Columbia U.-area city plan clears first hurdle
By Lindsay Schubiner
Columbia Daily Spectator (Columbia U.)10/31/2005
(U-WIRE) NEW YORK — After more than 10 years, adoption of Community Board 9's 197-A plan by the City Planning Commission took a major step forward.
The board's plan, which consists of a set of broad recommendations for the long-term development of the community district, passed the preliminary "threshold" review on October 17th. This process requires approval by the City Planning Commission to ensure that the plan is logical, convincing, realistic, and consistent with sound planning policy before it can move forward into the substantive review phase, which entails obtaining input from the public and the borough president, final approval by the Planning Commission, and a City Council vote.
Although the plan is not binding, if it is approved, the City Planning Commission must consult it when reviewing any District 9 development plans.
According to board chair Jordi Reyes-Montblanc, passing this review is the primary important milestone in passing the threshold review. "We are confident that as things stand now, we stand a good chance of passing," he said.
While 197-A would not directly interfere with Columbia University's proposed expansion into West Harlem, its adoption would put in place zoning recommendations that might make it more difficult for Columbia to get the planning commission's approval to build certain types of buildings in the area. The review decision was accompanied by a letter from Amanda Burden, the chair of the Planning Commission, which noted that Columbia's re-zoning proposal for Manhattanville reflects a vision for the future of the neighborhood that is in "sharp contrast" to that of the 197-A plan. The letter asked CB9 to enter into a dialogue with Columbia about the plans before the public review process began and to "make good faith efforts to identify common ground and achieve consensus wherever possible."
Reyes-Montblanc emphasized that the discussion process between Columbia and the Community Board would be transparent. He added that an initial meeting with key players to set up ground rules for the discussions would likely occur in the very near future.
"There's no way of predicting whether that will be fruitful or not," said Pat Jones, the chair of the Board's 197-A committee of the upcoming discussions. "We can all be cautiously optimistic." University officials said they would continue to work with CB9 on the 197-A.
"Representatives of Columbia met with a committee of Community Board 9 as it was developing a draft of its 197-A plan," said Robert Kasdin, Columbia's executive vice president. "We are committed to continuing and intensifying discussions with CB9 to seek common ground wherever possible."
The Planning Commission also stipulated that the two plans enter the next review phase at the same time so that they could be considered together.
"We felt it was important that the Commission see both plans and see where they agree and where they don't agree," said Edwin Marshall, a representative from city planning who presented the 197-A plan to the Commission. Marshall noted that both plans agree on larger issues such as increasing retail areas and green space and being mindful of historic preservation.
However, he said there are some significant differences that need to be ameliorated. The two proposals conflict concerning the role of manufacturing and the height of buildings within the area. The Board's plan supports the retention of light manufacturing, especially those businesses that combine manufacturing with retail, and preserves fairly low building heights to maintain the neighborhood's character, while opposing residential displacement.
Columbia's plan would re-zone the manufacturing areas to mixed use so that they could accommodate a variety of possible uses, such as classrooms and housing, as well as taller buildings.
The 197-A plan also covers the area from 110th Street to 155th Street west of Morningside Dr. and St. Nicholas Parks, a larger area than Columbia's plan, which involves only the much smaller area between Broadway and 12th Avenue from 125th St. to 133rd St. and to the east of Broadway from 131st St. to 134th St.
It remains to be seen what might come out of the discussions between Columbia and the Board. According to Marshall, Planning Commission is "hoping that a consensus can be reached for both and that both can achieve their goals."
Community officials doubt that the changes will be substantial.
"I don't expect that the 197-A plan would change, but it may see some refinements," Jones said. As to the changes that the 197-A plan had to incorporate to pass the threshold review, it seems that there were relatively few.
"The essential elements that had been in the plan from the onset are there now," said Marshall.
Copyright ©2005 Columbia Daily Spectator via UWire
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