When Michael Bloomberg was first elected eight years ago, I and many others thought such a wealthy mayor might assert his independence from developers who choose to serve their own self-interest at the expense of the city's long term needs. Six years later, the release of PlaNYC 2030 finally gave hope to that desire. The mayor put forth a vision that, despite some shortcomings, promised a framework for sustainable, equitable growth. For all the city's progress toward advancing those goals, however, it has taken several steps backward by continuing to build real estate projects that erode the walkable city. Mayor Bloomberg’s re-election provides an opportunity to correct these oversights and refine his administration’s legacy on building an equitable and environmentally sustainable city.

A rendering of the proposed Hudson Yards development on the far West Side. Only a hard-fought court battle against Mayor Bloomberg, the Department of City Planning, and other public agencies prevented this project from adding up to 20,000 parking spaces in Manhattan.

Unfortunately, creativity, innovation and commitment to the principles of sustainability stop with these few agencies. Other public servants charged with planning for the future of the city have abdicated that responsibility. The Department of City Planning, despite some exemplary work on open space design and enhancing opportunities for world-class architecture, has ignored planning for the New York City of 2030. Instead, it has focused on rezoning the city as if we still lived in the 1960s, using the language and planning concepts of that discredited era rather than preparing to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

Together with private developers, the city's Economic Development Corporation and other quasi-government entities, the planning department has embraced outmoded redevelopment plans for Willets Point in Queens, Hudson Yards on the far West Side, Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, and Columbia University's expansion into Manhattanville without any substantive regard to the principles and goals of PlaNYC.

These large-scale development plans fundamentally ignore the issue of sustainability. And they cast the form of the city in concrete for a century or more.

In these developments, the street is nothing more than square footage added to permit greater building heights and densities. Streets in these developments divide rather than integrate neighborhoods. Traffic lights are recalibrated, for instance, to facilitate the flow of traffic and hinder pedestrian movement by reducing crossing times. Perversely, these measures are dubbed “mitigation” in the environmental review process. Without them, the development would not be allowed to proceed. This is because the developments include more space for car parking than needed -- far above the norm in New York City -- creating more traffic and necessitating such "mitigations."

This runs against the principles of good urbanism and drains the life out of the city. The street is the common denominator of every neighborhood in New York. Streets, more than buildings, make up the city’s patrimony -- its "genius loci." When I grew up in New York in the 1950s, streets were our parks, our gardens, and our athletic fields. They facilitated activity, exercise, and civic discussion. They were places that fostered social interaction and social cohesion. They met needs that transcend any particular era. As we move deeper into the 21st century, we need to reintroduce these functions into our neighborhood fabric.

What does this mean in practice? At the Atlantic Yards site in Brooklyn, for example, development that enhances streetlife and improves the public realm -- development consistent with the principles of PlaNYC -- would not close streets, as developer Forest City Ratner intends to do. Instead, as proposed in the UNITY Plan, the street grid of Fort Greene would extend through the Yards, weaving into the Prospect Heights grid to the south.

The UNITY Plan for the Atlantic Yards site.

To build a sustainable city, we need to think and plan on a small scale, not just the mega-project scale. We need to engage more New Yorkers in the process of building neighborhoods, not just the politically connected or wealthy. The place where everything comes together, where we all meet and interact, and where sustainable planning must begin, is the street. The mayor has the intellect and the openness to understand this. He now has four years to reinforce what his administration has done well so far. Four years to change direction from past mistakes. Four years to focus on what has been ignored until now.

Photo: US Department of Agriculture

Just how much will the tax credit mushroom thanks to the deal reached in the Senate? As the New York Times explains, it's time to take the "new" off of the credit's name:

The homebuyers’ credit ... would be extended to cover homes under contract by April 30. Also, it no longer would be limited to first-time buyers; people who have owned a home for at least five years could get a $6,500 credit on a new residence. Income limits for eligibility would be raised, making many more people qualify.

Extending and expanding the credit would cost an estimated $11 billion, on top of the $10 billion spent so far.

As Ryan pointed out earlier this week, the higher rate of home ownership in suburbs tilts the credit's benefits notably away from urban areas. But that's nothing new for the federal government, which has lavished subsidies on home buyers while paying much scanter attention to improving rental affordability.

In the fiscal year that ended October 1, Washington's support for home ownership totaled $230 billion, while parallel support for home renters was $60 billion, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported yesterday. That nearly four-fold gap is visible in the below chart:

Image: CBO

Even as federal lawmakers keep promoting home ownership as the "American dream," rental rates rose to one-third of the country in 2008, in part due to low-income and minority residents who were forced into default on risky mortgages. For many of those residents, as well as city dwellers in general, rentals tend to be the only housing option that offers access to affordable transportation -- but help from Washington has been perilously slow in coming.

