The RIOC Board will vote Thursday evening on whether to go forward with the Octagon Apartments project.

The agenda item is listed as “Issuance of Negative Declaration under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) for the Octagon Apartment Project; Modification of the General Development Plan.”

The “Negative Declaration,” if passed by the RIOC Board, would exercise RIOC’s authority to determine that the construction and eventual existence of the project will have no significant environmental or quality of life impact.  The second portion of the planned action refers to a modification of the Island’s General Development Plan (GDP), on which RIOC will seek the agreement of New York City, as the landowner.  The GDP, incorporated into the lease under which New York State is developing Roosevelt Island, which is City property, does not now provide for housing to be built at the Octagon Park site.

Securing the City’s blessing for the GDP changes will be the next step.  City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, who represents Roosevelt Island, has told RIOC that the City Council, not the Mayor, must pass on any amendment of the GDP, but just who holds the power to exercise the City’s jurisdiction is considered an open question, and is not necessarily a matter of settled law.  The lease specifies that the Board of Estimate, a defunct arm of City government, must agree to any changes.  No court cases have yet tested the question of which branch of City government – the legislative or the executive – inherited the Board of Estimate’s powers.

Miller’s representatives have been in conversations, believed to be cordial, with RIOC representatives.  Miller aide Jessica Lappin said this week, “We understand that the RIOC Board wants to move forward on the schedule they’ve set out for themselves, but that doesn’t preclude continuing discussions about the future of the Island.”  Miller may be seeking a RIOC promise that if he allows the Octagon project to go forward without legal action, RIOC will not later seek to develop Southpoint for other than park purposes.

In addition, Assemblymember Pete Grannis has drawn a line in the sand.  On Wednesday, he told The WIRE, “Usually, I am in favor of the development of affordable housing, which is greatly needed in New York City.  Unfortunately, the Octagon project violates both the letter and spirit and spirit of the [new] law, of which I was the prime sponsor in the Assembly, and which was signed by the Governor last year to protect Roosevelt Island’s open spaces.  Open spaces are also in very short supply in New York City.”  Grannis contends the law forbids any development, other than for park purposes, on the land immediately surrounding the landmarked Octagon structure.  That question also might require a court test to decide unless Grannis and RIOC representatives can agree on some mutually acceptable course of action.

The RIOC meeting is scheduled for 5:30 in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd.  As usual with RIOC’s evening meetings, a Town-Hall-style open forum for public questions and comments will follow formal adjournment.

[A list of materials related to the Octagon and this development plan are available here on Website NYC10044 at www.nyc10044.com/wire/2014/io2014.html.  The developer, Becker and Becker, maintains a website at www.beckerandbecker.com.]