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Q&A
Impact of the new Western Rail Yards design on the High Line
0:52:55
·
3 min
Council Member Bottcher inquires about the impact of the new design on the High Line, citing concerns raised by Friends of the High Line. Jeff Blau responds to these concerns and describes their interactions with the High Line organization.
- Friends of the High Line claims increased wind and shadow impacts on the High Line
- Blau states the new plan interacts with the High Line similarly to the 2009 plan
- Related Companies met with the High Line organization over 10 times during the process
- Blau claims they accommodated all four initial requests from the High Line
- Blau expresses frustration with the High Line's continued opposition despite increasing housing units
Erik D. Bottcher
0:52:55
Friends of the High Line says that the new design creates adverse impact on the user experience of the High Line and the open space through increased wind and shadow impacts.
0:53:11
In your view, how does this design interact with the High Line differently than the 02/2009 plans and have you worked with the High Line throughout this process and when did those conversations begin?
0:54:27
Why have you been unable to modify your design in a way that would gain the approval of of the High Line.
0:54:39
They have asks for how the buildings should be configurated.
0:54:48
You haven't been able to change your design that much to accommodate that.
0:54:55
Why were you able to only go so far and why can't you go farther and work with the High Line and come up with a design that fits their needs.
Jeff Blau
0:53:27
So as you know we've been working with the High Line since the very beginning of this process and have met with them over 10 times until such point as they decided that they no longer wanted to engage with us.
0:53:41
This plan interacts with the High Line in a very similar way in terms of connectivity to the High Line.
0:53:47
We actually left it up to them as to the locations that they would like to interconnect to the public open space.
0:53:53
The public open space at the Highline's edge is similar to what it was before.
0:53:59
And now actually with the change to this housing building on the southern end, that essentially is the building that was previously in that location in the 02/2009 plan.
0:54:10
So really no change from the prior.
0:54:12
Yes.
0:54:13
Do buildings create shadows?
0:54:14
Yes.
0:54:15
We haven't yet figured out the technology to build a building that doesn't create shadows.
0:54:19
This plan does not create any more shadows than the previous plan on the High Line.
0:55:04
So as I mentioned, we did meet with the High Line ten times.
0:55:08
They had four asks of us at that time.
0:55:11
We made all four asks to the building including setting the buildings back further from the High Line, notching certain areas, moving locations of certain buildings.
0:55:22
And so we did accommodate all of their asks until they decided to no longer engage with us in any way whatsoever, constructive or otherwise.
0:55:33
And then they decided that the main reason that they didn't like what we were doing is that they wanted more housing units, to which we responded by now increasing the units from 1,500 to 4,000 housing units.
0:55:49
And I find it interesting that the High Line still opposes this, really showing their true colors that this is really about NIMBY.
0:55:58
They don't want anything built here and that would be of great loss to New York City.