And it may not come for a while yet. Legislation updating the Section 8 voucher program for rental housing was approved over the summer by the House Financial Services Committee but has yet to see floor time in the full chamber, let alone the Senate.

Meanwhile, the larger home buyers' credit is currently attached to a long-sought extension of unemployment benefits, making its approval a political fait accompli (though one much-delayed by partisan bickering).

When it opened its doors this spring, the Gateway Center mall was plugged as a boon to the South Bronx. So invested was the Bloomberg administration -- along with city taxpayers, thanks to subsidies granted by the NYC Economic Development Corporation -- that the mayor himself participated in the grand opening of the center's Home Depot store.

In modeling the sprawling complex on the typical suburban big box slum, developer Related Companies seems to have made a tactical error. From a Times piece featuring Related honcho Glenn Goldstein:

Mr. Goldstein said that Related originally expected about 40 percent of the mall’s customers to arrive by public transportation, but so far a majority of customers had been traveling this way. Livery cab service is available for shoppers who make bulky purchases, and some stores, like Best Buy and Home Depot, provide delivery for a fee.

Who would have thought that a shopping center served by subway lines and city buses would attract so many transit-riding customers? Not Goldstein and company, whose 2,800 parking spots are proving to this point to be a lot of wasted space (likely in part because parking isn't free). Unfortunately, Related went all in with its auto-driven design by making entrance points unwelcoming to shoppers arriving on foot, as shown in these Streetsblog photo pool contributions from Jacob-uptown. Imagine how many more people would walk here if they had actually made this a walkable environment.

More pics, with commentary from the photographer, after the jump.

"The walkway is pitiful. Barely wide enough for two people standing still, much less walking past each other. It's sad how much space is dedicated to the horribly underused car entrance and how little space is given to pedestrians."

"Ped route to the big box stores through the parking garage."

"The awful mall actually has some nice wide sidewalks, perfect for vendors, street performers and all sorts of activity. Too bad they're under a highway."

Salt Lake City's new-urbanism epiphany -- fervently backed by Mayor Ralph Becker and the City Council -- appears to be catching static from an unlikely source.

Transit-oriented development isn't stymied by outdated zoning, unwilling developers or a lack of space. It turns out, banks, wedded to old-fashioned lending standards that stress parking, may pose the biggest blockade by denying financing.

The reason: Lenders operate from a tried-and-true principle that maintains more parking means less risk and a higher return on their investment. But ditching cars is the whole point of urban developers looking to create 24-hour live, work and play environments that hug light-rail hubs. 

Real estate lending standards: A work in progress. Photo: MSN.

That's right, the same sector that got such fantastic returns from the car-dependent suburban fringe isn't sold on the viability of neighborhoods where you can get around without driving. Salt Lake City banks are hardly the exception. Based on informal conversations I've had with people who deal with local lenders and developers, I can tell you that real estate finance in transit-rich New York City is far from enlightened.

If we're ever going to reverse the tide of car-centric development that is gradually suburbanizing New York, we'll need banks to change their assumptions. As Jensen reports, Portland shows that it can be done.

A stretch of the Birmingham highway that would eventually link up with the Northern Beltline. Photo: WNET.org

What is a "zombie highway"? Exactly what the name suggests: a road that won't die, swallowing government funds and congressional earmarks while posing potential harm to those who live near it.

Tonight the Blueprint America segment of PBS' NewsHour takes a look at a quintessential zombie, the Northern Beltline of Birmingham, Alabama. Transportation wonks of all stripes are encouraged to tune in -- but here's a preview of the issues explored by Blueprint correspondent Rick Karr.

The Beltline is part of the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS), a 44-year-old project intended to spur economic modernization in the mountainous region. But in the decades since, lawmakers have been unable to resist "Christmas tree-ing new roads into the program," Karr told Streetsblog Capitol Hill.

A classic Christmas-tree move was employed to designate the Beltline as Corridor X-1 on the ADHS, which has received $470 million annually since 2005. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) quietly inserted language into a 2004 spending bill bringing the highway into the ADHS after helping secure $60 million for the local metropolitan planning organization to buy rights-of-way.

Some local residents, however, formed a group dubbed SOURCE to shed light on the state DOT's environmental review. In particular, SOURCE questioned the choice to complete Birmingham's northern belt using the outermost possible road, running through the headwaters of two rivers that provide much of the city's drinking water.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concurred, Karr said, telling Beltline planners that "we think you've chosen the wrong alignment." But the alignment looked right to companies such as U.S. Steel, which has partnered with the city's Chamber of Commerce to help push for speedy funding of the road.

U.S. Steel also recently bought up more than 300 acres of undeveloped land one mile away from the proposed road.

