|
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|
| 1997 | |
| 4/10 |
The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation conditionally
selects, as developers for the Southtown project, The Related
Companies and The Hudson Companies (Hudson/Related). |
|
| July |
The developers and Morse Diesel (RIOC's
representative) meet with architects Thoreson and Linard and the
Alternative Southtown Design Committee, headed by Attorney Robert
Chira, a resident of Rivercross. |
| 8/27 |
RIOC and the developers sign a "designation letter" that
requires each to do certain things before the developers can
receive "final designation" for the project. |
|
| 1998 | |
| 1/13 |
Developers present RIOC with preliminary plans for Phase I,
with pro forma financial information. |
|
| 4/4 |
Cost Allocation Agreement signed by RIOC and Hudson/Related,
requiring design planning and meetings with community groups for
their input on the project design. |
|
| 9/15 |
Developers and RIOC agree that Hudson/Related will
pay for demolition of the abandoned Nurses Residence on the
Southtown property once Phase I construction starts. RIOC is to
pay $725,000 for an engineering analysis, to fund all
infrastructure work for Phase I. Deadline of December set for
delivery of environmental assessment. |
| Tue 11/10 |
Architect Max Bond shows residents a model of the
Hudson/Related proposal for Southtown, consisting of nine
structures – six on the Manhattan side of the Island
ranging up to 16 stories, three on the Queens side, ranging up to
28 stories. The plan includes a soccer field at the south end of
the site, on the Queens side, near the Queensboro Bridge. |
 |
| 12/98 |
| Joseph Lynch of DHCR announces formation
of the RIOC Board's Capital Planning and Development Committee,
charged with reviewing Island development proposals and advising
the RIOC Board on them.
|
|
| 1999 | |
| Sat 4/10 |
As the Roosevelt Island Residents Association gears up for
possible legal conflict over development
(WIRE report),
The Main Street WIRE publishes an
analysis of the Lease and the
General Development Plan (GDP), foreseeing a "struggle for the
Island's soul."
|
| August |
Southtown developers Hudson/Related are now
pushing for fast "final designation" because they have found a
tenant for the first building – an east-side medical
institution. At a September 8 RIRA Common Council meeting, Jeff
Hochman expresses concern that this means those dwelling in the
building may be transients uninterested in the Island's long-term
future. |
WIRE report |
| 9/1 |
 In the delayed August meeting of the RIOC
Board's Capital Planning and Development Committee, Chair Frank
Angelino asks for a "sense of the committee" on the Southtown
developers. Assured by RIOC President Robert Ryan that they are
not voting on the final design of the development, but only on
the developers, committee members vote for final designation
status for Hudson/Related. |
Transcript
WIRE
editorial
|
| Wed 9/22 |
The RIOC Board of Directors votes "final designation" for
developers Hudson and Related. Its
resolution includes language
approving the layout of buildings on the site. The Board
authorizes expenditure of $4.56 million for infrastructure, but
limits the pay-out to $725,000 until after RIOC has received
reimbursement from the City for "certain seawall costs," language
which later raises suspicion that RIOC is diverting funds
intended for completion of Octagon Park.
WIRE report.
|
| Under the approved plan, developers
Hudson and Related are committed to build, in two phases, 800 to
1,000 apartments of the projected 1,956 total. Hudson/Related
also commit to the cost of demolishing the Nurses Residence in
Phase II. Pro forma financials indicate that the initial phase
will be predominantly studio and one-bedroom
apartments. |
 |
|
RIOC's approval of the plan brings almost immediate criticism
that it was done without a serious review of the plan's specifics
by the RIOC Board's own Capital Planning and Development
Committee, that there is no commitment to off-site concrete
mixing, that the nature of the dwelling units favors transient
populations, not families, and other matters.
|
| Tue 9/28 |
| Attorney Jeffrey Glen of
DeForest & Duer, retained to represent the Roosevelt Island
Residents Association on development matters, appears in a public
meeting to talk about legal strategy in potential litigation
against the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation or
developers.
