The city has released a draft of its "Vision 2020: The New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan" and scheduled a public meeting on it for October 12, 2010 at 6 PM at the Rosenthal Pavilion, NYU Kimmel Center for University Life, on the 10th floor at 60 Washington Square South.
The deadline for public comments on the draft recommendations is 5 PM, Friday, November 12, 2010, and the final plan is expected to be issued by the end of the year.
"Since the first Comprehensive Waterfront Plan was issued in 1992, the city has made tremendous strides expanding public access to the waterfront, connecting neighborhoods to the waterfront, cleaning our waterways, and supporting economic development on the working waterfront," the draft document declared.
"While there are many places in the city people can reach the water's edge, places were people can access the water itself remain limited," it noted, adding that it hoped to create "a more connected waterfront" and that the city should "consider appropriate alternatives to the zoning requirement for opaque fences around open industrial uses, to facilitate public views of the working waterfront" and also encourage a mix of "uses, as appropriate, to activate public waterfront spaces, such as temporary programming (movie screenings, craft fairs, etc.) of publicly owned waterfront parking lots during off-peak times and other under-utilized sites."
The report supported "the expansion of container shipping within the Ports of New York and New Jersey" and said the city should "promote and enhance tax abatement programs for maritime-businesses."
It also encouraged "blue roofs, green roofs, permeable surfaces, planted groundcover and other low-impact strategies where opportunities exist for stormwater detention and retention."
"The Blue Network, or the waterways that surround the city, is one of the city's greatest resources," the report maintained, adding that "throughout the city there are unrealized opportunities to connect people with the water - physically, visually, and culturally - and realize the city's potential as a great waterfront city."
The city, it continued, should promote smaller marinas and explore "opportunities to create a waterfront swimming area in Manhattan" and explore "options for increasing City oversight of off-shore wind projects."
It cautioned that it "recognizes the need to plan" beyond 2020 as "The New York City Panel on Climate Change has projected that sea levels are expected to rise anywhere from 12 inches to 55 inches by 2080."
The deadline for public comments on the draft recommendations is 5 PM, Friday, November 12, 2010, and the final plan is expected to be issued by the end of the year.
"Since the first Comprehensive Waterfront Plan was issued in 1992, the city has made tremendous strides expanding public access to the waterfront, connecting neighborhoods to the waterfront, cleaning our waterways, and supporting economic development on the working waterfront," the draft document declared.
"While there are many places in the city people can reach the water's edge, places were people can access the water itself remain limited," it noted, adding that it hoped to create "a more connected waterfront" and that the city should "consider appropriate alternatives to the zoning requirement for opaque fences around open industrial uses, to facilitate public views of the working waterfront" and also encourage a mix of "uses, as appropriate, to activate public waterfront spaces, such as temporary programming (movie screenings, craft fairs, etc.) of publicly owned waterfront parking lots during off-peak times and other under-utilized sites."
The report supported "the expansion of container shipping within the Ports of New York and New Jersey" and said the city should "promote and enhance tax abatement programs for maritime-businesses."
It also encouraged "blue roofs, green roofs, permeable surfaces, planted groundcover and other low-impact strategies where opportunities exist for stormwater detention and retention."
"The Blue Network, or the waterways that surround the city, is one of the city's greatest resources," the report maintained, adding that "throughout the city there are unrealized opportunities to connect people with the water - physically, visually, and culturally - and realize the city's potential as a great waterfront city."
The city, it continued, should promote smaller marinas and explore "opportunities to create a waterfront swimming area in Manhattan" and explore "options for increasing City oversight of off-shore wind projects."
It cautioned that it "recognizes the need to plan" beyond 2020 as "The New York City Panel on Climate Change has projected that sea levels are expected to rise anywhere from 12 inches to 55 inches by 2080."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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