Q&A
CPC's environmental review process and past performance
0:33:24
·
4 min
Council Member Brannan questions Commissioner Rampershad about the City Planning Commission's (CPC) past failures in environmental reviews for major neighborhood rezonings. Brannan specifically mentions instances where CPC approved rezonings based on inaccurate estimates of development scenarios, leading to unmitigated environmental impacts and infrastructure issues.
- Brannan expresses concern about CPC's ability to accurately estimate and mitigate environmental impacts for large neighborhood rezonings.
- Rampershad acknowledges the importance of thorough evaluation and community-specific approaches in the review process.
- The discussion highlights the need for accurate environmental impact assessments in city planning decisions.
Justin Brannan
0:33:24
Thank you, chair.
0:33:25
Thank you, Raj.
0:33:26
I appreciate your candor today.
0:33:29
I have some questions.
0:33:30
Cool.
0:33:31
I have some questions from the majority leader who had to step out that I want us to ask, but some of them are why we're getting a little sonic youth over here.
0:33:42
But some of these are relevant to my district as well, so I told her I'd ask.
0:33:48
So there's been a number of instances in which city planning has approved major neighborhood rezonings based on environmental reviews that failed to accurately estimate the reasonable worst case development scenarios.
0:34:01
Most notably, CPC upzoned Downtown Brooklyn and LIC with the expectations that new production would consist of office buildings, but residential use was also allowed.
0:34:15
The result was a major influx of new residents without any required environmental mitigation or infrastructure investment.
0:34:24
So given CPC's failure to estimate and mitigate environmental impacts on large neighborhood resignings in the past, why should my colleagues and I and the public, they represent have the confidence in the CPC in their in the CPC's environmental review process as it relates to the city of yes application.
Oudeshram “Raj” Rampershad
0:34:45
Well, with regards to that, I believe well, I'm I think that well, I would assume this when before the proposal hit it came to us and before it was certified that it had gone through the process of, you know, the whole the whole secret process in terms of evaluating for, you know, gonna get my other sheets out here.
0:35:08
Sorry.
0:35:08
Oh, jeez.
0:35:17
I was going back through some of these things some of these list of items there.
0:35:24
I I feel like before that I would assume because I wasn't part of that that process there, but I would assume the agency has a role in making sure that all these items are evaluated prior to putting out a proposal like this and seeing what the impacts are.
0:35:41
And I and I understand from the community's point of view when they see projects like this.
0:35:45
And, you know, I'm I would hope that they would I'm just trying to find the right person to say because it's something that I wasn't you know, I don't know what the inner house was of before it hit us, but I do know that when the projects are introduced, that I know of myself along with all the fellow commissioners, question some of the proposed zoning areas or proposed projects that are are that may impact certain communities.
0:36:18
I'm just trying to find one nice comment that I wanted to say about that.
0:36:22
I'm sorry.
0:36:23
Because I I did write stuff down about hidden hitting on one of the questions he just asked.
0:36:33
It's probably a second.
0:36:39
Because I know I wanted to say something about that directly.
0:36:55
I mean, the more the only thing I can really wrap up the same with that is that I hope that the 2 I don't see the this is not right here.
0:37:08
I don't believe in the the one size fits all.
0:37:13
Process.
0:37:14
I do believe that every community should be looked at individually, and the agencies should take it upon themselves with the staff that they have to closely investigate every single community before especially for a proposal like this.
0:37:27
And see what they're proposing, how much of an impact is gonna have for them, for the communities.
0:37:33
So
