STATEN ISLAND — The New York Wheel got another step closer to completing its second land use review process after a City Council subcommittee voted to approve changes to the design.
The City Council's Zoning and Franchises subcommittee unanimously voted to approve the Wheel's changes — which includes redesigns to the parking garage and terminal building — at their hearing on Tuesday.
"I have been in conversation with the developers and with the administration to ensure that these changes do not adversely impact Staten Islanders," Councilwoman Debi Rose said in a statement during the meeting.
"And because of this process and these conversations, I can now say that we have reached a point where I can give these modifications my full support."
The project cleared the city's lengthy Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) in 2013, but had to start the process over after the architects had to redesign the parking garage when tests found the original location had "substandard soil conditions," Rich Marin, president of the New York Wheel, said during a July meeting.
The new design calls for the garage to be open — instead of using mechanical ventilation — and added an extra level to fit 820 parking spaces for commuters.
The architects also changed the landscaped garden on the roof — which will now be open 24/7 — and the park in the project, Marin said. To fit the new building, the plans reduce the size of the wheel's terminal building by nearly 30 percent.
The changes were approved by Community Board 1 in a 29 to 2 vote in July and were unanimously approved by the City Planning Commission earlier this month.
The redesign will head to the City Council's Land Use Committee on Thursday, and still needs approval from the City Council and mayor before they are finalized.
