Public Review and Community Consultation
The University has held hundreds of meetings with community residents, elected officials, and civic leaders to initiate dialogue and solicit feedback.
Public participation has been an essential part of the planning for Columbia's proposed expansion in the old Manhattanville manufacturing zone. University representatives have held frequent meetings with community members; civic, arts, and business groups; public officials; private citizens; students; and faculty members—incorporating many of their ideas into the current proposal for long-term revitalization of this area of Upper Manhattan into a new kind of urban academic campus. Further civic participation is provided for in New York City's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), the official forum for public review and comment on the rezoning that is needed in order to redevelop the onetime manufacturing zone into an "academic, mixed-use" zone.
Area Proposed for Rezoning
Columbia also holds briefings on campus to share information with and gain feedback from students, faculty, and staff.
While the proposed rezoning area consists of approximately 35 acres, only 17 of these—from West 125th Street to West 133rd Street between Broadway and Twelfth Avenue, plus three blocks immediately east of Broadway from West 131st Street to West 134th Street—comprise Columbia's proposed development. The University is requesting that the area, which is currently zoned as light manufacturing, be rezoned for mixed-use development, a designation proven to contribute to economically diverse, vibrant neighborhoods.
How ULURP Works
ULURP sets a prescribed path for examination of applications for rezoning and dictates the steps in the seven-month timeframe within which approval or denial must occur. Here's how the process works:
- At the outset of this process, the Department of City Planning certifies the completion of a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS), which discloses in great detail the potential effects of the project.
- Next, the City Planning Commission sends the certified DEIS and all backup material to the community board with jurisdiction over the area in question, in this case, Manhattan Community Board 9 (CB9). The board has up to 60 days to notify the public, review the proposal, hold a public hearing, and make a written recommendation to the City Planning Commission either in favor of or against the proposal. The recommended resolution must be ratified by a quorum of the board. The board also has the right to waive the right to make a recommendation.
- The borough president has up to 30 days from the expiration of the community board's review period to perform the same steps.
- Next, the City Planning Commission has up to 60 days from the expiration of the borough president's review period to approve, deny, or recommend modifications to the proposal. During that time, City Planning also holds a public hearing.
- When a DEIS accompanies the ULURP application, as is the case here, a City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) public hearing is held jointly with the ULURP hearing.
- Comments made at the public hearing are incorporated into a final environmental impact statement (FEIS).
- The FEIS must be completed at least 10 days before any action is taken by the City Planning Commission on the ULURP application.
- In the event of an approval or an approval with modifications, the City Planning Commission then sends the application to the City Council, which has 50 days to review it, subject to a 15-day extension if the council proposes modifications (view public testimony from Dec. 12 City Council hearing).
- Following the council's vote, the mayor, at his or her discretion, may choose to veto the action. The City Council can override that veto.
For more information on ULURP, meeting dates, and opportunities for public comment, visit www.nyc.gov/dcp.