Finally, an Atlantic Yards Community Development Corp. meeting Tuesday at ESD HQ to discuss foreclosure & "next steps." Has a deal been reached?

More than six months after it last met--though it's supposed to meet quarterly--the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) is set to meet at 3 pm Tuesday, Jan. 23, at office of the parent Empire State Development (ESD) offices in Manhattan.

The agenda includes updates on the rescheduled Feb. 12 foreclosure auction of EB-5 debt, with the collateral developer Greenland USA's rights to develop six parcels (B5-B10) over the Vanderbilt Yard.

"Next Steps"?

One item, related to ESD, is "Next Steps," which could mean--who knows?--that the state authority has communicated to potential bidders whether or not it would impose affordable housing obligations, including a $2.000/month fine for each unit not delivered by May 2025, on them. 

Unbuilt are 876 (or 877) of the required 2,250 below-market units.

Or perhaps whether New York State is prepared to present a synthetic replacement for the 421-a tax break that would enable development.

As I wrote, it would be unwise for anyone to bid without knowing such conditions. (Beyond that, any developer would have to build a platform, over two blocks, and complete payment to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for development rights.)

No further information is available regarding the agenda and if everything is an oral report, there won't be more documents.

AY CDC past requests

It's unclear if ESD will deliver, as requested at the Aug. 2 AY CDC meeting last year, a financial analysis of the project and a report on how the affordable housing compares to what was promised.

I've called the AY CDC purportedly advisory since it has too often been toothless and used to rubber-stamp ESD staff decisions for approval by the authority's board. This meeting may be a test.

Details, comments, webcast

The announcement came in a press release dated last Wednesday that was not circulated to me.

The 3 pm meeting will be held at ESD's NYC Office: 633 Third Avenue,  37th Floor Conference Room. 

Due to (claimed) building procedures, members of the public attending in-person should RSVP by 4:30 pm on Monday, January 22. They should call (212) 803-3795. Members of the press should call (800) 260-7313.

 The public may listen to the meeting via webcast by clicking here. 

Members of the public may submit comments on the Agenda items in writing to AYCDCBdMtg@esd.ny.gov by 3 p.m. on Monday. All comments received by the deadline will be distributed to the Directors prior to the meeting and will be posted on-line.

But it's also possible for those attending the meeting to make public comments in response to agenda items. Of course 3 pm on a weekday in Manhattan may not be the easiest for public attendance.

From the Aug. 2 minutes

I'll note that the minutes, excerpted below, don't do justice to the comment I submitted before the last meeting regarding transparency, which included:

I'd like to note that requiring comment on Agenda items more than a day before the meeting, and before​ any Board Materials or resolutions have been circulated—or, possibly, after Board Materials have been circulated for a day or so—effectively precludes meaningful public input.

...One recommendation in the "Open ESD" report issued last week by Reinvent Albany is:
ESD should provide all materials for Board meetings at least three days in advance of Board meetings so the public can meaningfully comment on agenda items. Any budget or tabular data should be provided in an open, machine-readable format.

From the minutes:

The Acting Chair then stated that the public was given an opportunity to comment on the Agenda items by submitting their written comments by10:00 am today and that one non-Agenda related comment was received. He then noted that the comment was provided to the Directors and the subject matter of the comment, which is more process-related, would be taken up during the public comment portion of the Agenda.

.... Acting Chair [Daniel] Kummer addressed the non-Agenda public comment received which was posted and provided to the Directors and read it into the record. After discussion on the timing of distribution of Minutes being improved, it was also noted that agendas could be developed further to provide for additional information. 

Acting Chair Kummer reiterated that public comments could be provided in writing by deadlines but that members of the public were also invited to attend in person to provide comments as well and noted there were no additional comments to be provided.

(Emphasis added)

That doesn't acknowledge the substance of my comment, which regarded the presentations made by ESD.

As I wrote, in response to AY CDC Director Gib Veconi, who suggested that even an outline would be helpful, ESD's Joel Kolkmann wouldn't commit to sharing such presentations, but said he'd try to offer more details beforehand.

Kummer suggested even a short summary after each agenda item would be an improvement. Kolkmann said they could work to make the agendas more robust.

Kummer noted that, "obviously we're not the only entity of this nature with ESD," so the parent authority should think about its processes. He asked if ESD could start with a commitment for having more information available three days before a meeting.

"That's always the goal," Kolkmann responded. Of course, if everything's an oral report, there are no documents to share.