As Karr found, SOURCE is not alone in viewing the Beltline as a zombie plaguing the federal transport system. House transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) added a section to his recent six-year federal infrastructure bill that would limit Washington's total share of Beltline costs to $500 million, language that Karr described as an attempt to "stop other Appalachian senators" from following in Shelby's footsteps.

Still, Shelby's fellow Alabama Republican, Rep. Spencer Bachus, is undaunted.

"Our funding is set, and this highway is going to be built. I would say faster than normal because of designated revenue," Bachus -- who is seeking a $2 billion earmark for the beltline in the upcoming six-year transportation bill -- told the Birmingham News in May.

Karr's full report will be available online tomorrow on Blueprint America's site after its NewsHour premiere tonight.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT). Photo: The Washington Note

The first bit of news that emerged from the Senate hearing was the EPA's inclusion in the Sustainable Communities project that DOT and HUD announced in March. Yet a potentially bigger gesture of unity came from Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), the Banking panel's chairman, who is planning legislation that would put some teeth behind the three agencies' goals.

Dodd said his forthcoming bill would create a competitive grant program to "provide incentives for regions to plan future growth in a coordinated way that reduces congestion, generates good-paying jobs, meets our environmental and energy goals, protects rural areas and green space, revitalizes our Main Streets and urban centers, creates and preserves affordable housing, and makes our communities better places to live, work, and raise families."

That's quite the mouthful. But it also suggests that even as Congress' jam-packed schedule pushes the prospects for a federal transportation bill past the September 30 deadline, senior lawmakers are committed to helping the Obama administration make good on its promises to encourage transit-oriented development and environmentally friendly land use practices.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson even used a scientific metaphor to describe the agencies' goals. "Pedestrians are a good indicator species for a healthy community," she told senators today. "We're all about building a healthy community of pedestrians."

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan focused on data, outlining his plans for a housing "affordability index" that would track transportation costs, both monetary and environmental in addition to local home values.

"Right now the federal government is in the way," he told Dodd. "We're holding up local efforts to try to do this integrated planning. This isn’t about forcing localities to do something they don’t want to do, this is about getting out of their way."

That message that might have resonated with Republicans who have echoed George Will's fearful criticism of federal "behavior modification" efforts -- if any GOP senators had attended the Banking hearing.

The rosy and coordinated future outlined by the three agency chiefs suggested that the administration is sincere in its pledge to consider transportation as a public health and environmental issue, not just an issue of more money to move people and goods.

The next question, then, is whether Donovan, Jackson, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood can use their political capital to push Dodd's bill from draft to law, while continuing to back common-sense changes that are possible now (reform for New Starts transit funding, e.g.).

As Aaron and Sarah have noted, the Congress for the New Urbanism is in the midst of its annual meeting in Denver. This spiffy short is the winner of this year's CNU 17 video contest. Created by independents John Paget of Paget Films and Drew Ward and Chris Elisara of First+Main Media, "Built to Last," in the words of the filmmakers, "explores the connection between New Urbanism and environmental issues."

Enjoy. And if you're really feelin' it, follow @naparstek and the #cnu17 feed on Twitter for to-the-minute insights from CNU speakers over the weekend.

Photo: hotdogger13/Flickr

At issue was a rezoning provision that would have dramatically increased parking inventory for new Hudson Yards development by establishing parking minimum requirements. HKNA claimed the parking plan -- adopted in 2005 as part of the failed bid to build a far West Side football stadium -- violated a 1982 agreement to limit parking below 60th Street in order to keep the city in compliance with the Clean Air Act. 

The 2005 zoning, according to HKNA, would have permitted the construction of up to 17,500 new parking spots (estimates cited by neighborhood media pegged the number at closer to 20,000). Under the terms of the settlement, says an HKNA statement, "new development in the Hudson Yards will be limited to no more than 6,100 parking spaces" -- a number that, all things considered, "is expected to be approximately the same as would have been constructed under the 1982 zoning rules."

And for the first time, special permits for additional parking spaces will not be approved unless there is an actual shortage of parking in the Hudson Yards area. Currently there is no limit on special permits. The Departments of City Planning, Consumer Affairs, and Buildings will collaborate to keep an up-to-date inventory of parking spaces in the area and publish it on a web site.

The city has also abandoned plans for a 950-space underground garage originally intended for use by the stadium.

Needless to say, for a neighborhood already overrun with traffic congestion and parking garages, with attendant high levels of asthma to prove it, the settlement is welcome news. Here's hoping it might inspire the Bloomberg admin to reconsider its pro-parking push in other areas of the city.

The good people over at Next American City have extended an invitation to Streetsblog readers to the launch party for their Spring issue this coming Thursday.

