At Westview, a GDP Strategy

Attorneys for Westview are citing the Island's General Development Plan (GDP) in an effort to stave off plans to privatize the building.

Specifically, an April letter to a Deputy Commissioner in the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) points out that "by the terms of [the] 99-year agreement between New York City and an arm of New York State, [Westview] must be maintained as housing for middle-income tenants until 2068." The six-page letter, written by Michael E. Fleiss of Wolf, Haldenstein, Adler, Freeman & Herz, goes on to say that in giving notice of intent to withdraw from the Mitchell-Lama program, the building's owner "included no provision or plan of any kind for the preservation of affordable housing at Westview on a going-forward basis - in effect, announcing the imminent... violation of the housing requirements of the [lease]."

If the reasoning behind that claim holds, planning for a change of status at Island House and Rivercross - and possibly Eastwood - may be affected.

On the other hand, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has agreed to change the General Development Plan in the past, altering specifics of the lease under which the State is developing the Island, which remains City property. The documents on which the argument is based, in fact, say the GDP "may be modified from time to time."

The Fleiss letter has been endorsed by five officeholders: Representative Carolyn Maloney, Assemblymember Pete Grannis, State Senator José Serrano, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. Late last month, they forwarded copies to DHCR Commissioner Judith Calogero and City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., with a cover letter identifying them as the "Coalition of Roosevelt Island Elected Officials."

The Case

The GDP calls for a specific division of types of housing in Northtown, the area from Eastwood and Rivercross on the south to Manhattan Park on the north:

. 20% for persons and families eligible for Federally assisted public housing ("Section 8" housing);

. 20% for persons eligible for interest-reduction payments under Section 236 of the National Housing Act;

. 35% for persons and families eligible to occupy Mitchell-Lama housing;

. 25% for market-rate rentals or full-market housing ("conventionally financed" housing).

The Fleiss letter says, "The mandate of the GDP has been executed almost to perfection," citing these figures for Northtown housing:

. Section 8 and Section 236: 1,090 units (220 at 2-4 River Road and 870 in Eastwood), or just short of 34%.

. Mitchell-Lama: 1,255 units (130 in Eastwood, 364 in Rivercross, 400 in Island House, 361 in Westview), about 39%.

. Market-rate: 880 units at Manhattan Park, 27%.

Fleiss writes that the planned "drastic changes" in the Northtown breakdown, with units being removed from the subsidized category, would violate the terms of the GDP and the City-State lease, which incorporates the GDP. "The withdrawal of Westview's 361 Mitchell-Lama housing units alone... would leave 894 units of Mitchell-Lama housing in Northtown, or just 27%... as compared to the 35% mandated" under the GDP. The letter goes on to say that removal of the Eastwood units would further lower the proportion to 23%, and adds that the removal of Island House would take it to just 11%.

In the past, RIOC has successfully treated the GDP as a "loose collection of ideas" that is non-binding. For Manhattan Park and the Octagon Apartments, RIOC secured agreements from the City's mayor of the time to amend the GDP.

In their letter to Comptroller Thompson, the officeholders point out that he has the authority to monitor the State's compliance with the terms of the Master Lease. "We know that you share our concern that the City is rapidly losing its stock of irreplaceable affordable housing units as well as our deep commitment to doing everything possible to protect the mix of housing options that have been the hallmark of this acclaimed planned community." To DHCR Commissioner Calogero, they wrote, "This [housing mix] would appear to be a threshold issue that must be resolved before your agency's processing of this application [to withdraw Westview from Mitchell-Lama] proceeds another step."

The full text of the letters is available on line with this issue of The WIRE at nyc10044.com.