Vision 2020: New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan

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The Vision 2020: New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan was introduced in March 2011 by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, and the Director of the New York City Department of City Planning, Amanda Burden, this plan provides a framework for the next ten years of waterfront development in New York City. The plan has two components: a three-year action agenda comprising 130 funded projects, including the development of more than 50 acres (20 ha) of new waterfront parks, creation of 14 new waterfront esplanades, and introduction of new commuter ferry service (NYC Ferry), providing a framework for the City’s 520 miles (840 km) of shoreline for the next decade and beyond. [1]

Contents

History

New York City, like many other cities, is experiencing a vast redevelopment of its waterfronts from primarily maritime activities and water dependent uses to parks, housing and economic development activities and expanding the use on the waterways for transportation, recreation and natural habitats. [2] This transformation is due in great part to containerization, which reshaped the shipping industry and required the use of vast, concentrated expanses of waterfront and upland areas. This condensed the Port of New York and New Jersey shipping industry to six locations within the harbor and left many waterfront areas and piers vacant. These six terminals include:

The abandoned waterfront areas and maritime infrastructure suffered from years of neglect and in 1992, the first Comprehensive Waterfront Plan was introduced by the New York City Department of City Planning. The 1992 plan recommended regulatory changes, such as specific rezonings to appropriately zone the waterfront based on actual land use patterns. As part of the 1992 Comprehensive Waterfront Plan, the City Zoning Resolution was revised in 1993 [9] to define waterfront properties and to list special regulations for these areas.

In order to help preserve the maritime industry and water dependent industry uses that still exist, the Plan also designates 6 areas as Significant Maritime Industrial Areas (SMIA). These districts were previously zoned for heavy manufacturing and will continue to be used for industry. The designated SMIA’s include:

Goals

The updated Comprehensive Waterfront Plan has identified the following eight goals:

Due to the diversity of the 520 linear miles of the waterfront, the Plan divides the City into 22 different reaches based on ecological and geographical considerations. Each reach is assigned a specific strategy in order to achieve the 8 goals of the Plan.

The plan recently won the American Planning Association’s National Planning Excellence Award 2012: The Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan. [10]

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The Maritime Industrial Zoning Overlay District (MIZOD) was created in Baltimore, Maryland in 2004 to preserve deepwater access for port and maritime industrial uses. As waterfront residential and commercial development encroached on maritime industrial uses within the city, waterfront industries were finding it harder to receive loans from banks to upgrade and expand their operations. MIZOD is a zoning district overlaid across existing industrial zones along the water to allow only industries that use or need deep water access. The Overlay district was set to expire in 2014, but was recently extended to expire in 2024.

Pier 11/Wall Street

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South Brooklyn Marine Terminal

The South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) is an intermodal shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing complex in the Port of New York and New Jersey. It is located along the Upper New York Bay, between 29th and 39th Streets in the Sunset Park and Greenwood Heights neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York City. The site is adjacent to Bush Terminal and Industry City, which respectively lie directly to the south and east. A recycling and waste transfer facility managed by Sims Metal Management is the major tenant. In May 2018, the city contracted partners to activate the largely unused terminal.

References

  1. "New York Department of City Planning Press Release". Archived from the original on 2013-03-14. Retrieved 2013-05-01.
  2. "New York's Next Frontier: The Waterfront". New York Times.
  3. "Red Hook Container Terminal".
  4. "New York Container Terminal".
  5. "Port Newark Container Terminal".
  6. "Global Marine Terminal". Archived from the original on 2012-07-31. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
  7. "Maher Terminal".
  8. "APM Terminals".
  9. "NYC Planning Publication" (PDF).
  10. "National Planning Awards 2012".