Seth Pinsky from the New York City Economic Development Corporation will be their guest of honor. It might be a great opportunity to ask him why his agency so often assumes that massive amounts of off-street parking is necessary to encourage "economic development" in the most transit-oriented city in the nation. But don't be a party pooper, OK? Here are the event details:

Next American City is throwing a party in NYC in the Hines Gallery at the AIA Center for Architecture - and you are invited! Come celebrate the launch of Issue 22 with food, drinks and great conversation. Editor/Publisher Diana Lind will recap highlights from the new issue, including features on the financial crisis’s effects on American cities, municipal biodiesel programs around the country, an enormous swirling trash heap in the Pacific Ocean and transportation enthusiasts’ who are taking transit maps into their own hands. Plus interviews with Cary Moon, Richard Saul Wurman and Roope Mokka.

March 5, 6-8 PM
Hines Gallery, AIA Center for Architecture
536 LaGuardia Place, New York

Admission for non-subscribers is $15 in advance or $20 at the door and includes a free one-year subscription to Next American City, and entry to all NAC events & free food/drink.

Rendering: PA Associates

Instead, according to the Manhattan Times, the Port Authority will build spaces for about a dozen smaller commercial shops and offices, says PA Executive Director Christopher Ward.

The decision to plan for multiple tenants, Ward said, was partly driven by the belief that retail opportunities should serve customers who walk or take transit to the terminal, rather than out-of-area shoppers arriving by car.

"The community spoke clearly that we didn't need more cars," Ward said.

Work on the terminal, which is expected to increase bus capacity by 50 percent over the existing design, is currently scheduled to start in late 2009 and should take about three years, the Times reports.

Maybe not officially, but the agency's minimum residential parking requirements are a big inducement to car commute. That's the implicit finding of a new study by University of Pennsylvania planning professor Rachel Weinberger (and others, including yours truly), released today by Transportation Alternatives and a who’s who of leading planning, transit and environmental groups. The study, "Guaranteed Parking -- Guaranteed Driving" [PDF], compares Park Slope, Brooklyn with Jackson Heights, Queens, and finds that, despite Park Slope having higher car ownership, Jackson Heights residents are 45 percent more likely to drive to work in the Manhattan Central Business District and 28 percent more likely to commute by car in general.

And it isn't because Jackson Heights has no transit options. Commuters in both neighborhoods are served by multiple subway and bus lines, and the ratios of transit trip times to driving times are comparable. Additionally, other proven predictors of travel choice suggest Park Slope commuters are more likely to drive, not less. Park Slope is wealthier, denser and has higher home ownership. It also has a higher proportion of government employees. 

The study's key research finding is that in Jackson Heights, 31 percent of car owners have a parking spot at home, compared to only 5 percent of Park Slope drivers. The study concludes that because of this, Park Slope car owners, who do not want to lose their coveted curbside spots, are less likely to drive to work.

The reason for the parking disparity is that much more of Jackson Heights has been built since 1963, when the city zoning code introduced residential parking requirements. The finding has far reaching sustainability implications, since the Department of City Planning requires driving-inducing residential parking for between 40 and 150 percent of new dwelling units.

In August, Weinberger teamed with Transportation Alternatives and other groups concerned about parking reform to issue "Suburbanizing the City". That study estimated that the city's parking requirement would generate a billion miles of new traffic a year by 2030. "Guaranteed Parking" substantiates that finding, and provides more evidence that New York City zoning regulations promote driving to work, even when viable transit options are available.

As part of Mayor Bloomberg's vision for far West Side redevelopment, the streetscape between 10th and 11th Avenues from 33rd to 42nd Streets is to be transformed with four acres of park space, linking to new commercial and residential high rises. Five designs have been submitted, with the winner to be chosen in October. The Post reports that, according to the Hudson Yards Development Corporation, phase one of the project is scheduled to be completed in 2013.

CHEKPEDS wants to ensure that the finished product addresses neighborhood considerations, such as:

• Will it be mostly for cars or for people?
  
• Will it be mostly for workers or for residents and neighbors?
  
• Will it be mostly shaded and green or more like a plaza?
  
• Will it be open 24 hours a day?
  
• What should it bring that the neighborhood lacks?

Designs will be on display tonight at 6:30 at Hudson Guild in the Dan Carpenter Room, 441 West 26th St. between 9th & 10th Avenues.

Image via New York Post

Planning advocates recommended doing away with parking requirements and "unbundling" the cost of parking from the price of housing. "There's no reason for parking to be paid for by people who don't own cars," said Tri-State Transportation Campaign director Kate Slevin, adding that the construction of parking should be "a choice rather than a necessity."

