The Cornell NYC Tech Roosevelt Island Land Use Application passed its first test of the NYC Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) Wednesday night with the overwhelming approval of Community Board 8 (CB 8). The vote was 32 in support, one opposed, 3 abstaining and 1 not voting though there was an exhaustive list of conditions attached to the approval resolution representing the concerns of Roosevelt Island residents and the Roosevelt Island Community Coalition (RICC)
Here's Part 1 of what happened beginning with a brief review of the project by Cornell NYC Tech VP Cathy Dove followed by CB 8 members discussing the resolution including conditions
and Part 2 (about 1 minute is missing between Parts 1 and 2)
According to the ULURP process, CB 8's approval has no decision making authority but its recommendations are advisory and establishes a record as part of the ongoing ULURP process.
Cornell's ULURP Land Use Application now goes on for review by the Manhattan Borough President's office, Planning Commission, NYC Council and the Mayor's office.
Will have more later including the CB 8 Approval Resolution, with conditions, and statement form Cornell NYC Tech.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE 1:40 PM:
Received this statement from RICC Co-Chair, CB 8 member and Roosevelt Island Residents Association President (
RIRA) Ellen Polivy:
Congratulations to all the Island organizations who are members of the Roosevelt Island Community Coalition (RICC) for thinking through your needs and expectations, read the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and spoke at the public hearings. Thanks to the RICC Board who spent hundreds of hours compiling and organizing and fought so hard at all the hearings and meetings to give Cornell an accurate picture of our community and our expectations. And thanks to the Roosevelt Island CB8 members who accurately represented the Community's concerns in writing the report that was voted on tonight. Cathy Dove's speech was a beautiful example of what can happen when a big development and a community works together. Tonight's vote was a win for everyone. We've got a long way to go, but we have a good start.
Ms. Polivy adds:
Here is the draft report that we voted on with a minor friendly amendment that requests that Cornell take the community's requests into account when dealing with parking spaces. The official document will be produced in a few days and you can replace this with that when we get it.
The other is a nice letter from Cathy Dove in response to our last meeting.
Tonight the Community showed its power. Thanks to RICC, Larry Parnes, Jeff Escobar and I were able to write a very good report that passed the Community Board overwhelmingly. It was a very successful document that creates a win-win-win-win. Everyone is happy right now. Us, Cornell, the elected officials....
The RICC Board is continuing our conversations with Cornell and Jessica Lappin and soon will be meeting with Scott Stringer's office for another stage in the process. It will be important for the City Planning hearings to get a huge showing from the Island.
The
CB 8 Draft resolution with conditions set forth is here. It was approved with the addition of a "friendly amendment" not yet available in printed form. The "friendly amendment" was a recommendation to Cornell to increase the number of planned parking spaces for the project which Cornell wishes to limit in order not to encourage increased automobile traffic on Roosevelt Island. (Will have more on this subject soon)
Cornell NYC Tech VP
Cathy Dove's letter to CB 8 is here. An excerpt:
On behalf of the entire Cornell community, many thanks to the members of the Community Board Task Force and the numerous residents, community groups and civic organizations of Roosevelt Island that we have met with over the past several months. Our meetings with the community began even prior to being named as the university who will build this transformational campus. To date, our Cornell team has participated in dozens of meetings with members of the Community Board, the Roosevelt Island Task Force, and various Roosevelt Island organizations including the Roosevelt Island Community Coalition (RICC). These meetings have been extremely informative, and will help ensure that Cornell is the best neighbor possible to the Roosevelt Island community
As part of this process, Cornell has received a number of questions from Roosevelt Island residents, board members, and organizations, and has responded in detail to those questions in forums, as well as in two separate documents. Those questions ranged from questions on the environmental review, to questions about the land use proposal and campus plans, to questions about Cornell’s role in the broader Roosevelt Island community. While we understand that the Community Board Office has distributed the written questions and our responses, we are also attaching them to this memo.
