Neil Kittredge, a partner in the architectural and urban design firm of Beyer Blinder Belle, made a presentation recently fore Community Board 3's Land Use, Zoning, Public and Private Housing Committee of a pair of very tall skyscrapers being considered for the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area on the Lower East Side, according to an article in this week's edition of The Villager by Lesley Sussman.

"One design idea that drew opposition from committee members called for construction of two 100-to-120-story 'gateway' buildings. One of these would be built on the southeast corner of Essex and Delancey Sts., and the other, on the southwest corner of Clinton and Delancey Sts.," the article said, adding that Mr. "Kittredge said the building on Essex and Delancey could be developed as a hotel, while the other high-rise might be primarily residential with ground-level commercial shops."

"'Both of these are wide streets," the article continued, "that can handle more density and height than the surrounding smaller streets,' Kittredge said. 'We're envisioning these buildings as major gateways to the new neighborhood. We want these taller buildings to be great pieces of architecture because they will establish an image for the neighborhood.'"

The hotel suggestion was almost immediately attacked by committee member Harriet Cohen who also objected to preliminary design plans for taller buildings to be concentrated along Delancey St., the article continued.

"If we're moving a lot of height to the Delancey corridor, we have to be careful not to create a wall of high-rises that will cut off the community," she warned.

The article said that "Harvey Epstein, another committee member, added that constructing a high-rise on both of those corners was 'a bad idea'" that "would increase congestion at two intersections already inundated with traffic coming off the bridge."

Meanwhile, David Crane, a Land Use committee member who also chairs C.B. 3's Transportation Committee, told Kittredge and city officials he disliked the entire presentation: "Why are we being presented with a model designed only by your firm?" he asked the urban designer. "That's premature and not fair. We want a chance to present our own model and vision."

Kittredge responded to Crane that the model being shown was "just to give you an idea. This is an initial framework," he said. "There's going to be a lot more discussion on it."

The evening also saw a walkout by several members of Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), the neighborhood housing and preservation organization, who bitterly complained they were being ignored at the March 30 meeting, which lasted three hours, the article said.

The meeting was held at the Henry Street Settlement's Abrons Art Center, 466 Grand St. It was attended by a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 Lower East Side residents, along with representatives of the city's Economic Development Corporation and Department of City Planning.

The meeting's focus was street layout and pedestrian traffic, open space, upzoning and building massing for the 10-parcel, 1.5 million-square-foot site of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, or SPURA, at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge. The site is bounded by Delancey St. on the north, Grand St. on the south, Essex St. on the west and Clinton St. on the east and is the largest piece of undeveloped city-owned land in Manhattan south of 96th St.