Vote on Brooklyn Marine Terminal Vision Plan postponed

RED HOOK —The New York City Economic Development Corp. has postponed — for a few weeks — a vote on a plan outlining the future of the $3.1 billion, 122-plus-acre Brooklyn Marine Terminal Project. 

Originally scheduled for April 11, the vote by members of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force will now take place near the end of the month, though an exact date has not been set. 

The 28-member Task Force is chaired by Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-Western Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan) with Vice Chairs Councilmember Alexa Avilés and Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-Western Brooklyn). 

“Task Force leadership requested an extension of the timeline to address concerns raised by members of the task force,” Goldman told the Brooklyn Eagle on Sunday.

The Task Force has “ultimate approval authority” over recommendations in a final Vision Plan, according to NYCEDC. 

Members have told the Eagle they need more time to absorb fundamental aspects of the massive development and its relationship to overlapping transportation, maritime, freight and housing priorities. The BMT Project has major implications for the future of New York City’s maritime industry. BMT is the only remaining container port facility on the eastern side of the Hudson River.

According to the Waterfront Alliance, port volumes are expected to grow substantially over the next several decades, while the port is already near capacity. Some critics have said a rushed evaluation process appears to be more centered on real estate development than maritime uses, however. 

The BMT site, which runs from Pier 7 at Atlantic Avenue to Pier 12 in Red Hook, is currently home to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal at Pier 12, the Red Hook Container Terminal at Pier 10, Piers 7-12, NYC Ferry’s Atlantic Basin stop and private tenants. 

NYCEDC has proposed a downsized, 60-acre state-of-the-art port facility, a mixed-use, dense development with thousands of new housing units (up to 35% affordable) and new parkland.

The city plans to finance the modern port infrastructure through the luxury housing, another bone of contention to those asking why the cost of public infrastructure serving the entire region must be borne by the local community.

NYCEDC said, however, the proposal of a 60-acre port is not a downsize — rather, it is 50% of the site size and in line with the footprint the Red Hook Container Terminal has today. NYCEDC also points out that Michael Stamatis, the current operator of the Red Hook Container Terminal, and Frank Agosta, president of Local 1814 of the International Longshoremen’s Association, have come out in support of the proposed vision – specifically citing the 60-acres.

NYCEDC said, however, the proposal of a 60-acre port is not a downsize — rather, it is 50% of the site size and in line with the footprint the Red Hook Container Terminal has now.

NYCEDC also points out that Michael Stamatis, the current operator of the Red Hook Container Terminal, and Frank Agosta, president of Local 1814 of the International Longshoremen’s Association, have come out in support of the proposed vision – specifically citing the 60-acres.

Gounardes: Work too important to be rushed

“Last week, EDC laid out a series of commitments and community benefits for the Task Force to discuss. Many of these proposals are exciting—most notably investments in NYCHA and improvements to public transit,” Gounardes said in a statement Friday.

“While I’m very interested in pursuing these commitments and better understanding the funding streams for them, certain fundamental elements of the site plan have still not been properly presented or explained to us,” Gounardes said. “Let me be clear: until the Task Force receives clarity and understanding on key issues like transportation flow, housing options, resiliency, and site governance, we can not move forward with a vote.”

Gounardes said that he and his team have worked “in good faith since last spring to build consensus and move towards a plan that capitalizes on this once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in our maritime infrastructure, provide economic opportunity and build affordable housing. This work is too important to be dictated by arbitrary, externally-imposed timelines.”

Regional implications

Task Force member Tiffany-Ann Taylor, Vice President for Transportation for the Regional Plan Association, told the Eagle that since the beginning of the process last year, many members had been asking for additional time “to understand challenges and opportunities” related to the BMT site. She noted that the project is going through the state’s GPP (General Project Plan) process instead of the city’s typical ULURP process. “GPP allows for approval of the project on an expedited timeline,” she said.

NYCEDC is pushing for a shortened timeline because of the need for matching funds from the city (which need to align with the next cycle), along with the necessity of avoiding federal complications, Taylor said. Initial investment for the project is currently funded with federal grant money, state money and the pending city match. 

The city has already committed $80 million to the site and the pending city match would be an additional city investment. NYCEDC recently executed three maritime contracts worth $18 million for port improvements.