Transcript. |
 |
 |
| Sat 10/9 |
The Main Street WIRE
editorializes that the RIOC
Board's Capital Planning and Development Committee spent too
little time considering Southtown before assenting to final
designation of developers Hudson and Related; a map of the site
and nearby structures, says The WIRE, shows that one
building will effectively form a "wall" across Main Street, as
charged by Robert Chira of the Alternative Southtown Development
Committee. |
 |
| Wed 11/3 |
RIOC President Robert Ryan tells a meeting of the
Residents Association Common Council that the RIOC Board of
Directors did not go too far in approving a layout for Southtown
buildings in their 9/22 resolution, saying the plan had been
supported by a consensus of the Board's Capital Planning and
Development Committee. |
 |
| Wed 11/10 |
The developers tell an open meeting of the
RIRA Planning Committee that they  expect
to reach "signature stage" on construction on three
buildings within about three months. They tell The
WIRE they consider their "massing plan" final as
approved 9/22 by the RIOC Board. Their plan to house
employees of an east-side hospital in the first building
raise concerns about a "transient" population.
Transcript.
WIRE report.
|
| Mon 12/6 |
At a RIRA Legal Action Fund
Committee meeting, Common Council members Linda Heimer and
Ron Schuppert present a rough-draft alternative plan for
Southtown that would leave the soccer/baseball fields
without buildings. It is agreed that Schuppert, a member of
the Legal Committee, will call RIRA's legal counsel and
determine what legal action might be taken, and that RIRA
President Patrick Stewart would arrange a meeting of
interested parties: RIOC, RIRA, Morse Diesel, and the
developers. |
Wed 12/8
|
RIRA Common Council meeting receives the
rough alternative plan favorably, but takes no
action.
|
 |
| Thur 12/9 |
At December's RIOC Board meeting, Schuppert raises the
question of the source of funds RIOC plans
to use to extend infrastructure to the new buildings,
concerned that funds may be diverted from construction of
Octagon Park. RIOC Board member Frank Angelino, who chairs
the Board's Capital Planning and Development Committee
(CPDC), praises the Southtown plan for providing a 200-foot
buffer between existing housing and the new buildings,
saying that's typically not available anywhere else in the
City. RIRA President Patrick Stewart (at this point is
still sitting on the RIOC Board as an observer) discusses
the record of public hearings and meetings on Southtown,
saying there has been adequate opportunity for input by the
community. |
| Wed 12/15 |
The beginnings of RIRSD, Roosevelt
Islanders for Responsible Southtown Development, occur when
Ron Schuppert, Steve Marcus, Linda Heimer and others meet to
talk over their concerns that nothing is being done to
challenge the Southtown buildings planned to occupy
Blackwell Field. |
| Tue 12/21 |
Forty residents attend a meeting in
Rivercross; most pledge financial support. RIRSD is formed
and named, and a steering committee meets. |
Margie Smith, Lee Edelman, Linda Heimer, Steve
Marcus (chair), Joyce Mincheff, Nurit Marcus,
of the RIRSD
steering committee
|
| Wed 12/22 |
DeForest & Duer agrees to represent
RIRSD in an Article 78 challenge to the RIOC Board's action
in approving Southtown plans, but only if the RIRA Legal
Committee sees no conflict of purpose. |
| Tue 12/28 |
|
An emergency meeting of the RIRA Legal Fund Committee
considers whether RIRA and RIRSD should act jointly, and
whether RIRA should allow DeForest & Duer to take RIRSD's
case. Neither is approved, but it is agreed the RIRA Common
Council should consider the matter. An emergency meeting of
the Common Council is scheduled, then cancelled when RIRSD
temporarily opts against asking RIRA for a joint effort.
|
|
| 2000 |
| Tue 1/4 |
 Developer David Kramer of The Hudson
Companies, after reading a brief report on RIRSD's
activities on Website NYC10044, calls RIRSD steering
committee member Linda Heimer. He says he sees
relinquishing the soccer field area as a change too major to
negotiate. |
| Wed 1/5 |
 Steve and Nurit Marcus make "one last
appeal" at a RIRA Common Council meeting, asking for support
of the RIRSD action and alternative plan. The Council votes
against joining RIRSD in its action, but passes a milder
resolution that RIRA should "explore" working with other
community groups, and to consider pursuit of an Article 78
motion if it can be determined that a four-month window for
action is about to expire. |
| Sat 1/8 |
In his WIRE
column, RIRA President
and RIOC Board member Patrick Stewart accuses RIRSD of
"hidden motivations" and creating "drama concocted out of
misinformation and distortion." He writes that RIRA is
"working on a solution that will be far more effective, and
far less costly," and pledges, "I give you my personal
promise that the General Development Plan will not be
compromised." |
| Sat 1/8 |
