CB9�s Summer Spent Preparing

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CB9�s Summer Spent Preparing
Later This Fall, CB9 Will Weigh in on Columbia�s Proposed Manhattanville Expansion Project, as CU Seeks Zoning Approvals in Preparation
By Lindsay Schubiner
Spectator Staff Writer

September 09, 2005

Community Board 9 members spent a busy summer learning about the city approval processes through which proposed developments, including Columbia�s plan for expansion into Manhattanville, must pass.In the coming months, these procedures will have a large role in determining the future shape and character of both Manhattanville and Community District 9 as a whole.

CB9 is preparing for the release of Columbia�s environmental impact statement later this fall and the public review period during which the board will be able to comment on the statement. Though the community board does not have veto power over Columbia�s plan, it can make recommendations that are typically responded to in the final draft of the environmental impact statement.

�CB9 has been using the summer to prepare itself,� board chair Jordi Reyes-Montblanc said.

The Department of City Planning held multiple information sessions for community members to explain the City Environmental Quality Review. This process mandates the creation of an environmental impact statement, which identifies the effects that proposed actions, such as development or rezoning, may have on the environment. The sessions also covered the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which New York City instituted in 1976 to ensure public review of proposed land use changes. All major developments in the city must pass both of these reviews in order to obtain final approval.

�We accomplished a lot of things,� Reyes-Montblanc said of CB9�s summer. �We were particularly successful in educating our board and community in the process and procedures of the ULURP and [the environmental impact statement].�

The environmental review will force Columbia to disclose its exact plans for the expansion area because the environmental impact statement must include not only the zoning changes that Columbia seeks, but also all of the construction projects Columbia is currently planning for the new campus.

Once the environmental review has completed a number of steps, Columbia will initiate the land use review procedure in order to rezone parts of Manhattanville from manufacturing to mixed use, which would allow the construction of the taller buildings Columbia�s expansion plans involve.

As it readies itself to hear presentations on Columbia�s plans for expansion, CB9 is drafting its own 197-a plan for the neighborhood, which does not implement zoning changes but provides general guidelines that influence future development projects and land use decisions. If the community board�s 197-a plan is completed before Columbia�s plan is approved, the City Planning Commission must give important consideration to the consistency of Columbia�s plan with the goals of the 197-a plan.

In July, Councilman Robert Jackson announced that he had secured $150,000 from the City Council�s 2006 fiscal budget to complete CB9�s 197-a plan.

�We�re very pleased with our council member�s support of and commitment to the completion and submission to ULURP of Community Board 9�s 197-a plan,� Pat Jones, chair of the board�s 197-a plan committee, told Spectator in July.

CB9 will use the money for technical assistance from experts and other costs of finalizing the 197-a plan, which was approved by the community board in October and will come under threshold review from city planning this fall. Threshold review is one of the early steps in the approval process for 197-a plans, in which city planning staff make sure that the plan meets their standards for content and sound planning policy.