Minimum parking requirements are especially ill-suited to affordable housing developments, said Elena Conte of the Pratt Center for Community Development (pictured at the mic). "[A parking minimum] really makes no sense at all for communities where less than 20 percent of households own cars, because it drives up the cost of housing and takes up valuable space that otherwise could be used to create additional units or public space."

Representatives of Environmental Defense and the New York League of Conservation Voters rounded out the proceedings, calling on the city and state to take stock and head off the traffic-congested future that excessive off-street parking threatens to bring about. "We're building the infrastructure to encourage more people to drive with very little understanding of the environmental impacts," said Josh Nachowitz of NYLCV.

T.A.'s Paul Steely White tied the issue to preserving New York's streets for people on foot, noting that more off-street parking means less sidewalk integrity: "Curb cuts enable cars to drive across the sidewalk and block the sidewalk; it erodes the pedestrian environment."

Major planning groups, including the American Planning Association, the Regional Plan Association, and the Municipal Art Society, have also signed on to the report and urged Mayor Bloomberg to revise the city's ad-hoc policies governing off-street parking. According to one organizer behind the effort, this marks the first time all three organizations have lined up behind the same transportation reform.

Streetsblog will have more soon on the recommendations being advanced by this coalition.

Nevertheless, Mayor Bloomberg has come out in favor of the Costco, the Sun reports:

At a press conference yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg said bringing the big-box warehouse chain to the city would help New Yorkers weather a difficult economic downturn. "Costco has a reputation of selling in bulk at very low prices, and given the economy today and the public's desire to buy things in bulk and buy them cheaper, it seems to me we should welcome any store that wants to come here," he said.

In light of the Mayor's own congestion reduction efforts, the endorsement makes little sense:

A spokesman for the Neighborhood Retail Alliance, Richard Lipsky, said the Costco store would run counter to another administration priority: reducing traffic.

"It is incongruous for the mayor, who supported congestion pricing, to support one of the most auto-dependent retailers in the country," Mr. Lipsky said.

Photo of Costco parking lot in Brooklyn: MaxKalehoff/Flickr

What's happening here goes a lot deeper than the end of cheap oil. We are now passing through the early development of a wholly new geographic order – what geographers call “the spatial fix” – of which the move back toward the city is just one part.

Suburbanization was the spatial fix for the industrial age – the geographic expression of mass production. Low-cost mortgages, massive highway systems and suburban infrastructure projects fuelled the industrial engine of postwar capitalism, propelling demand for cars, appliances and all sorts of industrial goods.

The creative economy is giving rise to a new spatial fix and a very different geography – the contours of which are only now emerging. Rising fuel costs are one thing, but in today's idea-driven economy, it's time costs that really matter. With the constant pressure to be more efficient and to innovate, it makes little sense to waste countless collective hours commuting. So the most efficient and productive regions are the ones in which people are thinking and working – not sitting in traffic. And, according to detailed research by the Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman, commuting is among the least enjoyable, if not the single least enjoyable, of all human activities.

Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan unveiled the Department of Transportation's New York City Public Plaza Program last night at the Pratt Institute in Manhattan. Through the program, DOT aims to transform "underused streets into vibrant, social public spaces" throughout New York City. To create and run these new public plazas DOT is seeking to partner with local non-profit organizations.

The initiative is "the first community-based planning program that has capital funding attached to it," Sadik-Khan said. DOT has allocated $43.1 million in capital funds over three years (about $14 million per year) for planning, design and construction of the new public spaces. Additionally, Commissioner of Small Business Services Rob Walsh said that his agency has allocated $50,000 per year over three years to pay for the programming and maintenance of plazas in neighborhoods with no business improvement district (BID).

DOT is accepting applications from community groups through Tuesday, August 19. Applications can be downloaded here. There will be an information session on Wednesday, July 16th, from 9:30-10:45 a.m. at 40 Worth Street, Rm. 814.

Sadik-Khan is urging New Yorkers to be creative in coming up with public plaza partnership ideas. "Partners don't just have to be BIDs," she said. Community development corporations, public hospitals and civic organizations would all be considered as long as they can show they have "some organization and maintenance capabilities." Sadik-Khan also noted that that low- to moderate-income neighborhoods that currently lack parks and open spaces will be given priority as a part of PlaNYC's commitment to create a park or public space within a 10 minute walk of every New Yorker.

Earlier this week, the Times real estate section profiled the developer-architect team behind East River Plaza, a big box retail outlet in East Harlem that will include 1,248 parking spaces when it opens next year. In the piece, we learn that the project's designer, an Atlanta-based Home Depot specialist called GreenbergFarrow, is responsible for other parking-rich shopping centers throughout the city, including Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market (pictured above), Rego Park Mall II, and the Red Hook Ikea.

