Councilman comes out against Your LIC development
after receiving letter from community groups
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer has come out in opposition
to the Your LIC development,
the waterfront project
four developers want to build
surrounding the 28-acre land
along Anable Basin.
The Long Island City council
member wrote a letter explaining
his opposition to the
controversial development in
response to an open letter by
four Western Queens community
groups, including Justice
for All Coalition and Western
Queens Community Land
Trust, that called on him to
“immediately and publicly oppose”
the proposed project in
June.
“I agree with you that the
proposal for 12 million square
feet, twice the height and density
of Hunters Point South,
is wrong for our community,”
Van Bramer wrote. “COVID-19
has changed everything about
our world and how we see our
future. There is no question
that this project as proposed
would cause rents to rise in
the surrounding community.
There are far too many luxury
apartments included and the
proposed affordability is simply
unacceptable.”
What Your LIC
would look like
Your LIC’s stakeholders
— MAG Partners, Plaxall, Simon
Baron Development, and
TF Cornerstone — revealed
they are looking to develop
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 during a Community
Board 2 Land Committee
meeting in May.
They are looking to have
seven acres of public open
space. Developers have not
specified whether the plans
have been adjusted or reconsidered
due to the pandemic.
During the fifth Your
LIC workshop, stakeholders
discussed mixed-use opportunities
and focused on density.
They spoke about dense
mixed-use districts as places
that foster “productivity,” “innovation”
and “attracts and
retains the next generation of
workers, entrepreneurs, and
community and cultural institutions.”
They said they want to
make this a 15-minute neighborhood
where all necessities
are essentially walking distance.
“It’s really about job generating
and public uses,” Gregg
Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects
said.
They’re planning to have
50 percent of the development
for commercial space,
30 percent residential and 13
percent “community” space
that includes three new public
schools and space for arts and
culture.
For the residential units,
the developers say they have
committed to 5,700 total apartments
with 25 percent (or 1,400
units) being affordable, which
they say is consistent with the
area’s Mandatory Inclusionary
Housing.
The three-hour long workshop,
hosted by Bishop Mitchell
Taylor and Dr. Gail Mellow,
took place via Zoom with
almost 200 participants. The
presentation portion took well
over half an hour, and is posted
on their website. The breakout
room portion, in which Your
LIC randomly assigned participants
to different discussion
Zoom rooms with participants
and project reps, as well as the
TIMESLEDGER | 2 QNS.COM | JULY 17-23, 2020
Q&A at the end is not posted.
Community’s response
Many community members
have expressed concern about
various aspects of the project.
Some have said they take issue
with the lack of open space
in the plans, developing on a
floodplain, whether housing
will actually be affordable,
and the overall outreach portion
of the project.
On the other hand, in an
op-ed for the Gotham Gazette,
Queensbridge, Ravenswood,
Astoria Houses and Woodside
Houses tenant leaders wrote
that the project will bring jobs
and other community benefits
their tenants need.
But the community groups
that called on Van Bramer to
oppose the project believe the
public land should mainly
be developed as a community
land trust.
“We request a truly objective,
community-led planning
process that includes well
thought-out, already-existing
proposals from community
groups, including a publicly
funded wetlands park, a
community land trust in the
Department of Education
building, and a public middle
school,” their letter read.
“The privately-held sites can
be perfectly profitable if they
remain zoned for manufacturing:
the community does not
owe anyone a rezoning if it’s a
bad planning decision.”
Van Bramer agreed.
“I have said before and
I will say again that all of
the publicly owned land in
this site should be used exclusively
for the public. Not
handed over to developers for
profit, and I strongly support
a community land trust on
this site,” Van Bramer wrote
on his letter. “We are also
in a moment of uprising in
this country where millions
are marching against police
brutality, inequality in all of
its forms, and insisting that
Black lives matter … If I am
not convinced that a project
is going to reduce income inequality,
I can’t support it.
We must view this proposal,
and all future proposals, with
a view towards racial equity
and economic justice.”
“We cannot keep doing the
same things over and over
again and expect different results.
We need to fundamentally
change how we view development
in New York City,”
he added. “I do believe that
something should happen on
this land, but this proposal
isn’t that something. The current
proposal is not right for
Photo courtesy of Your LIC
our community and I oppose
it.”
Your LIC’s next steps include
beginning the environmental
scoping process by the
end of this year and submitting
a formal ULURP in 2021.
In a statement regarding
Van Bramer’s stance, the group
pointed to how the City Council
brought them together last summer
in order to create a comprehensive
plan for what would
have been the Amazon site.
“Since then, we have
brought hundreds of Long Island
City residents together
for community visioning sessions,
both in person, and
after COVID-19 hit our city,
online,” their statement read.
“As a result of what we heard
from the community, we have
a proposal that would bring
up to 26,000 permanent new
jobs, 1,400 units of affordable
housing, a workforce development
center, resilient infrastructure,
a public park, three
new public school sites, a recreation
center, space for arts
and culture, and more to the
neighborhood. We have paid
close attention to the Council
Member’s statements and priorities
for the waterfront, and
we hope to continue working
constructively with him to
shape a plan that works for
everyone.”
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