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November 22, 2006
Atlantic Yards Approval Could Be Delayed By Impact Statement Snafu
The Real Estate Observer
By Tom Acitelli
The Empire State Development Corporation announced on Monday it had to delay the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the Atlantic Yards project. It seems, according to a release from corporation Chairman Charles Gargano, that some public comments were not included in the FEIS. It was presented to the ESDC board on Nov. 15.
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What does this mean, exactly? While the Atlantic Yards project looked likely to float toward approval by both the ESDC and the state Public Authorities Control Board before New Year's (and the start of Eliot Spitzer's reign in Albany), the delay on the environmental impact statement could drag the approval process at least into 2007.
NoLandGrab: It's difficult to know for sure what effect this delay will have. Will Atlantic Yards gets approved by a Governor George Pataki administration, or will it get put off until Eliot Spitzer takes office?
One thing is for certain - the rush-rush mentality has obviously put a strain on all sides.
Community groups were totally stressed out when they were forced to prepare comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement in a mere 73 days. Though the timeframe met legal guidelines, it was much shorter than recent comment periods for much smaller projects.
Now it seems that the short timeframe even has the experts and professionals stumbling over themselves to get this project approval in the can. Regardless of one's position on the project, the review process for a project of this magnitude should not be proceding in this fashion.
Posted by lumi at November 22, 2006 7:50 AM