In one passage, a GreenbergFarrow architect explains his firm's intention to replicate the suburban shopping experience in the urban core:

People might visit a shopping district like SoHo or Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village as an enjoyable way to pass a few hours, but they shop in big-box stores purely for practical reasons and are annoyed if they are forced to linger, said John R. Clifford, a principal of GreenbergFarrow. “One experience is recreational and the other is all about convenience,” he said in an interview at the company’s Manhattan office.

From the outset, Mr. Blumenfeld, the principal of the Blumenfeld Development Group, hoped to attract retailers like Home Depot and Costco, whose suburban customers are used to parking in a big lot and wheeling carts and pallets along flat surfaces.

Since a parking lot was out of the question at East River Plaza, GreenbergFarrow tried to make parking in the garage as similar as possible to a suburban experience. The parking surfaces themselves are flat and accessible directly from the stores by bridges, and shoppers enter and exit by means of circular ramps located at two corners of the parking structure.

So, in the name of convenience, Blumenfeld Development and GreenbergFarrow are squandering the inherent attraction of urban streets -- walkable places where people actually like to linger -- and flooding the city with additional car trips.

These big box stores may have been given the green light before PlaNYC was unveiled, but how does this wave of car-friendly development square with Mayor Bloomberg's much-touted sustainability goals? Between a City Planning Department that sits back and allows the willy-nilly construction of new public parking garages, and an Economic Development Corporation that actively courts big box retailers and signs off on stadium parking subsidies, the push to mitigate traffic seems to have been limited to congestion pricing. Streetsblog has a request into the Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability to find out whether scaling back huge parking facilities is on the mayor's agenda.

Rendering of Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market: Brennan Beer Gorman Architects/New York Times

Two weeks ago Streetsblog reported on the glut of public parking garages being built in Hell's Kitchen, which threatens to worsen traffic conditions in one of New York's most congested neighborhoods. The City Planning Commission could have set a precedent last Friday by denying a developer's request to build a 400-car public garage as part of a mixed-use project at 310-328 West 38th Street. Only 232 parking spaces would have been allowed without the special permit.

Instead, the commission approved the request. Despite the objections of community representatives, the only restriction imposed was to reserve most of the spaces for monthly parking. In its report [PDF], the commission asserts that streets near the new building "will be adequate to handle the traffic" generated by the garage. The analysis fails to consider the aggregate amount of parking in Hell's Kitchen, and flies in the face of DOT's efforts to improve the neighborhood's streets for pedestrians, says Christine Berthet of the Clinton/Hell's Kitchen Pedestrian Safety Coalition (CHEKPEDS).

"It's particularly egregious considering what we know about 37th Street," which carries cars heading toward the outbound Lincoln Tunnel, she adds. "The mitigation proposed as monthly parking demonstrates they have no clue on the science of parking, as monthly parking attracts commuters and discourages shoppers -- the worst case scenario."

The 38th Street garage, and others like it planned for Hell's Kitchen, are "a terrific example of the 'nibbling effect' that Jane Jacobs wrote about," whereby concessions to cars gradually multiply to erode the pedestrian environment, says Nick Peterson of the planning firm Alex Garvin & Associates.

The developer, Glenwood Management, will undergo one more stage of public review, needing approval at a June 18th session of the City Council to get the green light for the garage. Since the current review process appears to conflict with the sustainability goals of PlaNYC, Berthet believes it would make more sense for developers to appeal to DOT, not City Planning, for special parking permits. For now, this looks like another case of parking politics winning out over sensible policy.

Photo of a garage in the upper 50s between First Ave and Second Ave: lewisarothkopf/Flickr

That was quick. Less than a week after its deal with Tishman Speyer came screeching to an unexpected halt, the MTA has lined up another developer for the Hudson Yards on Manhattan's far West Side. The deal with Related Companies and Goldman Sachs, slated for authorization by the MTA board on Thursday, will put $1 billion in the agency's coffers. Now, where to get the other $16.5 billion needed for the next capital plan?

The MTA's full statement comes after the jump.

MTA REACHES AGREEMENT WITH RELATED COMPANIES/GOLDMAN SACHS TO DEVELOP RAIL YARDS

Mixed-Use Development Features Significant Affordable Housing, Retains High Line;
$1 Billion for MTA Capital Plan

Governor David A. Paterson, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Executive Director and CEO Elliot G. Sander and Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger today announced the conditional selection of Related Companies/Goldman Sachs to develop the air space over the two development sites that compose the MTA’s John D. Caemmerer Rail Yard – the Western Rail Yard (WRY) and the Eastern Rail Yard (ERY). A special meeting of the MTA Board has been called for this Thursday to seek authorization for the deal.
 
