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• LITTLE NECK LEDGER
• WHITESTONE TIMES
Nov. 13-Nov. 19, 2020
City Planning Commission OKs Special
Flushing Waterfront District Proposal
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
AND ZACH GEWELB
The City Planning Commission
(CPC) on Wednesday, Nov. 4, voted in
favor of approving the highly controversial
Special Flushing Waterfront District
(SFWD) proposal that will now move forward
to the City Council for a vote.
The City Planning Commission’s 11-2
vote is a milestone for the development,
which is steadily gaining momentum after
a halted land-use process.
Marisa Lago, chair of the City Planning
Commission, voted in favor of the
project saying, “the application is an important
step forward for Flushing.”
The three developers behind the Special
Flushing Waterfront Development
include F&T Group, United Construction
& Development Group, and Young
Nian Group, known collectively as
FWRA, LLC.
Their proposal seeks to revitalize 29
acres of inactive and underutilized land
that the developers say will provide substantial
public benefits such as a privately
funded and maintained road network
and a 160,000-square-foot waterfront
promenade along Flushing Creek that
will both be publicly accessible.
The plan also includes 1,725 residential
units, including affordable housing,
879 hotel keys, office and community facilities,
retail space and parking spaces
to help alleviate traffic along College
Point Boulevard.
In response to the CPC’s vote, the
developers said they’re pleased that the
City Planning Commission has voted to
move the application forward.
“With 3,000+ permanent jobs, a new
traffic-alleviating public road network,
publicly accessible waterfront with public
amenities, and $164+ million in projected
annual tax revenue among many
other benefits, SFWD will bring Queens
a step closer to the future our communities
deserve,” the developers said.
The CPC’s vote marks another step in
the right direction, the developers said.
“City Planning rightly sees that the
Rendering by Hill West Architects
SWFD is not a rezoning, but an essential
next step for Queens at large towards recovery,”
the developers said.
Meanwhile, opponents of the
proposal have said that the rezoning
of the waterfront will exponentially
increase the process of gentrification
and displacement.
The MinKwon Center for Community
Action along with the Greater Flushing
Chamber of Commerce and Chhaya
CDC, had filed a lawsuit against the Department
of City Planning and the City
Planning Commission, arguing that an
environmental review must be conducted
for the development proposal.
Local organizations such as the
Flushing Anti-Displacement Alliance,
The MinKwon Center and the Flushing
Workers Center took to social media describing
the CPC’S vote as “shameful”
while criticizing the mayor and Councilman
Peter Koo.
Koo’s approval will likely be crucial
to securing support from the Council,
since members traditionally vote according
to the local member’s wishes on landuse
matters.
The City Council hosted a virtual
Zoom hearing on Monday, Nov. 9, during
which Koo spoke in favor of the project.
“I believe the proposal has many
merits,” Koo said during the hearing.
“There is an MIH component, workforce
development, double the open space and
opportunities to engage our community
in environmental education. At long last,
our community could have an accessible
waterfront.”
“I also believe this proposal certainly
has its share of criticisms,” Koo added.
Among those concerns, Koo said, are
“displacement and the impact of this
project on the surrounding community
and environment.”
“At the end of the day, whatever is ultimately
built here will need to enhance
the downtown Flushing community and
open up our currently inaccessible waterfront
as much as is realistically possible.
Our community has been cut off
from its waterfront for far too long,” Koo
said.
The developers are thrilled with the
amount of support that was offered for
the project.
“More than 100 community members
exercised their right to speak about the
Special Flushing Waterfront District
(SFWD) at Monday’s City Council hearing.
Without question, more than 75% of
speakers were in favor of our project and
its many merits,” the developers said.
“The Council also received more than
330 letters of support for the District from
Flushing residents and business owners
in advance of the hearing. This is an outstanding
outpouring of support from our
community for this project.”
Vol. 86 No. 46 40 total pages
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