[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 15 (Friday, January 23, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3382-3383]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-1443]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-4912-N-01]


Notice of Availability of a Draft Generic Environmental Impact 
Statement for the World Trade Center Memorial and Redevelopment Plan in 
the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York, NY

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and 
Development, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gives 
notice to the public, agencies, and Indian tribes that a draft Generic 
Environmental Impact Statement (Draft GEIS) for the World Trade Center 
Memorial and Redevelopment Plan will be available for review and 
comment on January 21, 2004. This notice is given on behalf of the 
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC). The LMDC is a 
subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corporation (a political 
subdivision and public benefit corporation of the State of New York). 
As the recipient of HUD Community Development Block Grant funds 
appropriated for World Trade Center disaster recovery and rebuilding 
efforts, LMDC acts, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 5304(g), as the responsible 
entity for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 
in accordance with 24 CFR 58.4. LMDC also acts under its authority as 
lead agency in accordance with the New York State Environmental Quality 
Review Act. The Draft GEIS will also be prepared in cooperation with 
the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. This notice is given in 
accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations at 40 
CFR part 1500-1508.

DATES: Comment Due Date: Comments must be received by 5 p.m. Eastern 
Standard Time on March 15, 2004. Comments received after 5 p.m. e.s.t. 
on March 15, 2004, will not be considered. Written comments on the 
Draft GEIS will be accepted at the following address: Lower Manhattan 
Development Corporation, Attention: Comments WTC Memorial and 
Redevelopment Plan/DGEIS, One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 
10006.
    Comments on the Draft GEIS may also be submitted until 5 p.m. 
e.s.t. on March 15, 2004, through LMDC's Web site, http://www.renewnyc.com/plan_des_dev/frm_comments.asp, by choosing the 
category ``Environmental/Plan Review.''
    Public Hearing: To ensure public participation on the Draft GEIS, 
two public hearings will be held on February 18, 2004, at the Michael 
Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace

[[Page 3383]]

University located in Lower Manhattan at Spruce Street between Park Row 
and Gold Street, New York, NY, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and starting at 6 
p.m.
    Directions: The Schimmel Center is accessible to public 
transportation, including the subway to Park Place via 1/9, 2/3, 
Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall via 4/5/6, and Broadway/Nassau Street via A/
C.
    The public meeting site is accessible to the mobility-impaired. 
Interpreter services will be available for the hearing-impaired upon 
advance request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Further information and a copy of the 
Draft GEIS may be obtained by contacting: William H. Kelley, Planning 
Project Manager, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, One Liberty 
Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006; Telephone: (212) 962-2300; Fax: 
(212) 962-2431; E-mail: [email protected]. A copy of the 
Draft GEIS is also available on LMDC's Web site: http://www.RenewNYC.com in the ``Planning, Design & Development'' section. 
Copies of the Draft GEIS may be purchased for the cost of reproduction.
    A copy of the Draft GEIS is also available for public review at the 
following locations:

Chatham Square Library,
33 East Broadway,
New York, NY 10002

New Amsterdam Library,
9 Murray Street,
New York, NY 10007

Hamilton Fish Library,
415 East Houston Street,
New York, NY 10002

Hudson Park Library,
66 Leroy Street,
New York, NY 10007

Community Board 1,
49-51 Chambers Street 715,
New York, NY 10007

Community Board 2,
3 Washington Square Park,
New York, NY 10012

Community Board 3,
59 East 4th Street,
New York, NY 10003

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The World Trade Center Memorial and 
Redevelopment Plan (Proposed Action) would provide for the construction 
on the Project Site of a World Trade Center Memorial (Memorial) and 
memorial-related improvements, up to 10 million square feet of above-
grade Class A office space, plus associated below-grade parking, 
storage, mechanical, loading, and other non-office space, up to 1 
million square feet of retail space, a hotel with up to 800 rooms and 
up to 150,000 square feet of conference space, new open space areas, 
museum and cultural facilities, and certain infrastructure 
improvements. The proposed action would be assisted in part by HUD 
Community Development Block Grant funds appropriated by Congress for 
World Trade Center disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts.
    The Project Site consists of the World Trade Center Site (WTC Site) 
and the Adjacent Sites in Lower Manhattan, New York, New York. The WTC 
Site is an approximately 16 acre parcel bounded by Liberty Street, 
Church Street, Vesey Street, and Route 9A. The Adjacent Sites include 
the Southern Site and the below-grade portion of Site 26 at Battery 
Park City. The Southern Site comprises two adjacent blocks south of the 
WTC Site--one bounded by Liberty, Washington, Albany, and Greenwich 
Streets, and the other bounded by Liberty, Cedar, and Washington 
Streets and Route 9A--and portions of two streets: Liberty Street 
between those blocks and the WTC Site, and Washington Street between 
Cedar and Liberty Streets. Site 26 is bounded by the one-half block of 
North End Avenue, Murray and Vesey Streets, and Route 9A on the eastern 
side of the Embassy Suites Hotel.
    The proposed design would extend Fulton and Greenwich Streets 
through the WTC Site, dividing the site into quadrants. The Memorial, 
museum, and cultural buildings would occupy the southwest quadrant 
where the Twin Towers once stood. At the northwest corner of the WTC 
Site would be the tallest structure in the complex, Freedom Tower. The 
three other proposed towers would descend in height clockwise to the 
fifth tower on the Southern Site.
    The Southern Site would be reconfigured by the opening of Cedar 
Street between Greenwich and Washington Streets and the closing of 
Washington Street between Liberty and Cedar Streets. This would allow 
the creation of a single large open space on the new block south of 
Liberty Street as well as the tower site between Cedar and Albany 
Streets.
    The Proposed Action also provides for infrastructure and utilities 
to support the operations of the Project Site as a whole, including 
below-grade freight servicing and loading and a below-grade bus parking 
garage serving the Memorial, a parking garage for building tenants and 
safety and security-related facilities.
    The Draft GEIS analyzes the Proposed Action's potential impacts to 
land use and public policy, urban design and visual resources, historic 
resources, open space, shadows, community facilities, socioeconomic 
conditions, neighborhood character, hazardous materials, 
infrastructure/safety/security, traffic and parking, transit and 
pedestrians, air quality, noise, coastal zone, floodplain, natural 
resources, electromagnetic fields, environmental justice, and 
construction. The Draft GEIS also considers mitigation measures, 
alternatives, unavoidable adverse impacts, short-term effects vs. long-
term benefits, irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources, 
indirect and cumulative effects and other areas of potential 
environmental impact.
    Alternatives that will be looked at in the Draft GEIS will include 
a no-action alternative, and a reasonable range of other alternatives, 
including a Memorial-only alternative, a restoration alternative, a 
rebuilding alternative, a WTC Site-only alternative, an enhanced green 
construction alternative, and a reduced impact alternative.
    The estimated total cost for construction of the Proposed Action is 
expected to be in excess of $8 billion.
    Questions may be directed to the individual named above under the 
heading ``For Further Information Contact.''

    Dated: January 16, 2004.
Roy A. Bernardi,
Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development.
[FR Doc. 04-1443 Filed 1-22-04; 8:45 am]
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