The Related/Goldman Sachs plan will dramatically transform the Western Rail Yards into New York’s next great neighborhood.  This dynamic mixed-use neighborhood, designed as an extension of the City’s fabric and public realm, will be a blend of architectural styles characteristic of New York’s skyline, with streets lined with shops, restaurants, galleries, and arts and culture. The community will feature world-leading sustainability and extensive affordable housing, centered around an expansive public space destined to be one of New York’s premiere gathering places.
 
Governor Paterson said: “The decision by a joint venture of Related Companies and Goldman Sachs to invest in the redevelopment of the Hudson Yards demonstrates a renewed commitment to the future of the City and region. This agreement highlights the resilience of public-private partnerships in the face of the national economic downturn that we are experiencing. An alliance between Related Companies - one of the country’s premier real estate firms - and Goldman Sachs - a global financial leader - will lay the foundation for a reimagined Far West Side that will expand the Midtown business corridor and further strengthen the City and State economies.”    
 
Mayor Bloomberg said: “Today’s announcement that the MTA will award Related Companies, in partnership with Goldman Sachs, the development rights for the West Side Rail Yards is great news for the City.  Despite the setbacks of the last few weeks, we are certain that Related and Goldman will realize this tremendous opportunity to develop what is really the only large parcel of undeveloped space left in Manhattan. The attractiveness of this area for developers stems in part because the City is funding an extension of the #7 line, making this vital new mixed use community of residential, commercial and office space a truly transit oriented development.  We will continue to work with the State and MTA and with the developer to help make the Hudson Yards development a reality.”   
 
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Executive Director and CEO Elliot G. Sander said: “The revenues from this development are critical to funding the MTA’s capital needs, but we made it clear that we would not settle for anything less than a fair deal. The MTA is thrilled to be working with Related and Goldman Sachs, and we are committed to seeing a thriving new district rise on the West Side.”
 
MTA Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger said: “This extraordinary deal indicates the strength of the New York market and the unique value of the MTA’s yards. We are extremely gratified that the intense competition for these parcels allowed us to secure a deal that provides the MTA with more than $1 billion. To put this deal back together without losing any time is astounding.”
 
Stephen M. Ross, Chairman of Related Companies and Jeff T. Blau, President of Related Companies said: “We have always believed that the West Side Yards present a unique development opportunity to shape the future of our City. Related and Goldman Sachs are proud to have been selected to create New York's next great neighborhood, The Hudson Yards. We are confident that working closely with the visionary leadership of the State and City and the MTA, using the absolute best architectural, planning, engineering and construction talent, and having the financial strength and acumen of Related and Goldman Sachs, we will achieve our shared goals.”
 
Stuart Rothenberg, Global Head of Real Estate Principal Investments at Goldman Sachs said: “We are committed to working with the MTA as well as City and State officials on this vital project and we are excited to partner with Related, a world class urban developer, on creating New York's next great neighborhood.”
 
The MTA-owned Caemmerer Yard stores Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) commuter trains in close proximity to Penn Station, allowing the LIRR to move more than 235,000 commuters through the terminal each day. The construction proposal will provide for safe, continuous and uninterrupted LIRR service.
 
In July of 2007, the MTA issued two separate Requests For Proposals for the sale of and/or long term leasing of air space and related real property interests for development at the Eastern Rail Yard (“ERY”) and Western Rail Yard (“WRY”) sections of the Long Island Rail Road’s John D. Caemmerer West Side Yard.  Two of the primary objectives of the RFPs are to maximize revenue for MTA’s capital plan and to assure safe, uninterrupted LIRR service at the WSY.  Currently the WSY is a 24/7 active storage, maintenance, and cleaning facility for LIRR.  The third goal of the RFPs is to promote excellence in architecture, urban design, and sustainability in keeping with the City’s vision for the economic development and revitalization of the Hudson Yards area.
 
In October 2007 the MTA received proposals from five qualified real estate development firms for both yards. The proposals were evaluated over several months by a Selection Committee comprising a majority of MTA members and two representatives from the Hudson Yards Development Corporation. After negotiations with several of the proposers, the Selection Committee recommended the Tishman Speyer proposal to the MTA Board in March. Less than a week after negotiations reached an impasse with Tishman, the MTA reached an agreement with Related/Goldman. The Related/Goldman proposal includes the following elements:
 
 
Eastern Rail Yard (ERY)
The 13-acre Eastern Rail Yard (ERY), between 10th and 11th Avenues from West 30th to 33rd Streets, was re-zoned in January 2005 as part of the City’s Hudson Yards re-zoning, and allows for approximately 6.27 million square feet of mixed-use development (11 FAR), including office, residential, hotel, retail, cultural and parking facilities, and requires approximately seven acres of public open space.
 
