Hudson Park Hudson River Park

Hudson Park

Hudson River Park Community Meeting

On Monday, July 15th, roughly 60 assorted representatives of the Hudson River Park Trust, the Friends of Hudson River Park, the Chelsea Land Use (CLU) Committee and the Waterfront, Parks, and Environment Committee (WPE) gathered for a Manhattan Community Board meeting. The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss the distribution and boundaries of the five-mile tract known as Hudson River Park. Particularly, the meeting was held in response to Bill A8031-2013, which gives the park the right to sell air rights within the scope of its land.

This right refers to the granting of zoning permission, also with input from surrounding residents and property owners, for the construction of buildings of a certain height and scale. The plan to grant more extensive air rights within the Hudson River Park as a way of raising money for the park's preservation needs is perceived by many as a counterintuitive and potentially destructive strategy. These concerns would be voiced in the Community Board Meeting. Some of the most pressing positions are addressed here after.

For instance, Marcy Benstock of the Clean Air Campaign helps to underscore a primary point of debate at the meeting. The discussion over air rights is, justifiably, being perceived at least in part as an environmental issue. According to Benstock, "Air rights transfer is crucial. Most of the project area is in the water, about 490 acres. Clean air has a lot to do with this. They will say that they have extra air rights, then come up with the idea to build on the pier. So they will say they need to build on the river, this will harm and destroy the habitat." To this perception, there is no manner in which the expansion of 'air rights' for developers won't open to door to wholesale development of (and therefore degradation of) the heretofore protects waters and banks of the Hudson River.

Another highly pertinent grievance would be raised by the Executive Director, of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, who complained that the park committees did a poor job of reaching out to community, environmental and preservation groups as the issue came onto the table. As the interviewee noted, he and his colleagues had no sense that this controversial plan was in the works. Moreover, even with knowledge of the plan, the director would observe that information was still scarce. Accordingly, the interviewer inquired "How many air rights will be sold? What's the process for them to be used? How much will it cost? I don't know for sure, but there may be up to 1.6 million square feet to sell. Based on my understanding, there are piers designated as 'commercial' and 'recreational'?, so we want to see in writing so it's not subject to different interpretations."