JFK Airport lease
extension announced
Redevelopment and community benefits are highlights
Mayor Bill de Blasio, Representative
Gregory Meeks and
Queens Borough President
Donovan Richards recently
announced key elements of the
foundation for the new JFK
Airport construction projects
that will drive a recovery
for all of us by creating over
20,000 jobs, investing $10 to
$15 billion in new infrastructure
and boosting tourism
to New York City. The Mayor
signed an Emergency Executive
Order to extend the Port
Authority’s lease at JFK Airport
from 2050 to 2060 without
ULURP. Working with Representative
Meeks and Queens
Borough President Richards,
and building on the work of
the JFK Redevelopment Community
Advisory Council appointed
in October 2018, the
leaders helped secure the community
benefits package and a
commitment that the Port Authority
will require the projects
be subject to Project Labor
Agreements.
The lease extension includes
assurance that the
massive new construction
project will abide by the community
benefits package,
which requires at least 30 percent
workers of color, ensures
at least 30 percent of the contractors
are minority- and
women-owned businesses, establishes
new apprenticeship
and scholarship programs for
the surrounding community,
and requires the new building
meets strict environmental
standards.
The community benefits
package includes:
Workforce Development,
including Community Hiring:
Requirement for 30 percent
minority hires and 7
percent women hires across
all construction trades with
a higher 40 percent minority
hires among Laborers; Best
efforts to hire from zip codes
around JFK Airport followed
by all of Queens; fund new preapprenticeship
programs prioritizing
local residents in coordination
with the Building
& Construction Trades Council
of Greater NY; Expand
Council for Airport Opportunity
26 AIRPORT VOICE, MARCH 2021
in downtown Jamaica
and Far Rockaway to facilitate
long term local hiring; Commitment
to fund an Office of
Second Chance Employment
to connect formerly incarcerated
individuals or those with
past involvement in the criminal
justice system with jobs at
the airport.
Business Development:
Requirement for 30 percent
MWBE contracting across financing,
construction, design
and operations, including prioritization
of local MWBE;
hiring independent MWBE
compliance consultants to
focus on meeting, monitoring,
and reporting on MWBE
goals; develop a Business Development
Opportunity Center
to facilitate local capacity
building and matchmaking focusing
on local MWBEs.
Education Programs:
Continue scholarship programs
for local high school
students; funding for an aviation
focused STEM program at
York College for local middle
school students; continuation
and expansion of a summer
minicamp in collaboration
with the Eastern Queens Alliance
to educate middle school
students on environmental
stewardship and sustainability;
participation in multiple
high school career fairs annually;
continue a local internship
program.
Environmental Sustainability:
Minimum LEED Silver
at new terminals; new terminals
will transition diesel
fuel powered ground service
equipment with electric; require
lowest reasonable emissions
use for construction
equipment including limiting
engine size, requiring electric
vehicles when possible, and
strict idling restrictions; implement
marine-based barging
of materials to reduce delivery
trucks on roadways;
low emissions vehicle shuttle
service from Aqueduct to JFK
for all construction crews.
“New York City will
emerge from this crisis stronger
by building our recovery
from the grassroots up,” said
Mayor deBlasio. He thanked
all for their partnership to ensure
the JFK Airport redevelopment
project will not only
bring jobs, but benefits to the
surrounding communities
too.”
“In New York, support for
the Port Authority and its ongoing
redevelopment projects,
including at JFK Airport, will
be key to a more even economic
revitalization after the
pandemic. The lease extension
announcement will allow
for deal restructuring which
will ensure the long term sustainability
of JFK’s redevelopment
and allow us on the federal
level to continue our work
to address the Port’s 3 billion
dollar shortfall
with the Biden
Administration
in the
up c omi n g
Covid-19 relief
bill and
I thank them
for their hard
work,” said
C o n g r e s s -
man Gregory
Meeks.
From the Port
Authoroty, “This
lease extension represents
a huge leap forward
in creating a path to
preserve the private investment
and thereby help drive
the region’s badly needed
economic recovery. But, it’s
not enough by itself. What remains—
critically—is for the
Port Authority to secure federal
aid from Washington to
help fund the Port Authority’s
share of these public-private
partnership projects. As the
Port Authority has repeatedly
warned, the devasting impact
of the COVID-19 crisis has
caused a dramatic reduction
in Port Authority revenues
($3 billion in the first two year
alone), which directly impacts
the Agency’s capital plan capacity.
Our request for federal
aid to fill this $3 billion hole
remains pending in DC and
the fate of projects that have
not yet begun construction
like the redevelopment of JFK
Airport hangs in the balance.”
Importance of the extension
for JFK infrastructure
economic development
A Port spokesperson said,
“Due to the precipitous decline
in air travel brought
on by the coronavirus crisis,
the major public-private partnership
deals designed to implement
Governor Cuomo’s
transformation plan for JFK
Airport (originally scheduled
to break ground mid-2020)
have been delayed. To move
forward, the deals need to be
restructured to account for
reduced air passenger traffic
and the delayed start of the
projects, and those negotiations
are underway. The JFK
public-private partnerships
seek to drive more than $10
billion of private investment
at JFK, creating 20,000 direct
and indirect jobs, billions of
dollars in MWBE and local
c o n - tracting,
and ext
ensive
o t h e r
community
benefits.
“
“It is
not possible
to attract
this level of
private investment
unless the investors
have sufficient time after
the new airport facilities
open to recover their multibillion
dollar investments.
The emergency extension of
the airport lease provides the
Port Authority the flexibility
to restructure the deal terms
with the private partners on
an urgent basis and, if successful,
achieve closing and
the start of construction in
the second half of this year.
“The Port Authority is
100% committed to delivering,
when this project moves
forward, on a full agenda of
community benefits as developed
in consultation with
the JFK Redevelopment Community
Advisory Council appointed
by Governor Cuomo
in October 2018 (the Council
is co-chaired by Representative
Meeks and Borough President
Richards) and as further
reaffirmed to the City, Representative
Meeks, and Borough
President Richards in the context
of the lease extension.