CITY OF NEW YORK

MARGARET S. CHIN GALE A. BREWER

COUNCIL MEMBER, DISTRICT 1 MANHATTAN BOROUGH PRESIDENT
NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL 1 CENTRE STREET, 19TH FLOOR
250 BROADWAY, SUITE 1762 NEW YORK, NY 10007
NEW YORK, NY 10007

June 21, 2018

Marisa Lago, Chair

City Planning Commission
120 Broadway, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10271

Re: Two Bridges land use applications to modify the Large-Scale Residential Development
(LSRD)

Dear Chair Lago:

It is with great urgency that we write today regarding the impending release of the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and possible referral for a sixty-day review to the local
community board of three land use review applications in the Two Bridges neighborhood in
Lower Manhattan. Were this to occur next week, the opportunity for meaningful public review of
the applications would be seriously undermined. Such an outcome cannot be allowed to occur.

After months with no contact with the applicants, and with no information from the Department
of City Planning (DCP) in regard to the status of the DEIS, we received word this week that a
City Planning Commission review session may be held on Monday, June 25th to move the
applications forward. If these applications are referred at that time to the community board for a
60-day review period, the board and the larger community would have only 17 working days to
formally consider developments that promise to have enormous, neighborhood-transforming
impacts.

The timing of this action, coming at the beginning of a two-month period in which the local
community meets only once in July, will undoubtedly be seen as a cynical attempt by the
applicants to severely limit public engagement and review. Given the enormous impact the
proposed addition of 2,775 residential units would have on an area already underserved by mass
transit, grocery stores, and other neighborhood amenities, it is incumbent upon all of us to ensure
a timeline that allows for adequate public review, rather than one which appears to short-circuit
that process.

As the elected representatives of this area, we are determined to secure a true 60-day review
period so that our community can adequately weigh what will certainly be substantial impacts to
their neighborhood. In order to achieve this, we request that these applications be referred to
the community board at such a time that would allow for the full period of review to which it is
entitled.
We implore you to promptly consider this request so that the voices of the people who stand to
be impacted the most by these developments are heard as part of this land use process.

As you are aware, we are co-applicants of a Text Amendment that would subject these
developments to full public review under the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). It
is our expectation that DCP consider this application in a timely manner to allow our vision of a
community-led planning process to move forward. No less than the future of this largely
immigrant and low income neighborhood is at stake.

If you have questions or concerns in regards to these requests, please contact Council Member
Chin at (212) 788-7259 or mchin@council.nyc.gov.

Sincerely,

Margaret S. Chin Gale A. Brewer

Council Member, District 1 Manhattan Borough President
New York City Council

cc: Bob Tuttle, Manhattan Office, Department of City Planning

Alysha Lewis-Coleman, Chair, Manhattan Community Board 3
State Senator Brian Kavanagh
State Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou