Tower Plan Draws Fire From Community Critics by Ronald Drenger Three weeks before Community Board 1 plans to hold a public hearing on the 35-story residential tower proposed for a lot at Chambers and West streets, behind P.S. 234, the project's developer got a taste of what he can expect. Scott Resnick and his team of architects and lawyers discussed their proposal for city-owned Site 5C at a meeting of the community board's Executive Committee on March 10. Board members, a representative of the P.S. 234 PTA and local residents responded to the presentation with a barrage of criticism. They said that the tower is not in scale with the surrounding area and that the project would worsen street congestion, block sunlight and bring more residents than the neighborhood can handle. They also said that a community center to be incorporated in the new building is too small. A required public review of the proposal began last month. As part of that review, CB 1 will hold a hearing on March 30 at 6 p.m. at P.S./I.S. 89. Scores of neighborhood residents and P.S. 234 parents are expected to speak out against the project The board is almost certain to reject the project when it votes on it next month, though its role is only advisory. The Manhattan Borough President, the City Planning Commission and the City Council will then review the development proposal. Critics say they will lobby public officials to oppose the project unless Resnick and the city's Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which is overseeing development of Site 5C, make significant changes. Resnick's proposal calls for a 360-foot-tall metal and glass tower along West Street, an eight-story wing on Chambers Street that would include an 18,000-square-foot community center, and a 10,000-square-foot public plaza on the interior of the lot, along Warren Street. The complex would have 456 apartments, a majority of them one-bedrooms, and an underground garage for 92 cars. Community Board 1 wants the tower reduced by at least 10 stories. But at the March 10 meeting, Hardy Adasko, an EDC official, said that the proposed structure fits in with nearby buildings, such as Independence Plaza North (IPN), the residential complex with three 39-story buildings that is several blocks north of Site 5C. "We think it relates to IPN and to some of the buildings in Battery Park City," across West Street, Adasko said. "Which ones?" asked Madelyn Wils, chairwoman of Community Board 1. Adasko mentioned Tribeca Pointe, a 42-story apartment building at the corner of Chambers Street and River Terrace-which is advertised as "the tallest residential tower that can ever be built in the area"-and the World Financial Center. "So, the World Financial Center, which was built in the context of the World Trade Center, is how you're judging how Tribeca should be built," Wils said impatiently. "Hardy, you know this is a ridiculous conversation." Wils added, "It's an insult to this community to come in and compare this building to the World Financial Center, to the tallest buildings in Battery Park City, and to IPN," which was built in the early 1970s, before Tribeca developed into a popular residential neighborhood. Kevin Doherty, president of the condominium board at 303 Greenwich Street, at the corner of Chambers Street, agreed that it was wrong to ignore Tribeca's smaller scale buildings as the setting for the proposed project. "Frankly, it's in a residential community. It's a 360-foot-tall building, shutting off light to one school and shutting of light during the day to the park and other constituencies," he said. "This is really going to contribute to overcrowding in the neighborhood," Doherty added. "There seem to be a lot of people I know that are very concerned." George Olsen, a community board member and former president of P.S. 234's PTA, expressed concern that delivery trucks servicing the residential building from Warren Street will interfere with the arrival of school buses. The entrance to the proposed building's underground garage would also be on the same block of Warren Street. Olsen said he also was worried that construction work would be disruptive. "We will coordinate with the school and with you in any way you see helpful, to have minimal impact on the school," said Resnick, a principal at Jack Resnick and Sons, who hopes to start construction early next year and have the building ready for occupancy in the second half of 2006. To prevent schoolchildren at P.S. 234 from being "intimidated" by the construction, he said, "we'll make them feel part of the project and let them see what's going on." "Let's not play games here," responded CB1's Wils. "Our kids don't want hard hats. Our kids don't want to go to another construction site. Let's look at the reality. It's going to be very difficult." Olsen, a real estate lawyer, also was skeptical of Resnick's promises. "You say you want to coordinate with us, but in reality, you're going to tell your contractor, 'We want you want to be in the ground at a certain time and we want you done in 18 months,'" Olsen said. "We're going to go to the contractor and say, 'We got a problem with something,' and he's going to tell us, 'You got a problem, but I got a problem on the other end. I've got to finish the job, and I'm going to go ahead.'" Resnick's attorney, Michael Sillerman, pledged that the scenario would play out differently. "We're going to tell [the contractor], 'That isn't happening, that doesn't happen in a residential neighborhood.'" The community center that is supposed to be included in the new building is another point of contention. Paul Hovitz, chairman of CB1's Youth and Education Committee, expressed the board's position that the facility should be at least 40,000 square feet, rather than the planned 18,000 square feet. Hovitz noted that a proposal that Resnick was developing for Site 5C in 2001 called for a 13-story building, two-and-a-half times smaller than the current plan, but had the same amount of community space. (The earlier plan was aborted after the terrorist attack. In January 2002, the Washington Street Urban Renewal Plan, which limited the size of development on Site 5C, expired, allowing for a much taller building.) Community critics also say that any development on Site 5C should be coordinated with the city's plans for an even larger residential building on Site 5B, across Warren Street. The side-by-side projects will compound impacts on the neighborhood, they say. EDC officials say that development plans for Site 5B are not ready and that the two projects are separate. Adasko said at the meeting that the city was exploring a variety of possible configurations for the 5B building, which will probably include 300 apartments for middle-income residents. "We have probably another month's work before we're ready to come back to you and discuss those permutations," he said. The meeting also included a presentation by landscape architect Thomas Balsley, who unveiled his design for the public plaza that would be built next to the new building. A 2,000-square-foot lawn would occupy the center of the plaza, while rows of birch trees would run along the plaza's western and northern edges, next to the building's two wings, with benches beneath the trees. There would also be a flowerbed and additional seating areas. A 10-foot-high frosted glass wall that would be lit up at night would stand along the eastern edge of the plaza, separating it from the P.S. 234 playground and the dog run. The plaza would be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. most of the year, staying open a little later during the summer. Part of the northern section of the plaza would be occupied by an outdoor café for a restaurant on the ground floor of the Chambers Street wing of the building. After the meeting, Resnick said he was sensitive to community concerns about his development plan. "I hope to build a building, but I want to work with the community in every way that I can," he said. Asked if there was room for compromise on the height of the building or the size of the community center, Resnick said, "We're early in the process. We need more feedback from the community and from city agencies."