New York City - Region 2 Regional Open Space Advisory Committee
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NEW YORK CITY - REGION 2 REGIONAL OPEN SPACE ADVISORY COMMITTEE COUNTIES BRONX, KINGS (BROOKLYN), NEW YORK (MANHATTAN), QUEENS, RICHMOND (STATEN ISLAND) COMMITTEE MEMBERS CITY APPOINTMENTS Bronx Borough President's Office Colleen Alderson, Sam Goodman NYC Parks and Recreation 851 Grand Concourse, 3rd Floor 830 Fifth Avenue Rm. 401 Bronx, NY 10451 New York, NY 10065 Brooklyn Borough Bill Tai President's Office NYC Parks and Recreation Elisabeth Ernish 830 Fifth Avenue Rm. 401 209 Joralemon Street New York, NY 10065 Brooklyn, NY 11201 John McLaughlin Manhattan Borough NYC DEP President's Office 59-17 Junction Blvd. Steve Corson Flushing, NY 11373 1 Centre Street, 19th Fl. New York, NY 10007 Michael Marrella NYC City Planning Queens Borough 22 Reade Street President's Office New York, NY 10007 Alexandra Rosa 120-55 Queens Blvd. Kew Gardens, NY 11424 Staten Island Borough President's Office Nick Dmytryszyn 10 Richmond Terrace Staten Island, NY 10301 STATE APPOINTMENTS Page Cowley Robert Pirani Page Ayres Cowley Architects, LLC Regional Plan Association 10 East 33rd Street, 7th Floor 4 Irving Place New York, NY 10016 New York, NY 10003 Ellen Pratt Marc Matsil Protectors of Pine Oaks Woods Trust for Public Land P.O. Box 140747 666 Broadway Staten Island, NY 10314 New York, NY 10012 Emina Sendich Jane Sokolow, Bronx Council for National Parks Service Environmental Quality 160 Beach Street Two Spaulding Lane New York, NY 10304 Bronx, NY 10471 Alyson Beha Murad Awawdeh New Yorkers for Parks UPROSE 55 Broad Street, 23rd Fl. 166A 22nd Street New York, NY 10004 Brooklyn, NY 11232 LeAnn Shelton, Esq. Don Riepe Public Art Commission (former member) Jamaica Bay Guardian 5 Union Square West West 9th Road New York, NY 10003 Broad Channel, NY 11693 A. Mychal Johnson Tom Gravel South Bronx Unite Open Space Institute 335 E. 140th Street 1350 Broadway, Suite 201 Bronx, NY 10454 New York, NY 10018 Cecil Corbin Mark West Harlem Environmental Action 1843 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY 10031 EX OFFICIO Karen Phillips, NYS OPRHP Venetia Lannon, NYS DEC 163 West 125th St., 17th Floor 47-40 21st Street New York, NY 10027 Long Island City, NY 11101 ADVISORY MEMBERS Chris Zeppie, Robert Nyman, Program Director Port Authority of NY/NJ NY-NJ Harbor & Estuary Program 225 Park Ave. South US EPA Region II New York, NY 10003 290 Broadway, 24th Floor New York, NY 10007 COMMISSIONERS’ APPOINTEES Gordon Whiting Conservation Fund Advisory Board COMMITTEE MEETINGS February 25, 2013; March 21, 2013; April 22, 2013; May 15, 2013 INTRODUCTION The New York City - Region 2 Advisory Committee (RAC) for the New York State Open Space Conservation Plan convened four times over a twelve week period to review the status of previously listed properties and identify additional parcels to be included in a new regional Priority List for potential purchase under the State Land Acquisition Plan. In meetings lead by the regional offices of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (OPRHP), the Region 2 RAC also discussed the strategic importance of measures other than acquisition for preserving open space in New York City (NYC), where the cost of land is at a premium, noting in particular the successes that can be achieved through land transfers between public agencies and annexing new properties to already established public open space. Recent estimates project that the population of the five boroughs will increase to nine million by 2030. Continuing to be relevant to the ongoing discussions about preserving and expanding the City’s open space resources, the Mayor of New York City’s report and planning document updated in 2011 called “PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York,” which emphasizes that the supply of land is a fixed commodity in New York City, describes a range of issues related to sustainable development in the context of a growing population, and sets forth a proposed series of actions and recommendations to protect and improve the environment and quality of life in the five boroughs, still remains valid. This effort has been supplemented by revisions to the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Guidelines incorporating “ Greening New York City’s Historic Buildings: Green Rowhouse Manual,” the NYC Department of Buildings Green Roofs initiatives and the NYC Department of City Planning’s “ Zone Green Text Amendments” and Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan all aimed at promoting sustainable communities. These recent requirements indicate the forward thinking of the quality of our city and the importance of open space in our neighborhoods. Certainly, this projected population growth would generate unprecedented development pressure and could have a profound effect on the amount and quality of open space, parkland, and historic preservation resources within the City. In preparing its recommendations for the 2013 Open Space Conservation Plan, the Region 2 RAC reviewed the successes and missed opportunities over the previous open space conservation planning cycles. Based on this review, there is increased concern that, due to the rising costs of securing waterfront land, inner city parks, and historic buildings for public use, the region will continue to lose properties on its Priority List at an ever accelerating pace. A significant dilemma for Region 2 is that the initial investment of public funds associated with securing lands for open space typically is not accompanied by adequate resources to maintain and manage the newly- acquired sites. Many sites recommended for transfer between government agencies for conservation purposes are not moved for this reason. This is particularly important when dramatic inflationary pressures continuously escalate the stewardship costs for these newly preserved properties as well as for existing preserved properties. The impacts and after effects of Superstorm Sandy which hit the region in late October 2012 were a primary concern to the convened group. As with other large storm events over the past few years, New York City incurred significant coastal flooding and damage in many public parks and natural areas. Major portions of the City’s coastlines were greatly affected by the storm, including wide expanses of public beachfront areas along with their protective dunes which were severely eroded. Areas of particular damage along the City’s coastline areas included the South and Eastern Shore of Staten Island and along the Rockaway Peninsula. The substantial beach areas, as well as protective dunes, had previously buffered the waves and kept flood waters from entering the residential areas that are upland of the public beachfront areas. This event was a serious reminder that our protected open space serves many needs beyond a place to recreate. In the 2010 New York State Sea Level Rise Task Force Report, a recommendation was made to modify the evaluation criteria of the State Open Space Plan, to include acquisition of coastal natural protective features. In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the NYS 2100 Commission developed recommendations to improve resilience of our built and natural systems. These included a recommendation to acquire and protect land that may be prone to damage from climate effects, as well as land that may buffer or protect other lands from these risks. Consistent with these recommendations, Governor Cuomo has developed a program to buy-out homeowners who voluntarily wish to vacate their storm damaged homes. The properties would then remain undeveloped, adding to regional open space which will enhance natural infrastructure and add buffer capacity to adjacent neighborhoods. In December 2012, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg created the Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency (SIRR) to address long-term climate change resiliency in New York City and to build upon ongoing efforts under PlaNYC and lessons learned after Sandy. A comprehensive report will soon be released outlining actionable recommendations both for rebuilding the communities impacted by Sandy, increasing the resilience of infrastructure and buildings citywide, and addressing coastal protection. The report will provide recommendations and projects to adapt parks and open space to provide community flood protection, necessary upgrades to allow for park facilities to resist damage due to flooding and strong wind conditions, and additional ideas to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Increasing the extent of protected wetland areas and implementing green infrastructure are also to be key components of the plan. REGIONAL OPEN SPACE ACHIEVEMENTS The Region 2 RAC took note of significant open space successes achieved since the last open space plan update was published in 2009. The Committee estimates that since the last report, at least 343 acres of land have been protected through acquisitions and/or transfers of government land for conservation purposes. One of the key benefits of the New York State Open Space Conservation Plan process is that it not only guides the land conservation efforts of state agencies, but also provides a framework for cooperation with partners in other sectors of government and the nonprofit and philanthropic communities. Since the 2009 updated plan was adopted, tremendous progress has been made in protecting the properties listed on the 2009 Region 2 Priority List. While the State of New York, through DEC and OPRHP, took a strong leadership role on several of these projects, these land conservation efforts were greatly enhanced by the work of other organizations. The Committee notes that no New York State Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) dollars have been spent in New York City for land acquisition since January 2001, with the purchase of East River State Park (former Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal. In this context, the amount of open space conservation that has been achieved is even more remarkable, and can be attributed to the work of the partners noted below as well as the resourcefulness of the state agencies in Region 2 in using federal grants, private financing, and environmental benefit funds linked to consent orders and legal settlements to successfully acquire land.