At an emergency meeting, the Common Council votes 18-0. with
three abstaining, to ask the RIOC Board to withdraw its
approval of the Southtown "plan and project," agreeing with
a member of the CPDC that no advisory vote had been taken to
support the plan. It turns down a motion supporting "the
preservation of Blackwell Field free from housing
development." Patrick Stewart recuses himself from
participating in the meeting, having been advised by RIRA
attorneys of a "possible conflict of interest" due to his
membership on the RIOC Board of Directors. |
| Wed 1/12 |
RIRA VP Joan Christianson meets
with RIOC and later reports that RIOC consulting attorney
Barbara Espejo defended the RIOC position regarding the
acreage designated for Southtown. |
| Wed 1/12 |
Karen Stewart writes to DeForest & Duer,
having discovered that the GDP calls for a six-acre
Blackwell Park. (The present park is about three acres, and
there appears to be no clear way to expand it to six acres
without including Blackwell Field. Doing so would satisfy
RIRSD's main demand - that Blackwell Field be removed from
the Southtown construction zone.) |
Full text of
letter |
| Thur 1/13 |
 |
At the RIOC Board of Directors meeting,
speaking to the RIOC Board, Joan Christianson reads Karen
Stewart's letter to DeForest and Duer. |
| Thur 1/20 |
 RIOC President
Robert H. Ryan affirms to The WIRE that RIOC stands
by its RFPs and its interpretations of the General
Development Plan. Developer David Kramer, speaking for both
Hudson and Related, says Hudson/Related will rely on
"legally-binding maps." which he says show Blackwell Field
as part of the area allowed for Southtown
construction. |
| Thu 1/20 |
Rivercross resident Robert Chira, an
attorney, filles an Article 78 challenge against RIOC.
Text of
petition. | |
| Mon 1/24 |
Attorneys for RIRSD file its Article 78
challenge. RIOC is named, as well as the City Department of
Environmental Protection, the chosen Southtown developers,
and others. Text of
petition. |
| Thu 2/3 |
RIRA President Patrick Stewart and
First Vice President Joan Christiason jointly issue a
personal position paper on Southtown. Full text. This
generates a controversy over whether such statements should
be issued without the endorsement of the RIRA Common
Council. Stewart says the RIRA constitution gives him the
authority to do it. |
| Fri 2/4 |
The Main
Street WIRE reports that RIOC may be diverting funds
from Octagon Park to construction of infrastructure for
Southtown, a charge contained in the RIRSD Article 78
petition. |
| February |
RIOC hires outside
Counsel in the Article 78 actions. He is Stephen Kass
of Carter Ledyard & Milburn, He calls the actions
"conspicuously without merit." Developers Hudson and
Related also engage Counsel in the cases.
|
| Wed 3/8 |
| Residents Association
Vice President Joan Christianson tells the organization's
Common Council that RIOC has been unresponsive to RIRA's
pleas regarding compliance with RIRA's view of the Island's
General Development Plan. In a
statement she
tells the Council RIRA may need to intervene in the suits
brought by RIRSD and Robert Chira, and says the cost may be
$6,000 to $10,000.
WIRE report.
|
|
| Tue 3/28 |
Attorney Jeff Glen appears before a special meeting of the
RIRA Common Council, recommending that RIRA intervene in the
existing Article 78 actions with an emphasis on the General
Development Plan's authority in control of Island
development. The Council votes $10,000 for the
effort. WIRE report.
Papers – including a
Memorandum of Law and an
affidavit by
Christianson – are subsequently filed.
|
| 4/15 |
RIRA files papers seeking to intervene in both the RIRSD and
Chira actions. |
|
| Late April |
Robert Chira files papers opposing
intervention by RIRA, saying the Residents Association
participation would add nothing new to the case, and that it
is attempting to "bootstrap" itself, late, into the same
status as RIRSD and Chira's group, the Alternative Southtown
Design Committee.
WIRE report.
|
RIOC and the developers file court papers carrying their
claim that the City Council's 1990 rejection of a GDP
amendment reducing the size of Blackwell Park from
"approximately six acres" to about three acres did not, on
the other hand, require an increase from the de facto
size of 3.86 acres to "approximately six."
|
WIRE report.
|
RIOC also announces its own opposition to the RIRA
intervention, citing (among other considerations) the fact
that RIRA counsel Jeffrey Glen is married to a past
President of RIOC, Rosina Abrahamson. |
 |
|
| Wed 5/3 |
Ending a conference in Chambers, Justice
Harold Tompkins of the New York State Supreme Court sets
Wednesday, May 17, as the date for oral arguments on their
positions. He tells lawyers for RIOC, Hudson/Related, and RIRA
that he will decide whether to allow Residents Association
intervention at that time, and consider other motions in the two
cases. He sets May 12 as a deadline for service of all legal
papers in both suits. |
