ULURP

The New York City Council paved the way for Columbia's Manhattanville expansion on Dec. 19 when it approved the University's plan for land rezoning.

In the face of strong competition from Cornell and Stanford, Columbia's proposal for a data sciences and engineering institute emphasizes the school's already-strong connections to New York City. The proposal that best fulfills Mayor Michael Bloomberg's vision for a 21st century applied science school will receive $100 million from the city. But University President Lee Bollinger acknowledged in a recent interview that Columbia is the underdog in the race, since its plans diverge significantly from the city's ideas. In the executive summary of its proposal, released Thursday, Columbia cites its plan to utilize the Manhattanville campus, not the land the city is offering, and touts its existing presence in New York as benefits unique to Columbia's proposal. The document claims that Columbia is at an advantage to encourage economic development in New York because researchers won't need to build ties from scratch. "Producing the engine of economic growth and job creation sought by the City will require a New York-based network of relationships with local entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, and workforce development advocates—relationships Columbia possesses today and will further develop for this purpose," the proposal says. The 17-page document features a number of photos of successful campus–city collaborations, including one of a handicap-accessible swing set that engineering students built in Harlem, and another photo of high school students from the Bronx working in a Columbia engineering lab. The Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering would occupy three buildings in Manhattanville, including two new buildings and the renovated Nash building at 133rd Street and Broadway. The first building will be complete by 2018, and the three buildings combined, when completed in 2032, will occupy 1.1 million square feet. While the city is offering up land on Roosevelt and Governors Islands, Columbia is hoping to leverage its 17-acre planned campus in Manhattanville to its benefit. The proposal describes the Manhattanville site as "shovel-ready," noting that construction on the engineering institute "will occur within an already active construction site for which all government approvals—including successful completion of New York City's rigorous land use review process—now stand resolved." Earlier this month, Bollinger told Spectator that the "very, very difficult, long, time-consuming" city land use approval process, known as ULURP, will set competitors' projects back. That process took Columbia three-and-a-half years, from submitting rezoning plans in spring 2004, to final City Council and mayoral approval in December 2007. "We are ready to build," Bollinger said. "They have to go through a ULURP process. I've been through a ULURP process. Nobody in their right mind should go through a ULURP process more than once in their life." In addition to being ready for construction, the Manhattanville campus is walking distance from the Morningside campus, which means that the engineering-focused institute can concentrate on interdisciplinary collaboration with Columbia's other graduate schools—an idea the proposal stresses. For instance, the New Media Center would see SEAS faculty working with Columbia's Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Business School, and Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. The executive summary reveals more specifics areas of focus for the institute's five centers, which will study new media, urban development, health records, Internet security, and financial data. The proposal also prominently features the Northwest Corner Building and the Mind, Brain and Behavior Initiative as examples of Columbia's recent successes in developing new science buildings, and makes note of famous inventions developed at Columbia—including FM radio and high-definition television technology—as indicative of the school's past scientific innovation. finn.vigeland@columbiaspectator.com

Six years after Community Board 9 introduced its 197-a rezoning plan as an alternative to Columbia's vision for its new Manhattanville campus, officials say aspects of the proposal are finally on the road to implementation. Major portions of the 2003 plan will be proposed as part of a full-scale rezoning of the CB9 district, which encompasses Manhattan's west side from 110th to 155th streets. Two central components are inclusionary housing and contextual development, and a third component would be an unspecified rezoning of the manufacturing district east of Amsterdam Avenue between 125th and 130th streets. Inclusionary housing refers to the process of allowing higher-density development in exchange for permanent affordable housing. Contextual development involves modification of zoning regulations to correspond to the existing buildings in the area, to prevent developers from building in a way that doesn't fit with the character of the rest of the neighborhood. "The community board is very interested in maintaining the architectural integrity and architecture, while at the same time looking for opportunities to create affordable housing," CB9 chair Pat Jones said, adding that Borough President Scott Stringer has been a strong advocate of the rezoning plan. Stringer's office declined to comment publicly on specifics of the plan. The 197-a plan, developed in 2003, was "just a vision," Jones said. Since 2007, CB9, the Department of City Planning, and the borough president's office have been discussing an official rezoning plan. "This is good contextual zoning that will preserve the integrity of the neighborhood," said City Council member Robert Jackson, whose district includes parts of Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and Hamilton Heights. "It's a no-brainer." Jackson added that he had expressed his support to Stringer's office when it reached out to him. The rezoning will not affect Columbia's Manhattanville expansion plans, as the 17-acre footprint of the new campus was rezoned as part of its own approval process and thus excluded from this latest rezoning. For now, the project is in early stages of discussion, but Jones said an official proposal was likely by the end of the year or by early 2010. Once an application is made, the proposal will enter ULURP, the citywide Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. "City Planning has come to us with some preliminary views on what the rezoning would look like, and the [CB9] Housing, Land Use, and Zoning committees did a comprehensive review and issued a survey to residents," Jones said. "It may well be one of the largest rezonings in the city."

Columbia and Community Board 9 representatives made their cases for alternative Manhattanville zoning proposals before a packed crowd at a City Council hearing Wednesday morning.

While some are rejoicing at the City Council's approval of the Columbia expansion/Manhattanville rezoning applications, many others, including myself, are astonished by the failure of the land use approval process to protect the West Harlem neighborhood and afford the community true input into the project.

Since their beginnings, Columbia and Community Board 9's alternative Manhattanville rezoning plans, known as 197-c and 197-a respectively, have traveled a long and winding road of revision. Yet many 197-a advocates have criticized these revision processes, arguing that CB9's plan was altered more substantially than Columbia's, and that conflicting components of the two proposals were left unresolved.