Different visions for the same plot of land
NASCAR affiliates, Island councilmen remain at odds as they push
their respective ideas for West Shore tract
Sunday, June 18, 2006
By SALLY GOLDENBERG and STEPHANIE SLEPIAN
When NASCAR affiliates see Staten Island's blighted West Shore, once
a thriving manufacturing area that lost its character over time as
industries abandoned the Island, they envision the perfect home for a
modern, 80,000-seat race track.
When the borough's three councilmen see the same property, they
envision a blend of homes, stores, corporate offices -- and no track.
Island Councilmen Michael McMahon, James Oddo and Andrew Lanza are
hoping the NASCAR plan will fail and will force city officials to focus
on revitalizing the 675-acre track site, and the surrounding land. All
told, the councilmen are pushing for a transformation of 5,700 acres
along the West Shore, and hoping the proximity to the Arthur Kill
waterfront will entice developers.
McMahon recently asked Mayor Michael Bloomberg to appoint an economic
development coordinator for the Island, and the three councilmen penned
a letter last month to the mayor, requesting the city revisit a study
the administration launched last year into how to revitalize the entire
West Shore.
Richard Barth, executive director of the Department of City Planning,
the lead agency examining the West Shore, said the study has slowed
because it is contingent upon traffic recommendations from the mayor's
transportation task force, which may include widening Arthur Kill Road,
replacing or twinning the Goethals Bridge and building roads through the
former Fresh Kills landfill.
"The issue for us is to bring good planning to that area and the
entire West Shore, which has really laid dormant for decades, and I
think represents a great opportunity for Staten Island," said Lanza, a
South Shore Republican.
In the councilmen's letter, also signed by Council Speaker Christine
Quinn and Melinda Katz, chairwoman of the Council's land use committee,
the politicians suggested the administration take its cues from the
successful gentrification of the upper West Side of Manhattan, the area
in Brooklyn known as DUMBO, and Flushing, Queens.
MOVING FORWARD
Despite the suggestions, Michael Printup, track manager for the
Island project, insisted plans for the raceway are moving forward.
"This is privately-owned property," said Printup, who works for track
developer International Speedway Corp., which purchased the land for
$110 million in 2004. The corporation partnered with real estate mogul
The Related Cos., which wants to build a 620,000-square-foot shopping
center on the property.
Printup feels the councilmen's ideas for the ISC site are based on
the premature premise that the track will not get the necessary City
Council approval.
Richmond County Deputy Clerk Mario DiRe also criticized the
councilmen for meddling in a private land deal and said the track is the
best use anyone has suggested for the dilapidated site, given the area's
lack of sufficient roads.
"I can't imagine what you're going to develop in that area," DiRe
said. "There is no road over there. How do you travel around in that
area?"
Without rezoning the land, the Council's options are slim, he said.
"Is the city willing to make the investment to improve the
infrastructure, or is (rezoning) simply going to be a device to punish a
landowner for a ... use that you don't like as an elected official?"
But the councilmen -- who have been at odds with ISC over traffic
concerns and are confident they will persuade enough of their colleagues
to vote against the track -- say the raceway would interfere with their
vision for the West Shore -- a vision that hinges on an overarching
development plan, rather than sporadic construction.
IDEAS OUTLINED
Their ideas vary somewhat and include a wide range of uses, but each
thinks more ferry service and stronger infrastructure to enhance public
transportation are imperative to any changes there.
"We asked for this study because what we're seeing is piecemeal, ad
hoc development," Oddo, a Mid-Island Republican, said, referring to the
Tides at Charleston, a senior development community currently under
construction, and the nearby Bricktown Centre, the new home of several
big box stores. "We were fearful there would be more projects like that
and then essentially, they would piecemeal the West Shore to death like
the rest of Staten Island."
Though they've backed off from their initial request that the city
seize some of the NASCAR site through eminent domain, the councilmen are
pushing for a rezoning of the land, which City Planning describes as,
"vacant, dilapidated or underbuilt properties."
"There are many areas that looked exactly the same as that property
looks, and they now have a beautiful mix of some residential, some
commercial," McMahon said. He pointed to Red Bank and Perth Amboy, two
communities in New Jersey that have undergone major transformations in
recent years. "This is hundreds and hundreds of acres in New York City
that's not going to stay empty forever."
Still, the site's value is unclear.
It is zoned for manufacturing, a field that has become passé on the
Island; the waterfront, while ordinarily an appealing tool for
redevelopment, offers a view of gas tanks; and DiRe said few buyers have
shown an interest in the site.
"I don't see anybody knocking on NASCAR's door with $100 million,
begging to buy the property," he said.
Thomas Maira of Maira Real Estate in Huguenot said the borough needs
affordable housing and infrastructure improvements, but added that
developing large portions of the land will prove difficult because much
of it is wetlands, which must remain untouched.
The West Shore, he said, can be developed with townhouses and retail
space, and the track site is more marketable because ISC has been
remediating the property.
"With the tanks gone, there will be more people interested," Maira
said.
Sally Goldenberg and Stephanie Slepian are news reporters for the
Advance. They may be reached at goldenberg@siadvance.com and slepian@siadvance.com.
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