DEIS: Parking concerns; ULURP approvals

ULURP APPROVALS

Draft EIS states:

The proposed project would require special permits pursuant to Sections 74-512 and 74-54 of the Zoning Resolution to permit Garage D, a site zoned for manufacturing use. The proposed parking garage would be compatible with the surrounding manufacturing, parking, and institutional land uses in the area. The special permits would also exempt the floors of the garage located below a height of 23 feet above street level from the definition of floor area, allow rooftop parking (which would be screened), and allow for modification of rear yard requirements. If approved, Garage D would also occupy a volume above the bed of East 151st Street.

Response:

This special permit should not be granted. The proposed parking structure would be a hulking, massive intrusion into the community. Placing 5 stories of structured parking, 3 of which bridge over a street, is not acceptable in a neighborhood where people live only a block away.

Furthermore, the Gateway Center will be constructed directly across River Avenue. A five-story parking structure bridging over a street may not be compatible across the street from the street-level retail that the Gateway Center will include (as per Community Board conditions placed on their ULURP approval). While remaining land uses near the site are industrial in nature, this may not always be the case as neighborhoods can change and improve over the years. Constructing a hulking, massive parking structure in this location, however, will serve to ensure that things do not improve in this part of the neighborhood.

Also, the garage would not include parking for Gateway Center shoppers immediately across the street when there are no games. Opening up this garage for Gateway shoppers would lessen the burden of Gateway to provide parking, and could instead allow them to use more of their space for non-parking uses.