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(718) 624-7200 Info@Diamondreporting.Com 1 2 1 1 CHARTER REVISION COMMISSION 2 PUBLIC ISSUE FORUM 3 LAND USE 4 QUEENS BOROUGH PUBLIC LIBRARY 5 41-17 MAIN STREET 6 FLUSHING, QUEENS 7 6:12 P.M. 8 9 CHAIR: DR. MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN 10 COMMISSION MEMBERS: 11 JOHN H. BANKS, VICE CHAIR 12 ANTHONY PEREZ CASSINO 13 BETTY Y. CHEN 14 DAVID CHEN 15 HOPE COHEN 16 ANTHONY W. CROWELL 17 STEPHEN FIALA 18 ANGELA MARIANA FREYRE, SECRETARY 19 ERNEST HART 20 REV. JOSEPH M. McSHANE, S.J. 21 KENNETH M. MOLTNER 22 KATHERYN PATTERSON 23 CARLO A. SCISSURA 24 BISHOP MITCHELL G. TAYLOR 25 DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 1 2 1 CHAIRMAN GOLDSTEIN: Good evening, ladies and 2 gentlemen I'm Matthew Goldstein, the Chairman of 3 the Charter Revision Commission. We are about to 4 begin our deliberations for this evening. But 5 before we do, I would like to acknowledge the 6 presence of our very esteemed Borough President 7 of Queens, Helen Marshall, who has asked for a 8 little time to welcome you and to say a few 9 words. 10 Madam Borough President. 11 BOROUGH PRESIDENT MARSHALL: Thank you very 12 much. Good evening, everyone. First of all, I 13 would like to welcome Matthew Goldstein, a 14 fabulous Commissioner, a fabulous Chancellor of 15 our City University, under his leadership has 16 expanded and grown and increased. It's a 17 wonderful contribution to the entire City of New 18 York. 19 I want to thank the Commission for coming to 20 Queens tonight to hear from Queens residents who 21 have a lot to say about land use. And I'm 22 delighted that you did choose the topic of land 23 use. 24 I welcome both Chancellor Goldstein and all 25 the members of the Commission, and I'm here today DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 2 3 1 to speak on behalf of the more than 2.3 million 2 people of Queens and to offer views on Charter 3 Revision. In particular, the City's land use and 4 development process. 5 I'd like to point out that when the City 6 Council -- when we did away with the Board of 7 Estimate and the City Council became the 8 governing body, one of the most important 9 responsibilities that was given to them was land 10 use. We have a great many concerns about what is 11 built, how it's built, and where it's built. And 12 that requires we have a very extensive ULURP 13 process that we refined over the years. 14 The importance of the land use process 15 extends beyond zoning changes and major 16 developments. Projects must be planned to expand 17 the Borough's need, and the possible impact on 18 the environment, and the quality of life in our 19 communities to be considered. 20 I have recently been involved in planning 21 development of large areas. Such as Willets 22 Point, Hunters Point, Flushing Commons, and 23 recent and right now working on the whole Queens 24 Borough Plaza. When you cross that bridge it's 25 going to look very different. In fact, it's DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 3 4 1 already starting look different, and it's going 2 to be beautiful. I worked on countess other 3 smaller projects that are just as important to 4 local residents. 5 Working with developers, community 6 representatives and city officials, I had helped 7 to shape or modify projects and make them more 8 appropriate to their respective communities. 9 Also, I helped to obtain agreements from the 10 developers that are a benefit to the community. 11 The Borough Presidents Charter-Mandated role 12 in the land use and development process is 13 already significant, but it should be much 14 stronger. Also, Community Boards, too often 15 ignored by the City, need to be given stronger 16 voice. I know that when we developed the ULURP 17 process it was an attempt to do that, but it has 18 not completed the job. Therefore, I am calling 19 for a number of revisions to the City Charter 20 which are intended to make Borough Presidents and 21 Community Boards more effective with stronger 22 roles in land use and development. 23 Borough Presidents as independently elected 24 officials with Charter-mandated duties in land 25 use and development must be given an DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 4 5 1 independently determined baseline operating 2 budget. 3 The ULURP process should be amended to 4 require that the City Planning Commission can 5 only overturn a Borough President's 6 recommendation by a supermajority vote. Borough 7 Presidents should be given appointments to the 8 Landmarks Commission, the Board of Standards and 9 Appeals and the Art Commission. Too much of that 10 is now advisory. 