development Company $225 million in tax-exempt bonds to finance the design, construction, and renovation of three new parking garages, two existing garages and six surface lots that would serve the new Yankee Stadium. According to IDA, the parking project will create approximately 555 construction and operational jobs. (more…)

Parks renovation plans proceed for the fountain basin and plaza at Washington Square Park. After Community Board 2, Landmarks, and the Art Commission approved Parks’ renovation plans for Washington Square Park, neighboring residents claimed that Parks failed to adequately disclose details of the plan during the approval process. In August 2006, a lower court enjoined Parks from moving forward with the renovation, ordering Parks to resubmit plans for the fountain and fountain plaza to each group. 3 CityLand 112 (Aug. 15, 2006).

On appeal the First Department reversed, ruling that there was no reason to annul the approvals. The court found that neither the Charter nor the Administrative Code required community board approval over park development projects like the one at Washington Square. While there could be an instance when withholding information would warrant a court order for a new review, in this case the court found substantial evidence that Parks adequately informed the board and it was aware of the details of the final plan. Parks held numerous informal discussions and also made a detailed presentation to the board. The court similarly found that Parks adequately informed Landmarks and the Art Commission and that it had not made any material omissions to either. (more…)

Plans sent back to Community Board, Landmarks and Art Commission. Under Parks’ plan to renovate Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, the off-center fountain would be moved 22 feet to align it with the park’s famous arch at its Fifth Avenue entrance. The new fountain would be raised to grade level, have a 45-foot high water plume, and be 23 percent smaller than its current size. Parks received approvals for renovations from Manhattan’s Community Board 2, Landmarks and the Art Commission.

Four Greenwich Village residents sought an injunction to stop Parks’ renovation, arguing that Parks failed to get needed approvals since it submitted obscure plans, withheld information, and failed to clearly explain its plans at each step. The residents submitted evidence alleging that Landmarks voted on a plan to repair, but not move the fountain; Board 2 later approved a plan to reduce the fountain’s size by only 10 percent; and months later the Art Commission was first to learn of the 45-foot plume of water, which, the residents allege, would eliminate the ability to sit around the fountain to watch performers, a historic use of the fountain since the 1960s. (more…)

Opponents filed claim 31 months too late. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which leases the land in Central Park from Parks under an 1871 directive of the state legislature, proposed to renovate the museum in 2000 and presented a detailed plan to Parks and Landmarks. The plan called for a new loading dock, the addition of public cafeterias and new auditoriums. Parks Commissioner Henry Stern signed off on the plan in December 2002, noting that the proposal would not expand the museum beyond its existing footprint, and Landmarks approved in early 2001. Due to September 11th, the Museum scaled back its plans, reducing the proposed addition from 200,000 to 40,000 sq.ft. and abandoning the loading dock plan.

After the Museum started work, the Metropolitan Museum Historic District Coalition, a group of Upper East Side residents concerned about the renovation’s potential traffic, pollution and safety problems, sent a letter to the Museum and the City, complaining that the Museum’s renovation work violated a long-standing commitment against expansion onto additional Parks land. The Museum responded by letter in July of 2003. (more…)

Local group opposed Parks’ plan to relocate restaurant. Parks’ renovation of Union Square Park included a redesigned playground, a new comfort station, and a restored historic pavilion at the northern end of the park. The project also included moving a private seasonal restaurant, located south of the pavilion, into the pavilion. The Union Square Community Coalition filed an article 78 petition, raising several arguments. It claimed that the restaurant relocation, which diverted use of the pavilion from public use to non-public use, was a prohibited use of parkland that violated the public trust doctrine. The Coalition also claimed that Parks failed to prepare an environmental impact statement as required under the State environmental review law. Finally, the Coalition claimed that Parks had failed to obtain a zoning amendment and had failed to comply with the City’s land use review process. (more…)