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June 1, 2007
Columbia expansion plowing ahead
Crain's NY Business
By Anne Michaud
Remember last summer, when the Atlantic Yards environmental review hearings were scheduled during the summer?
Deja Screw?
Could Columbia University and the City be taking a page out of the Ratner playbook by starting the clock on the public review process for the university's expansion plans during the months that many New Yorkers aren't paying attention, and the Community Board, which is supposed to officially weigh in with its opinion, is not in session?
Columbia University's 17-acre expansion into West Harlem will enter into the city review process on Monday, following three years of delay and controversy.
The review, which takes seven months, would rezone several city blocks near the Hudson River to create a satellite campus for the university. Science labs, an arts building and a business school are planned.
Charges that the university is mishandling community relations have dogged the project -- sometimes triggering student protests -- and local leaders are objecting to the timing, which means that public hearings will be scheduled during the summer vacation months.
NoLandGrab: Columbia plans on using the State's power of eminent domain to complete the land acquisition for the controversial project.
Posted by lumi at June 1, 2007 7:32 AM