At the last public hearing, Linda Heimer did a wonderful job of summarizing resident questions and concerns. She appropriately recognized that Cornell cannot “fix everything on the Island,” but wants to make sure that we work closely with the community and “support positive improvements.” We completely agree and are committed to doing so.....
The written responses from Cornell NYC Tech referenced by Ms. Dove are
here and Cornell NYC Tech Press release is below.
Manhattan Community Board 8 approved Cornell Tech’s Roosevelt Island Campus plan last night as part of New York City’s public land use review process. The plan now continues through the process with review by the Manhattan Borough President, followed by the City Planning Commission and City Council. The Community Board’s approval came exactly one year after Cornell University, with its academic partner the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, was selected by the City to develop the applied science and engineering campus. The Roosevelt Island campus will sit on a 12-acre site and is slated to open in2017, with full build out in 2037.
“Roosevelt Island has a fantastic history of innovation and civic participation, and we were still gratified by the interest and support of so many Islanders from day 1,” said Cornell Tech Vice President Cathy Dove. “We are appreciative for the support of our new neighbors and assure them that the construction and operation of the campus will be handled in a way that protects, respects and welcomes the rest of the Island. We look forward to continuing the dialogue about this innovative new campus with New Yorkers during the public review process and beyond.”
The Community Board approval caps a first year full of milestones for Cornell Tech, which will welcome its first “beta” class of students in January:
· Leadership Put in Place: In February, Dan Huttenlocher and Cathy Dove were chosen as co-leaders of the campus, and Craig Gotsman was chosen to lead the Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute. Soon after, former Twitter CTO Greg Pass joined Cornell Tech as the founding Entrepreneurial Officer to lead the campus’ collaboration with the tech industry and Deborah Estrin, an applied sciencetech pioneer, became the first full-time faculty member.
· Three of the world’s leading tech entrepreneurs – Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Qualcomm Founder Irwin Jacobs, and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt – announced in September that they will provide ongoing guidance on the programmatic and physical development to help shape the vision for the campus.
· Temporary Campus Opens: Google allocated space in its Chelsea building free of charge to Cornell Tech while the university completes its campus on Roosevelt Island. The space allowed Cornell to launch its presence in NY in close proximity to tech companies and entrepreneurs with whom it will collaborate.
· Campus Plan Developed: Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis was chosen to design the first academic building for the planned campus on Roosevelt Island. The 150,000-square-foot building will serve as the flagship academic structure for the new campus. Other award-winning architects are contributing to the campus - the campus plan is being designed by Skidmore,Owings and Merrill and the landscape architect is James Corner Field Operations.
· Academic Programs Launched: Classes will start in January 2013 at the Chelsea campus for a “beta” class of computer science Masters of Engineering students.
· Partnership Formed with Dept. of Commerce: Cornell Tech announced a partnership with the U.S. Commerce Department to give students and researchers direct access to resources that will help them bring their ideas to market and grow their businesses.
“This is such an exciting time and place to be launching Cornell Tech, with the support of the City, our neighbors and the tech community,” said Cornell Tech Dean Dan Huttenlocher. “When our beta class arrives in January we’ll be debuting a new curriculum built on academic excellence, interdisciplinary focus and entrepreneurial spirit, all with the goal of spurring innovation and supporting economic growth in New York and beyond.”
Cornell Tech’s new campus is offering a distinctive model of graduate tech education that fuses educational excellence with real-world commercial applications and entrepreneurship, rooted in the latest academic research. Students, faculty and industry experts will learn and work together to launch ideas and create new ventures that have global impact. The campus will attract the best and brightest in technology, immerse them in an entrepreneurial culture with deep ties to the local business community, and spur the creation of new companies and new industries in New York City. The campus master plan reflects Cornell Tech’s commitment to innovation not only in the academic program for the campus but also in its physical development. The new campus will include up to 2.1 million square feet of development, housing approximately 2,000 full-time graduate students, by full build-out in 2037. The first phase will include up to 790,000 square feet of development, including the first academic building and reflecting all of the uses that will be in place at full build-out.
As Ms. Polivy stated, there is still lots to be done.
