FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 13, 2020 • QUEENS BUSINESS • THE QUEENS COURIER 23
queens business
Richards announces support of Your LIC waterfront development
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
City Councilman and lead candidate
for Queens Borough President Donovan
Richards announced his support of the
Your LIC waterfront development.
Th e development, a project four private
developers are looking to build in the
28-acre land along Anable Basin — made
popular due to Amazon’s proposed HQ2
— has garnered much attention throughout
what is almost a year of its public
visioning sessions.
“As we battle massive inequality across
Queens, the Long Island City waterfront
presents a key opportunity to create new
jobs, aff ordable housing and much-needed
community facilities,” Richards told
QNS. “We need ambitious proposals that
will bring signifi cant private and public
investment into communities that have
long endured disparities based on their
socio-economic status.”
Your LIC’s developers,MAG Partners,
Plaxall, Simon Baron Development, and
TF Cornerstone, were brought together
by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson
last year in order to create a comprehensive
plan with community input well
before the ULURP process.
So far, developers have revealed they
plan todevelop 10 to 12 million square
feet of the 28-acre land with up to 15
buildings that range from 400 to 700 feet
in height, or 37 to 64 stories. Th ey’ve mentioned
seven acres of public open space.
Th e plan also calls for 50 percent of commercial
space, 30 percent residential and
13 percent “community” space that would
include three new public schools and
space for arts and culture.
Developers say they’ve committed to
5,700 total apartments with 25 percent
(or 1,400 units) being aff ordable, which
they say will be consistent with the area’s
Mandatory Inclusionary Housing metrics.
When asked for specifi c price range for
the units, Your LIC Spokesperson Jovanna
Rizzo said they did not have those specifics
yet.
Richards is making good with his intentions
to “play an outsized role in these
conversations — more aggressively than
what we’ve seen in the past,” he said in
July.
“I applaud the Your LIC team for working
diligently to solicit community feedback,
especially from NYCHA residents
who stand to gain the most with this
plan,” said Richards. “We must allow it to
advance through the ULURP process so
we can collectively shape the best possible
project for Long Island City’s future.”
His support of the project comes aft er
local Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer
announced his opposition to it as it currently
stands, following a letter from various
western Queens organizations who
believe the public land should be used for
public good and developed as a community
land trust.
“I do not support the Your LIC proposal.
Words of support from REBNY yes
men mean little in the face of widespread
community concern,” Van Bramer
told QNS. “Advancing millions of square
feet of residential and commercial space
should not be done hastily or without
consideration to the local community.
Simply put, we don’t need more luxury
apartments subsidized with giveaways to
the ultra rich. Shame on anyone who supports
them.”
Advocacy groups like the Western
Queens Community Land Trust and LIC
Coalition have said Your LIC’s visioning
process hasn’t been entirely inclusive
of ideas from community members,
leading them to create Our LIC, where
they delineate plans they want considered
as part of the waterfront project.
Some of those plans include turning the
Department of Education building —
which is not a part of the Your LIC developers
Renderings courtesy of Your LIC
scope — into a community hub.
Your LIC held fivepublic
workshops,three of which were held in
person and two online due to COVID-
19, with diff erent topics ranging from
resiliency to density. All of them had
onlineengagement options and can be
accessed on their webpage.
“In addition to our community engagement
thus far, the community will have
formal opportunities to weigh in at several
points throughout the environmental
review and ULURP processes,” Rizzo said.
Your LIC is looking to start the ULURP
process in 2021.
Van Bramer, who also has a history
of accepting real estate money, didn’t
answer questions about what should happen
on that land specifi cally. But the Long
Island City representative reiterated that
COVID-19 has changed everything.
“New development should focus on the
deep aff ordability needs of the community,
both living and working space,” he
said. “Th e proposals I have seen are woefully
inadequate. Furthermore, no one
even knows what the future of work will
look like post-COVID.”
In regards to Van Bramer’s previous
statements regarding Your LIC, Rizzo
said they have taken them into consideration.
“Th e councilman has voiced his priorities
for comprehensive planning, mixeduse
commercial and aff ordable housing,
public open space, new school sites, and
more, all of which we have included in
our proposal,” she said. “We also earmarked
a number of spaces for District
Enhancing Uses, which we envision will
be the glue between the joints and the
connective tissue that develops over time
to meet the community’s needs, including
any vision that local elected offi cials and
community board members may have for
these uses. We hope to continue working
constructively with him to shape a plan
that works for everyone.”
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