11 Borough Presidents must be given the 12 resources to operate their planning offices to 13 fulfill their Charter mandates, to provide 14 technical assistance to their Community Boards. 15 They must also have the resources to hire or 16 contract with environmental experts. 17 The Charter also requires that Borough 18 Presidents have a consulting engineer on staff. 19 Most of us can only afford to have a part-time 20 engineer. The Charter should provide a way for 21 Borough Presidents to monitor and, of course, in 22 compliance with Community Benefit Agreements. 23 Fair Share principles should be applied during 24 the planning stages on a Citywide basis so that 25 no individual Borough gets saturated with more DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 5 6 1 than its Fair Share of certain kinds of buildings 2 or facilities. 3 The Charter should provide for the creation 4 of Borough Infrastructure Committees chaired by 5 the Borough President. Community Boards must also 6 be given the resources to perform their Charter- 7 mandated duties. They should have guaranteed 8 budgets, access to urban planners and other 9 professionals with technical expertise. These 10 are just some of the suggestions which would 11 ensure that land use changes in developments 12 advocated by the City do not have unanticipated 13 and negative impacts. 14 I can say to you that when a project is 15 being proposed, a land use project is being 16 proposed for a community, they all have land use 17 committees, they all have zoning committees, and 18 they go out and look, and they also know their 19 community. They also have a right to look and 20 see who is applying for liquor licenses. They 21 all know which ones have been doing the wrong 22 thing, they should not be granted a new license. 23 They're the people, and as we move forward 24 with this process, we have perfected Democracy. 25 But we must never stop perfecting Democracy. We DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 6 7 1 have the voice of the people. Every month 2 there's 50 people, a group of 14 people 14 bodies 3 on each Community Board, who are sitting in, 4 anticipating and analyzing the needs of their 5 district. That is a major, major change, and it's 6 wonderful. I was on the first, early Community 7 Boards, and we've come a long way. And each 8 Charter revision has made the Community Boards 9 even stronger. They are the voice of the people, 10 and we have to rely on them. And we have pretty 11 strict -- we work with them very closely. I have 12 a representative from my office at every single 13 meeting and we work closely together. 14 I thank you very much for this opportunity. 15 I have a more lengthy, I have a more lengthy 16 statement, but I'm not going to read it now. 17 You'll have it so that you can look at it at your 18 leisure. Thank you. 19 CHAIRMAN GOLDSTEIN: Thank you very much, 20 Borough President Marshall. 21 Tonight the Commission, as all of you 22 undoubtedly are aware, will focus on land use. 23 Just very briefly, in 1975 the Charter was 24 amended to create a uniform procedure for the 25 review of land use applications, or more commonly DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 7 8 1 known as ULURP. The Board of Estimate exercised 2 jurisdiction over land use decisions until it was 3 eliminated by voter approval of the 1989 Charter 4 Revision Commission proposals. The '89 Charter 5 vested final say over land use decisions in the 6 City Planning Commission and the City Council. 7 Tonight's forum we will hear from experts in 8 land use from academia, the private sector, and 9 City government who will shed light on how the 10 processes work in practice and how they can be 11 improved, and I will introduce our very esteemed 12 panel in just a minute. 13 Just in terms of process, this is the 10th 14 forum that we have had. The first were a series 15 of five forums, one in each Borough. And the last 16 five, this being the last of the five, were on 17 issue forums that were again discussed in each of 18 our Boroughs. 19 When we finish tonight, the Commission and 20 the staff will have very serious discussions 21 amongst ourselves to get a sense of all of the 22 materials that we have discussed and learned 23 about and will provide an opportunity in written 24 form to give a preliminary assessment of where we 25 think we wish to go as the process winds down.
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