The Related/Goldman Sachs plan, organized around a grand civic plaza, will construct:
5 buildings, 6.27 million sf total
1.67 million sf residential with 612,000 sf 80/20 rental (approx. 830 units) not less than 20% permanent affordable and 1.05 million sf condominium residences (approx. 692 units)
3.57 million sf commercial office
565,000 sf retail
265,000 sf hotel
Dedicated area for 200,000 sf community/cultural
55% of site public open space
 
Western Rail Yard (WRY)
The 13-acre WRY, bordered by West 30th and 33rd Streets, between 11th and 12th Avenues, needs to now go through the City zoning/ULURP approval process. The Related/Goldman Sachs plan adheres to the design guidelines outlined in the MTA’s RFP, and the development consists of approximately 5.75 million sf, including:
 
8 buildings, 5.75 million sf total
3.63 million sf residential with 960,000 sf 80/20 rental (approx. 1,324 units) not less than 20% permanent affordable and 2.67 million sf condominium residences (approx. 1,927 units)
1.92 million sf commercial office within one building
192,000 sf of retail
120,000 sf PS/IS school
Over 55% of site public open space
 
Special Features of the Proposal:
20% of the rental housing on-site at Hudson Yards will be permanently affordable (approximately 440 units), contributing to the diversity of the project and the shared vision by Related/Goldman Sachs, the State and the City for this great New York neighborhood.
The High Line, which borders the Hudson Yards on the south and west, is retained as an integral part of the Related/Goldman Sachs proposal. The High Line will be rehabilitated and maintained as a linear open space.
The Related/Goldman Sachs plan will achieve LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, representing one of the most significant commitments to green development in the United States.
 
The business and legal terms of this deal follow those previously negotiated with the Tishman Speyer organization, a 99-year ground lease, severable, with options to purchase severed fee parcels. The net present value of the proposal is $1.054 billion.  The agreement also allows the Developer to opt to delay certain rent payments where no building has begun construction for up to two years, provided that the Developer increases its rent guarantee by the full amount of the deferred rent once either construction starts or the delay period ends and the future rent is increased by the value of one half of the amount of the deferral.  The maximum exposure to this provision (in the event that no building has commenced and the delay period is the full two years) would make the net present value to the MTA $1.011B.
 
Next Steps
A special meeting of the MTA Board has been called for this Thursday to seek required approval of the deal. If the Board authorizes the signed Conditional Designation Letter, these documents and the $11 million initial deposit would be released from escrow to the MTA. The MTA would then enter into a contract with the developer within the next few months. The proposal for the Western Rail Yard would then begin an environmental and public review, which consists of preparation of an environmental impact statement followed by the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), a six-month series of reviews by the community board, Borough President, City Council and City Planning Commission. Construction on the WRY may begin after completing this process, expected to be complete by the end of 2009. The ERY was re-zoned in January 2005 and construction could commence upon completion of the contract with the developer.

Residents in the village of 4,000 recently voiced their opposition to a proposal that would encourage mixed-use and infill development, reports the Burlington County Times:

The ordinance would allow for the addition of up to 100 dwellings downtown. It would allow developers to put apartments or condominiums above storefronts and would increase the allowable height for buildings. Currently, developers have to obtain variances to do such things.

The rejection of the zoning changes was stoked by fears that the town's historic character would be threatened, among other things:

Some argued that the ordinance would create more traffic, noise and parking problems. If the town's population increased as a result of the ordinance, demands on municipal services and schools would also increase, possibly resulting in higher taxes for property owners, they said.

But as Toth points out, pushing development outside the town center will create more traffic, not less. "Ironically, people oppose [the re-zoning] based on the incorrect assumption that it will add traffic," he said. "Yet what will take the place of the infill will be sprawl development which will choke off their quaint little town and make things far worse." 

"NJ Transit invested billions to build the Trenton-to-Camden light rail line to help shape New Jersey's future towards a more walkable, less car-dependent region" he added. But even though Bordentown is located on a transit corridor, it won't see "transit-oriented development" until residents buy into the notion that clustering growth downtown is in their best interest. As the Trenton Times reports, the uproar over the ordinance has led commissioners to scuttle the promotion of development near the center of Bordentown and its rail station:

They deleted provisions for apartments, 100 additional housing units in a proposed town center zone, residential flats above commercial structures downtown, four-story buildings in the town center and bed and breakfasts.

And they removed all mention of the term "transit village" from the document.

Disinformation about smart growth-style development -- like the assumption that it will lead to densities resembling Manhattan's -- is rampant even along transit corridors, Toth said. Countering those perceptions, he believes, requires a targeted PR effort promoting more compact development as an avenue toward relieving traffic congestion.

Photo: steve367 / Flickr