Meanwhile, the power hungry community boards are upset they won't get to spend even
more time hashing and rehashing proposals for casinos. Apparently, the upcoming state's smorgasbord of approvals and community meetings isn't nearly enough. (Have we missed Gale Brewer?)
However, the comments following the article itself aren't bad.
https://w42st.com/post/city-council-...l-zoning-bill/
City Council Sidelines Community Input for Casino Developments by Passing Controversial Zoning Bill
Local councilmember Gale Brewer voted against the change — while CM Erik Bottcher joined the majority in approving the “City of Yes” amendment. Photo montage: Phil O’Brien/JJ Architecture
by Phil O'Brien
April 19, 2024
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New York’s City Council gave a big win to developers and casino bosses as it passed a bill allowing zoning changes for gaming facilities approved by the State. Local councilmember Gale Brewer voted against the change — while CM Erik Bottcher joined the majority in approving the “City of Yes” for gaming facilities zoning text amendment.
The City Council voted 35 to 15 in favor of the bill yesterday afternoon. The proposal was unpopular with many of New York’s 59 community boards. In the run-up to yesterday’s council meeting, 19 community boards voted against the zoning change and 30 declined to comment. Just four community boards made submissions in favor.
The legislation allows any developer who wins one of the three available downstate casino licenses to avoid New York’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), which would have been required for all proposals to gain City approval to build their gaming facilities. Those in favor of the text amendment argued the State’s Gaming Facility Location Board review process was onerous enough and ULURP would take too long. However, the State has already pushed back the application deadline to late 2025, leaving plenty of time for review at the City level.
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Quote:
Many are worried that the City Council’s decision has effectively given a free pass for much more than a casino. There are concerns about the very broad ancillary uses that could be rolled into the gaming facilities, such as hotels, entertainment venues, parking garages, restaurants and retail.
Developers Related Companies and Silverstein Properties have released renderings of high-rise towers in their own casino proposals for the neighborhood, at Hudson Yards and W41st Street and 11th Avenue respectively. In Times Square, another development company, SL Green, is proposing an eight-story, 250,000-square-foot gaming facility and 950-room hotel.
With this zoning change, if the Times Square bid by SL Green, RocNation and Caesars Palace is granted a casino license by the State, then they can proceed with the building without going through the ULURP process.
The Hudson Yards bid, floated by Related and Wynn Resorts, is currently going through a ULURP process to revise the 2009 development plan to reduce the residential and increase the commercial use. If this is approved (which due to the pre-set time clock for ULURP, will be decided before the state starts its review process) there would not be any additional ULURP needed if they are granted a casino license by the State.
The zoning change means that the Silverstein proposal would not need to go through ULURP. They would be able to do it as-of-right, based on that property being in a commercial-zoned district.
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"We wanna speak to the manager of the City Council!"