Another sign of movement on Site 5: contract for consultant AKRF to produce Technical Memorandum began last October (does this preclude Supplemental EIS?)

There's another sign of governmental effort to effectuate a transfer of bulk from the unbuilt "Miss Brooklyn" tower--now the site of the arena plaza--across the street to Site 5, longtime home of Modell's and P.C. Richard, enabling a far larger tower project than previously permitted. This plan has been pending since 2015, but delayed by litigation.

I wrote 10/19/20 that, according to a 9/4/20 stipulation, the parties in the condemnation proceeding involving P.C. agreed on a stipulation that, while not diminishing the retailer's rights in a pending lawsuit, "that ESD may initiate the statutory processes required to modify the General Project Plan," or GPP.

Actually, it already had. 

According to the ESD Board Materials from 6/25/20 (bottom), the list of Annual Procurement Contracts executed during Fiscal Year 2020, ending 3/31/20, ubiquitous environmental consultant AKRF, which had started with a $49,000 contract, saw $22,000 added to it, to "Continue to provide technical memorandum to support GPP modification for Atlantic Yards."

That's a total of $71,000, a tiny fraction of the firm's revenue regarding Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. (I'll report on that total separately.)

The curious thing is: that contract began 10/16/2019, and while it may not have been part of the formal statutory process for a GPP modification, it was part of the support for that process. 

And while there may be no market as of now for the project--who wants an office tower during coronavirus?--there is value to getting the approvals in place.

2016 plan for transferring bulk from "Miss Brooklyn" to Site 5

Complementing, or avoiding, the EIS?

Note that a Technical Memorandum was used, before the 2009 project changes that gave the developer more slack to finish the project and pay for property taken by eminent domain, to justify ESD not conducting a time-consuming, expensive Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). Later, an SEIS was ordered by a judge.

That should not be the case here. In July 2019, Tobi Jaiyesimi, ESD's Atlantic Yards project director (and the executive director of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation), said the proposed modifications would "trigger a full public process, which would require a Supplemental EIS."

So, that raises a question: does the Technical Memorandum have another function regarding Site 5?

Page 307 of ESD Board Materials June 25, 2020 contract amounts

Contributed to DocumentCloud by Norman Oder (Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report) • View document or read text