More time is required “to better understand maritime activity and commercial needs for infrastructure, plus figure out appropriate ways to make any development there be self-sustaining,” she said.

The GPP’s environmental review scoping is set to commence later this spring. 

Nadler: Port first, housing later

“The reason the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force hasn’t voted yet … is because they don’t have the votes. And hopefully they don’t get them,” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY-12-Central Manhattan, Upper West Side) told a crowd of residents and officials at a rally in Red Hook on Thursday. 

The rally was organized by Voices of the Waterfront, a coalition of community members and organizations who say NYCEDC is fast-tracking the project to the detriment of the port.

Nadler, a member of the House Transportation Committee who fought to preserve the Red Hook Container Port for decades, said Brooklyn’s only deepwater port should not be downsized. 

“It is of critical importance to New York City and the entire region that this port remains open and not be converted or needlessly carved up for housing or other uses.” Instead, the port should be modernized and expanded to encompass the entire Brooklyn Marine Terminal, he said. 

Keeping the BMT intact has security implications because all the other container ports — Newark, Elizabeth and Howland Hook — lie on Newark Bay, on the other side of the narrow and treacherous Kill Van Kull, Nadler said. In the event that a large ship were to sink or be sunk — intentionally or unintentionally — in the Kill Van Kull, “Most of our port would be closed for weeks, or even months, and with it, much of the region’s import supply chain.”

The city should make port improvements first, “without linking them to market rate housing,” and any housing decisions can be made later through the regular ULURP process “with the community participation that comes with that process,” Nadler said.

‘Once-in-a-generation opportunity’

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to finally do something about our port here in Red Hook, said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. “It’s so important that we get this right. Robert Moses, for all intents and purposes, destroyed port operations and the movement of goods in the city of New York in any meaningful way. We want that back.”

Reynoso pointed out that conversations are concurrently taking place about rebuilding the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE), “And this conversation is different from that.” The projects all need a comprehensive plan, he said. “That’s why I do nerdy things like the Comprehensive Plan of Brooklyn.”

“We have the opportunity to make things better,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams told the crowd. “Stop pretending that these are not spaces where folks want to build luxury housing. And if they can find a way to sneak it in by making you feel that you’ve been listened to, they will do that.”

Members of Voices of the Waterfront, many who have lived in the Columbia Waterfront District and Red Hook for decades, say they have been shut out of the conversation.

“After decades of neglect and disinvestment, they’re finally reimagining the Brooklyn Marine Terminal and beginning to build the working water front of the future we’ve been promised for so long — but they are shutting out the community, literally holding closed-door meetings between the EDC and the Task Force,” Victoria Alexander, a 22-year resident of Red Hook and interim chair of Resilient Red Hook told the crowd at the rally.

“There’s a lot of mistrust between this community and the EDC, and they are not changing that dynamic through this process,” she said.

“The Columbia waterfront, which would bear the brunt of most of the proposal, isn’t even represented on the BMT Task Force at all. Shame,” said Columbia Street Waterfront District resident John Leyva. He called the project “a grab of public land for luxury housing, housing that no one here would be able to afford.”

 “We don’t feel that the neighborhood has been listened to. We are not no, no, no, with arms waving in the air, we actually think there is opportunity here.” Niko Kean, Red Hook resident and member of Voices of the Waterfront, told the Eagle.

Other elected officials speaking included Councilmember Alexa Aviles (D-38), Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes (D-51), Councilmember Shahana Hanif (D-39), along with members of the community.

“Since day one, building a modern, world-class all-electric maritime port has been the north star of the transformation of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal,” EDC said in a statement. “We heard directly from the community and stakeholders throughout this process about the importance and need for a modern and sustainable port with micro-mobility and industrial flex space. We believe this plan does just that while also delivering much needed permanently affordable housing, thousands of new jobs, public open space, and massive new community investments.

“After decades of disinvestment and neglect the port is falling deeper and deeper into disrepair. This is a generational moment opportunity to deliver a project that will benefit generations of New Yorkers. Over the coming weeks NYCECDC looks forward to working with members of the task force to delivering a historic vision plan.”