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QUEENS WEEKLY, JANUARY 12, 2020
Your LIC project sparks debate over private use
in public land at Community Board 2 meeting
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Your LIC, the waterfront project
bringing together stakeholders
and residents to plan the future of
the Long Island City properties
where Amazon’s HQ2 would have
been located, was the topic of animated
discussion at Community
Board 2’s Jan. 2 meeting.
CB2 invited Your LIC to give
board members and residents a
presentation of their workshop on
resiliency and public open space
that they conducted in December.
But the meeting became more of
a debate about what the project
will mean for the community as
a whole and whether residents
should allow private companies to
use public land.
Before Your LIC officials gave
their presentation, Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney addressed
the “extraordinary opportunity”
of developing the waterfront
with parks and schools, with a
resiliency plan that will protect
the neighborhood from the next
hurricane.
Maloney added that “public
land should be for public purpose,”
setting the tone for the rest
of the evening. She said that as the
fastest-growing community in the
whole country and “one of the most
underserved in the city in terms of
green land,” the community must
address its infrastructure and
parkland.
“If I were on this community
board I would be putting
out a resolution that we should
take the public land and turn
it into a park for public use,”
Maloney said.
Your LIC, which is made up of
developers TF Cornerstone, Simon
Baron Development, L&L MAG and
Plaxall, is currently conducting a
community-driven and collaborative
process for the development
of the 28-acre land around Anable
Basin. They conducted their
first workshop back in November,
which was on economic empowerment
and career development and
led by Dr. Gail O. Mellow, former
president of LaGuardia Community
College.
During the CB2 meeting, the
Your LIC presentation — led by
Jason Loiselle, principal at Sherwood
Design Engineers; Gena
Wirth, design principal at SCAPE
Landscape Architecture; and John
Barrett, projects director at SHoP
Architects — showcased a working
draft on their plan to implement
seven to eight (out of the 28) acres
of open space that would be accessible
to the public.
They also detailed their climate
change-driven research on the LIC
waterfront and how they’ll address
it by designing the developments
to, among other things, withstand
coastal flooding and preserve the
ecosystem.
Based on their research,
they have several ideas for the
seven to eight acres of open
space that include large lawns
with a public center, a soccer or
sports field, and an eco-basin for
coastal ecology.
Community board and
resident response
Although impressed with
the presentation, several community
board members were
concerned that Your LIC didn’t
reveal images nor give an estimate
of the amount of buildings
as well as tenants they expect to
introduce to the waterfront.
“Resilience isn’t just about the
land, it’s also about the people that
live there,” CB2 member Christine
Hunter said.
“One of your goals is to help developers
maximize their projects
and design it in a way that protects
the neighborhood, but I’m wondering
… if there were no buildings on
that land, how much better would
it be?” CB2 member Kenny Greenberg
asked.
In regards to the seven to eight
acres Your LIC plans to designate
for open space, CB2 member Karesia
Batan asked if they’d consider
expanding it — to which Loiselle
of Sherwood Design Engineers responded
by saying that the open
space they’re proposing is “above
and beyond” the requirements
and it ultimately comes down to
what’s “economically viable for
redevelopment.”
During the public comment
portion, Diane Hendry, a 30-year
resident and member of LIC coalition,
said that the coalition is
asking “TF Cornerstone to walk
away from this parcel and support
a Community Land Trust at the
DOE and DOT sites, with the rest of
the 44th Drive becoming resiliency
and open space sponge park.”
Tom Paino, a former sustainability
director of New York Department
of Design and Construction
who specialized in coastal
resilience, said he saw “a few
disconnects” in the presentation,
such as that there’s “no advocacy
from the community; this is all
coming from the developers.” He
mentioned that not factoring the
amount of residential units is an issue,
because “every time there’s a
tower that’s built in Hunters Point,
the open space ratio worsens.”
Memo Salazar, who was recognized
at the 10th Annual Hispanic
and Latinx Leadership Awards by
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer
in October, introduced a counterplan
for Your LIC entitled Our LIC.
Salazar, who is also a member of
the Western Queens Community
Land Trust, said that the residentled
coalition seeks to develop the
waterfront as public land that
would include a school, a rooftop
farm and a community commercial
kitchen.
“The renditions look great, I
love the environmental aspect,
but we already know what the
stuff behind it means,” Salazar
said. “There’s obviously a ULURP
process, and in that process we
ask, as many people have already
said today, to please keep
public land public.”
Our LIC will have a public
meeting on Jan. 21 at 6:30 p.m. at
the Jacob Riis Center on 1025 41st
Ave. to further discuss their vision.
For more information, visit
OurLIC.nyc.
Your LIC response and
an upcoming workshop
Throughout the meeting, the
Your LIC speakers emphasized
that community engagement is an
integral part of their plans for the
waterfront.
Loiselle of Sherwood Design
Engineers also emphasized how
impressive it is for four developers
to create a resiliency plan before
going through the ULURP process
— which CB2’s First Vice Chair
Lisa Deller said won’t be happening
anytime soon.
“The fact that we’re here with
four different development groups
talking about a resilient strategy, a
resilient master plan with four developments
coming together, that
is the most exemplary example of
how things have changed since
Hurricane Sandy and it has to do
with the city,” Loiselle said. “It has
to do with the community pushing
the city to enforce and make this
kind of thing happen.”
In a statement to QNS, Your LIC
said this is an “unprecedented” opportunity
for four stakeholders to
work with the community to “collectively
develop one inclusive, sustainable
and equitable plan for the
waterfront.”
“During summer 2019, the New
York City Council and key city
agencies gathered stakeholders
with property along the waterfront
in Long Island City to propose
a unified planning approach
to better respond to the needs of
the community,” Your LIC stated.
“We believe so much can be accomplished
by working together
… This is an important conversation
and we encourage everyone to
participate and share their ideas
on our website YourLIC.nyc and
in person at our next two public
workshops.”
Your LIC’s next public workshop,
which will be dedicated to
community resources like schools,
recreation, and culture, will be held
on Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. at the Plaxall
Gallery, located at 5-25 46th Ave.
Residents can also directly send
their ideas, comments and suggestions
to Your LIC by registering for
an account on their website, Community.
YourLIC.nyc.
Your LIC also agreed with the
comments made by Maloney and
other residents about public land
being used for the public.
“We agree that the public land
should be used for public good and
support community priorities,
such as open space and job-creating
uses,” they stated. “Our public
engagement process is informing
us of the key community benefits
that all will be able to enjoy.”
Community Board 2 invited Your LIC to give a presentation on the upcoming waterfront project on Jan.
2. Photo: Angélica Acevedo/QNS