By Serena Solomon
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CITY HALL - After a long day of last minute closed door negotiations on Wednesday, the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises at City Council deferred a vote on Manhattan's largest undeveloped space until Friday.
The rezoning plan of the Western Rail Yards, was scheduled to go before the sub-committee today prior to final approval from City Hall, however talks between the developer, Related Cos. and City Council have stalled the decision.
The proposed billion dollar development in Hell's Kitchen, has been a contentious issue for community groups and local politicians as they lobby to have their interests, such as affordable housing, etched into the final rezoning agreement.
"They are working on modifications right now," said subcommittee chairperson, Tony Avella. "The information will not be made public until just before the meeting."
The Western Rail Yard, which is owned by the MTA, is a 13 acre site located between West 30th and West 33rd Streets from 11th to 12th Avenues. Currently an open air train maintenance and storage yard, the site will continue to operate as is with the new multi-use development stacked on top.
Avella said he did not intend to give a yes vote to the current rezoning agreement that drew protest from community groups during the final public hearing on Nov. 23rd.
As it stands, the rezoning agreement only requires Related Cos. to allocate 20 percent of rental apartments as affordable housing. But because the site will have a mixture of high-rise co-ops, condos and rental units, the percentage of total housing on the site that's affordable would actually be 8 percent
Groups such as Community Board 4 and the West Side Neighborhood Alliance want that figure to be above 20 percent of all apartments.
"We understand that negotiations are on-going at City Hall," wrote Jackie Del Valle, from Housing Conservation Coordinators, an umbrella organization for the alliance. She expected the final plan for presentation before full council will include more affordable housing on and off the main development site.
One concern raised at the Nov. 23rd hearing involved the developer's plan to lump more affordable housing on two satellite locations nearby. New York Assembly member Richard Gottfried and others said this would turn the rail yards into an exclusive and segregated community lacking the diversity that is quintessential to New York.
The subcommittee are required to vote on the current plan by this Friday. If they modified the rezoning plan it will have to go back through the city planning process and reappear before the subcommittee in its new form.
