City Planning Commission will hold its hearing on the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project tomorrow

[Photo by Stacie Joy]

The next public meeting on the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR) takes place tomorrow (July 31) morning at 10.

The City Planning Commission along with the Office of Management and Budget and the Parks & Recreation Department are next the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) public review tour. The meeting is at 120 Broadway, Concourse Level. Page 42 (!) of this document has more details.

By now you likely now the story behind the ESCR project, a coastal protection initiative jointly funded by the City of New York and the federal government, aimed at reducing flood risk due to coastal storms and sea-level rise. ESCR is the first element of the city’s "Big U" plan to protect Lower Manhattan from surges like those seen during Superstorm Sandy.

As part of the project, city officials, starting next spring, plan to close East River Park for three-plus years, elevating it with 8- to 10-feet of soil and chopping down trees, etc., from Montgomery Street to East 13th Street.

Some residents, referring to it as the Kill Our Park Plan, have asked for the demolition and reconstruction of East River Park to take part in phases so that they continue to enjoy some of the amenities that the public space provides. (The revised plan, unveiled last fall, dramatically changed course over what had been discussed the previous four years.)

For more background:

• The official East Side Coastal Resiliency Project page is at this link.

• "A Beginner’s Guide to the NYC Environmental Impact Statement for the East River Park" via East River Park Action is here.

• A primer on the East River Park's past and future by the Village Preservation is at Off the Grid.

Also, this Gothamist piece has a nice background of what has transpired to date.

The city is now accepting public comments through Aug. 30. This link has details on how — and where — to comment.

You may also breeze through the mostly unreadable Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project here. There are hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents with footnotes and collateral materials (the table of contents alone is a unwieldy 32 pages).

The final vote via City Council is expected in late September.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: The reality of storm-proofing East River Park in 2020

Storm center: Questions linger over updated plans for the East Side Coastal Resiliency project

At East River Park

[Updated] 2 chances to hear updates on the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project this week

City officials are hosting two community meetings this coming week to discuss updated plans for storm-proofing East River Park.

Details emerged earlier this fall about the construction phase to protect the East Side against catastrophic flooding along the East River from Montgomery Street to 25th Street.

As reported in October, the city plans to "lift" East River Park by up to 10 feet when work starts in March 2020. However, to do this, the city will need to close East River Park for up to three and a half years, bulldozing all the current amenities, including the new running track and soccer field.

Monday's meeting is from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Gouverneur Health Auditorium, 227 Madison St. Tuesday's meeting is 6:30-8 p.m. in the Hunter-Brookdale Rotunda, 425 E. 25th St. (And the flyer notes dinner will be served!) The flyer notes that the same material will be presented each night (not sure if the same dinner will be served each night).

This link takes you to the website for the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project ... where you can find various background reports and presentations.

Updated 12/10

Ahead of tonight's first meeting, local City Councilmember Carlina Rivera released this statement:

“After being briefed last week on the new design for the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, I am still seriously concerned that many important questions regarding this monumental project have not been sufficiently answered by the Mayor’s Office and that the community’s pain-staking work over four years is being completely pushed aside. This new plan represents a fundamental departure from anything the City had previously discussed, particularly with respect to East River Park, which would be closed for three years.

Moreover, the proposed changes would reportedly bring the projected cost of the project to $1.45 billion, which the Mayor’s Office has failed to provide detailed analyses for explaining why the cost increase is necessary. We want a resilient city, and this projects needs to demonstrate that that is possible in all Five Boroughs. If the Mayor can clearly show that the previous, community-led version of ESCR would not provide the sufficient coastal protections needed, the city needs to be forthcoming about that. If they are pursuing this version out of convenience for the drivers who use the FDR or because they are concerned about finishing the project on time, they should also detail that as well. But until these questions are answered, I cannot back the direction the Mayor’s Office has decided to take.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: The reality of storm-proofing East River Park in 2020