East Midtown Rezoning and Related Actions DEIS Response to Comments A. INTRODUCTION This chapter summarizes and responds to all substantive comments on the Draft Scope of Work (Draft Scope) for the proposed East Midtown Rezoning and Related Actions project made during the public review period. These consist of comments made at the Public Scoping Meetings held by the New York City Planning Commission (CPC) on September 27, 2012, and written comments submitted to the New York City Department of City Planning. The period for public review remained open until October 9, 2012. Section B lists the organizations and/or individuals who made oral statements at the Public Scoping Meeting and/or submitted written comments, and summarizes and responds to these comments. B. DRAFT SCOPE OF WORK COMMENTS AND RESPONSES Comments were accepted on the Draft Scope for the East Midtown Rezoning and Related Actions project. The City Planning Commission held two Public Scoping Meetings on the East Midtown Rezoning and Related Actions in the Manhattan Municipal Building, 1 Centre Street, on September 27, 2012. Written comments were also accepted on the Draft Scope through October 9, 2012. Written comments received on the Draft Scope are included in Appendix A. This section lists and responds to comments on the Draft Scope. The comments are organized by subject area, following the organization of the Draft Scope for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) document. Where comments on the same subject matter were made by more than one person, a single comment summarizes those individual comments. The organization and/or individual that made the comment is identified next to each comment, using a numerical reference keyed to the list of commenter below. In instances where a comment applies to more than one subject area, the comment is listed multiple times. Comments on the Draft Scope were received from the following individuals and organizations: 1. Paul Costa, on behalf of Bill de Blasio, Public Advocate for the City of New York (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/18/2012) 2. Jessica Lappin, New York City Council Member, 5th District, Manhattan (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/07/2012, 09/12/2012, and 09/27/2012) 1 East Midtown Rezoning and Related Actions DEIS Response to Comments 3. Daniel R. Garodnick, New York City Council Member, 4th District, Manhattan (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/25/2012 and 09/27/2012) 4. Karolina Hall, on behalf of Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough President (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/27/2012) 5. Mark Thompson, Chair, Manhattan Community Board 6 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting, written comments submitted 09/27/2012, and email statement dated 10/09/2012) 6. Ellen Imbimbo, Vice Chair, Manhattan Community Board 6 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/27/2012) 7. Catherine McVay Hughes, Chair, Manhattan Community Board 1 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/27/2012) 8. Clayton Smith, Manhattan Community Board 5 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 9. Vikki Barbero, Chair, Manhattan Community Board 5 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 10/09/2012) 10. Edward Klimerman, Manhattan Community Board 5 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/27/2012) 11. David Golab, Manhattan Community Board 5 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 12. Lola Finkelstein, Manhattan Community Board 5 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 13. Jennifer Carey, JLC Environmental Consultants, on behalf of Nancy Goshow, Manhattan Community Board 5 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 14. J. Michael Greeley, Manhattan Community Board 5 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/27/2012) 15. George Haikalis, Manhattan Community Board 5 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/27/2012) 16. Eric Stern, Community Board 5 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 17. Stephen Lefkowitz, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson LLP, representing the Trustees of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church and Central Synagogue (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments submitted 09/27/2012) 18. Carol Van Guilder, representing the Real Estate Board of New York (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/27/2012) 19. Roxanne Warren, Institute for Rational Urban Mobility (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/27/2012) 2 East Midtown Rezoning and Related Actions DEIS Response to Comments 20. Elysabeth Kleinhans, Korein/Kleinhans family, owner of landmarked property at 390 Park Avenue (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 21. Leo Korein, Korein/Kleinhans family, owner of landmarked property at 390 Park Avenue (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 22. Barbara Mutterperl, resident 300 East 77th Street (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 23. Vivienne Morgan, New York Hotel Trades Council (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 24. Andrea Goldwyn, New York Landmarks Conservancy (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/27/2012) 25. Miranda Nelson, New York Hotel Trades Council (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 26. Charles Montalbano, New York Hotel Trades Council (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 27. Sal Marciante, New York Hotel Trades Council (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 28. Brian Gaffney, New York Hotel Trades Council (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 29. Peter Lempir, Grand Central Partnership (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 30. Vishaan Chakrabarti, Center for Urban Real Estate at Columbia University; also a consultant for two property owners who will be affected by this action (i.e., SL Green and L&L Holdings) (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/27/2012) 31. Robert Schiffer, representing SL Green (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 32. John Pettit West III, resident of 250 West 94th Street; also a member of Manhattan Community Board 6 but speaking as a member of the public (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/27/2012) 33. Michael Gerrard, Arnold & Porter; on behalf of the Municipal Art Society (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting and written comments dated 09/27/2012) 34. Raju Mann, representing the Municipal Art Society (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 35. Budd Heyman, resident of 67 Park Avenue (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 36. Kwame Adu, New York Hotel Trades Council (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 37. Maria Rosario, New York Hotel Trades Council (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 38. Andreas Benzing, Manhattan Community Board 5 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 39. Corey Johnson, Chair, Manhattan Community Board 4 (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 40. Alex Hing, New York Hotel Trades Council (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 41. Papa Ndiaye, New York Hotel Trades Council (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 3 East Midtown Rezoning and Related Actions DEIS Response to Comments 42. Serge Jeudy, New York Hotel Trades Council (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 43. Alexandra Nosel, New York Hotel Trades Council (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 44. Katie Roussos, New York Hotel Trades Council (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 45. Michael R. Keane, BFJ Planning (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting, written comments dated 09/27/2011 [sic], and email statement dated 09/07/2012) 46. Allen Oster, resident of 477 West 22nd Street (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 47. Carla Fine, resident of 477 West 22nd Street (oral statement at Public Scoping Meeting) 48. Municipal Art Society (written comments dated 10/09/2012) 49. Manhattan Community Board 6, Land Use & Waterfront Committee (written comments submitted 9/27/2012) 50. Alan B. Abramson, Abramson Brothers Incorporated (written comments dated 10/03/2012) 51. Anthony E. Malkin, Malkin Holdings LLC (written comments dated 10/03/2012) 52. Colleen Curtis, Manhattan Community Board 6 (written comments dated 09/27/2012) 53. Gale A. Brewer, New York City Council Member, 6th District, Manhattan (written comments dated 10/09/2012) 54. Nina Rappaport, Docomomo New York Tri-State (written comments dated 10/09/2012) 55. Historic Districts Council (written comments dated 10/08/2012) 56. Margery Perlmutter, Bryan Cave LLP, on behalf of the owners of 678 Lexington Avenue (written comments dated 10/09/2012) 57. Kevin McEvoy, Lester A. Epstein & Associates LLC, owners of 9 and 11 East 47th Street (written comments submitted 10/9/2012) 58. Garrett Gourlay, RA (written comments dated 10/05/2012) 59. Paul Selver, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, counsel to the owner of 231-241 East 42nd Street / 230-238 East 43rd Street and 785-491 Second Avenue (written comments dated 10/05/2012 and 10/09/2012) 60. Richard T. Anderson, New York Building Congress (written comments dated 09/27/2012) 61. Dan Quart, New York State Assembly Member, 73rd District (written comments dated 10/09/2012) 62. Micah Z. Kellner, New York State Assembly Member, 65th District (written comments dated 08/31/12) 63. The Rev. F.M. “Buddy” Stallings, Saint Bartholomew’s Church (written comments dated