City and state clash over plan for Deegan exits
Saturday,November 7, 2009
City and state clash over plan for Deegan exits
Posted on 05. Nov, 2009 by Bernard Stein in Government, Transportation
Efforts to relieve congestion on the Major Deegan Expressway have touched off a turf war between state traffic engineers and the city’s planners over the future of the Harlem River waterfront in Mott Haven.
City planners fear that the state’s redesign of the Deegan will torpedo their ambitious plan to build housing, parks, office buildings and a hotel on the waterfront, completed last summer when the City Council and the Mayor signed off on rezoning the Lower Grand Concourse.
A spokesman for the Department of City Planning warned Community Board 1 that the state Department of Transportation’s plan to lengthen exit ramps will wall off the shoreline, discouraging waterfront development.
Residents will have the opportunity to weigh in at a public hearing scheduled for Nov. 9 at Hostos Community College.
The hearing, will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. in the Savoy Multi-Purpose Room, 120 E. 149th St. at Walton Avenue, second floor.
There will be two 20-minute presentations of information, one at 4:30 p.m. and the other at 7 p.m. Public comments and statements will be taken throughout the hearing, and project staff will be available for informal discussions.
A version of this article appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of the Mott Haven Herald.
Entry Filed under: COMMUNITY, POLITRICKS. .
