Words about Manhattanville have filled auditoriums and meeting spaces for the past several years. But now, numbers are dominating the discussion.
Since the Empire State Development Corporation released its General Project Plan for Columbia’s 17-acre campus expansion this summer, local politicians and community activists have been scrutinizing the language and raising concerns about two dates included in the plan. The first—2018—deals with eminent domain and the seven residences in the campus footprint, and the second—2033—is tied to the completion of construction and community benefits.
The plan’s line on 20 years ahead states, “ESDC would not use its eminent domain power to acquire possession of any legal residential unit prior to 2018.” University officials have consistently stated that Columbia will not seek to acquire any residential properties in the Manhattanville campus footprint through eminent domain—the state’s power to seize private land for the public good.
But the inclusion of the 2018 deadline has many residents, like West Harlem Local Development Corporation member Maritta Dunn, “thrown off.”
“We never were aware of these dates,” said State Senator Bill Perkins (D-Harlem), who later added, “The fact that they have such a date out there is scaring folks.”
This fear has been voiced at recent hearings on the Manhattanville expansion. Community members have focused on whether the ESDC would be justified in using eminent domain to seize private commercial properties in the area and give them to the University so Columbia can build its campus according to the already-approved construction plan. The state will continue to collect testimony until Oct. 10 and will review all statements in preparation for an eminent domain vote at the ESDC board meeting some time this winter.
“The use of eminent domain or even its threat cannot be tolerated,” Community Board 9 Chair Pat Jones said at an ESDC hearing earlier this month. “The commitment that ESDC will not use its eminent domain power to acquire such residential units at any time must be unequivocal and must be subject to no deadline,” she added.
ESDC Communications Director Warner Johnston explained that the 2018 date is “something we came up with, with Columbia. The project was approved and expressed that they would have 10 years to work with the remaining residents.” Despite the surprise expressed by Sen. Perkins and others, Johnston said, “It’s not a new date.”
“We’re trying to understand what the GPP means,” said WHLDC member Susan Russell, who is also chief of staff for City Councilman Robert Jackson (D-Washington Heights and West Harlem). “We want to make sure that nobody gets kicked out.”
Columbia Senior Executive Vice President Robert Kasdin assured that the University’s position has not shifted from its past promises. “Columbia University, for several years now, has been clear,” he said. “We will not seek eminent domain on any of the seven residential properties in the project area. Furthermore, the General Project Plan says there will be no eminent domain of those seven residential buildings, unless they were vacant.”
In the meantime, Dunn said that Columbia officials have purchased buildings north of the project area and are “offering or plan to offer” these apartments to residents currently living in the footprint. “Obviously they want to vacate those apartments,” Perkins said.
Johnston explained that Columbia officials “will do their best to work with the residential owners in coming up with a mutually beneficial plan to acquire those properties.”
The trade-off apartments the University offers to footprint-residents would likely be upgrades from their current homes but, Russell said, eminent domain would be an unfair means to move out tenants unwilling to leave. “If Columbia wants these tenants to go, they have to do the right thing to do to make it happen,” she said.
“After 10 years from now, if at which point there were remaining residential properties not in their portfolio, they [CU] would come to us, and we would begin the procedure,” Johnston explained, later adding, “We cannot invoke eminent domain unless the University seeks it out.”
Perkins has called for a moratorium on eminent domain in New York, and will be meeting this week with Governor David Paterson to discuss its use in Manhattanville. The WHLDC plans to meet with the ESDC “as soon as we can,” according to Russell, to examine the plan’s language on eminent domain in 2018 and the significance of the 2033 deadline.
2033 marks the time at which Columbia hopes construction will be finished and, Johnston added, “There are certain community benefits tied into the completion of the project.”
As in the anxiety over 2018, the 2033 date has also caused a stir. “From the community’s point of view, that’s unacceptable,” Russell said. “These community benefits are not a trade-off for the inconvenience of construction.”
Kasdin said this fear is unwarranted. “On its terms, its not true,” he said of the claim that community benefits would end in 2033. “I think there needs to be a shift in the discussion from the notion that Columbia is involved in a transaction to the notion that Columbia has a long-standing relationship. ... Columbia, unlike a private developer, will be in this community and concerned with the health of this community long after construction is complete.”
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