Presented to attendees of the “Center for Climate Solutions Request for Expressions of Interest” on-site tour conducted by The Trust For Governors Island July 22, 2021.
Did You Know?
- There is strong community opposition to the City/Trust’s current plan for Governors Island with its high rise, high density rezoning in a one-of-a-kind green public open space. Manhattan Community Board 1 (CB1), the Manhattan Borough president and several City Planning Commissioners registered strong objections as did the majority of New Yorkers attending hearings. None speaking in favor (mostly groups reliant on the Trust) addressed rezoning details but cheered on the Center for Climate Solutions concept – a key function of which has been to help sell the unpopular rezoning to the public. There is no requirement that it be built and there are already several institutions in NYC that focus on Climate Change research and solutions (and abundant alternative sites).
- As CB1 points out, the plan is nearly three times larger than the public’s original understanding of what it would be, “and the drastic increase in scale of development is unacceptable.”
See: https://govislandcoalition.org/documents/cb1-12-22-20-gi-resolution - The planned development will displace the incredibly productive and educational GrowNYC urban farm, shove aside Earth Matter and Billion Oyster Project, and threaten over 50 mature trees in the eastern zone. The newly allowed heights (three times higher than “Outlook Hill”) and density are radically out of character with the historic and bucolic nature of the island.
- The development zones are in a flood zone and were inundated by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
- There is no plan for fulfilling FDNY requirements nor for how to mitigate substantial traffic, pedestrian and freight congestion at access points in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
- The substantial increase in sewage will be imposed on the ailing Red Hook water treatment plant, which also receives waste from the Gowanus district in Brooklyn (also facing massive development).
- The City/Trust has now gone public with the fact that they have been warehousing unused existing structures on the island in their offering them up as bonus space to developers. For years, the public has been told that renovating the buildings was financially unattractive to developers.
- That the only access to Governors Island will be via ferry is not practical for a large complex.
- Innovative and sustainable energy sources are not part of the plan.
- NYC Sierra Club, NYC Friends of Clearwater and other groups oppose the City/Trust’s current plan:
https://govislandcoalition.org/governors-island-community-sign-on-statement/#signees - High rise, high density development is not the best use of this unique public resource. Another approach: https://govislandcoalition.org/a-magic-plan