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February 12, 2010
ESDC amends mitigation memo on timing, open space, etc.; more important is leeway on affordable housing, paying for TEAs, and "practicable" procedures
Atlantic Yards Report
The Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) has quietly--i.e., with no press release--posted an updated version of the Amended Memorandum of Environmental Commitments (aka Memorandum of Mitigation Commitments), which was signed in December.
Notably, the document--which was posted either in late December or early January--describes:
- more time to build a school
- more time to build a day care center (or not build it at all)
- larger stormwater detention tanks, in the absence of an arena green roof
- plans for temporary open space, such as kiosks, seating areas, and landscaping
- plans for a temporary Urban Plaza
Most if not all of the changes are also memorialized in the master closing documents signed in late December and finally made available on January 25.
Still, most of the changes seem minor. The key text, most likely, the significant amount of wiggle room built into the language of both documents, leaving the city or the ESDC--which have not exactly pressed hard on developer Forest City Ratner--in charge of enforcing some vague agreements.
Posted by lumi at February 12, 2010 5:55 AM