Last night reps from Forest City Ratner made a presentation to Community Board 8 on a petition for a revocable consent to install cable conduits under 6th Avenue, between Dean and Pacific, and use a lot on the corner of Dean Street and 6th Avenue as a “broadcast support area.” Basically, the compact lot (which is currently a police parking lot) will be used for news trucks to park. CB8 Members and the Dean Street Block Association discussed many concerns regarding the petition. In particular, the Dean Street Block Association wrote a letter noting that there are residents living next to the adjacent lot and FCR should be sensitive to the noise and disruption caused by the installation of the cable conduits and, when the site is in use, generators and idling engines. The Block Association also asked for Forest City Ratner to consult the community before construction, as residents were previously informed this lot would simply be used for parking. FCR had no images of what the lot would look like, but several board members urged for visual buffering or landscaping. Susan Walter, the engineer for the site, said the space was too small for landscaping, but they would consider screening in the fence. FCR also plans to replace the sidewalk on Dean. CB8 is accepting public comments or concerns on the matter until Friday, April 20th. There will then be a public hearing with the DOT, who was not present at this meeting. The date for the hearing was not yet known. If all goes through construction to renovate the lot and install the cable conduits should begin in May and be done by August. See a picture of the plans after the jump.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. its called ramming it through. businesses can’t actually work with the mass entitled bottom feeders in nyc, and the ultra libs (rightly so) can’t trust the greediest of sticky finger operators. so you have this dance.

  2. Funny how supporters of AY always blame neighborhood groups for delaying the building of the arena. So in effect FCR has had years of extra time due to the delays. So why are all of these details that have to ironed out in regards to setting up an arena only being dealt with now, piecemeal? Hasn’t FCR and all of the associated city and state agencies had plenty to time to think about and plan these things?

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