The Atlantic Yards Project

The Atlantic Yards Project

Atlantic Yards Approval Challenged:

On Nov. 19, the Park Slope Civic Council oined six other Brooklyn civic groups, all members of the BrooklynSpeaks coalition, in filing suit against the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC), challenging ESDC’s September 17 approval of the 2009 Atlantic Yards Modified General Project Plan.

Civic Council trustees voted Oct. 1 to join the suit, which follows years of failed efforts to negotiate with the state and the developer.

Read the full story here.

Background:

Forest City Ratner Companies proposes to build the largest development in Brooklyn history, at Park Slope's northern edge. The Atlantic Yard project would have a profound impact on our neighborhood in myriad ways. Some changes, such as  increased traffic and a radically transformed skyline, would be direct and obvious; others would be more subtle but just as significant: a shift in the way of life in Brownstone Brooklyn, for example. The sidebar lists some of the ways the Civic Council has tried to make itself heard on this massive Brooklyn-changing project, where the public, sadly, has been given little chance to have a say.

PSCC Statement on Atlantic Yards
Adopted October 5, 2006

I. The Park Slope Civic Council cannot support the “Atlantic Yards” project as currently proposed. We take this action reluctantly because development of the Vanderbilt Railyards and new construction around Flatbush, Atlantic and Fourth Avenues represents a great opportunity for Brooklyn for the following reasons:

1. It could allow for growth and economic development.
2. It could provide badly needed affordable housing. 
3. It could create jobs and help to alleviate high unemployment rates in the adjacent community.
4. It could represent an opportunity to strengthen infrastructure.
5. It could integrate neighborhoods currently divided by the railyards.
6. It could help attract a major-league professional sports franchise to Brooklyn for the first time in 50 years.

II. However, while the Park Slope Civic Council supports development over the Railyards and at Atlantic/Flatbush/Fourth Avenues, we do not support the “Atlantic Yards” project as currently proposed for the following reasons:

1. The process by which this project has been put forward has lacked both community participation and oversight by city agencies, both of which would have been addressed by ULURP, a more thorough and democratic process.
2. The environmental review process has not permitted adequate community participation. The public hearings on the project scope and the Draft Environmental Impact Statement were poorly conducted. The scope of the DEIS is insufficient. The proposed project would create too many unmitigable impacts.
3. The project will not improve quality of life. It will make it worse.
4. The project makes inappropriate use of eminent domain.

III. The Park Slope Civic Council believes that significant development can work over the Vanderbilt Railyards and should go forth, but only under the following conditions. The state, city, and developer need to redesign the project under the principles promoted by BrooklynSpeaks.net, of which the Park Slope Civic Council is a co-sponsor:

1. Respect and integrate the surrounding neighborhoods. This includes, but is not limited to, a substantial reduction of the project and the creation of truly public open space.
2. A long-term transportation plan that really works. This includes implementing residential parking permits and traffic calming measures and developing a robust Brooklyn mass transit improvement plan.
3. Affordable housing that addresses community needs. A reasonable portion of that housing must be included in the first phase of the project.
4. A truly public process. That process must include consideration and integration of all major development projects and studies currently underway such as the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming and Transportation Blueprint, and the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning. It must also include reviews of the project so that the community can evaluate progress and commitments from the developer, city and state during construction.