[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 81 (Tuesday, April 27, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22866-22868]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-9469]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-4912-N-05]


Notice of Availability of a Final 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 final Generic 
Environmental Impact Statement (Final GEIS) for the World Trade Center 
Memorial and Redevelopment Plan (Proposed Action) has been completed 
and is available for review and comment. This notice is given on behalf 
of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC). 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 the 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

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York State Environmental Quality Review Act. The Final GEIS has been 
prepared in cooperation with the Port Authority of New York and New 
Jersey. A NEPA Record of Decision (ROD) will be issued after the 
availability period. This notice is given in accordance with the 
Council on Environmental Quality regulations at 40 CFR parts 1500-1508.

DATES: Comment Due Date: All interested agencies, groups and persons 
may submit comments on the Final GEIS. Comments must be received by 5 
p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on May 24, 2004. Comments received 
after 5 p.m. EDT on May 24, 2004, will not be considered. Written 
comments on the Final GEIS will be accepted at the following address: 
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Attention: Comments WTC 
Memorial and Redevelopment Plan/FGEIS, One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, 
New York, NY 10006.
    Comments on the Final GEIS may also be submitted until 5 p.m. EDT 
on May 24, 2004, by e-mailing comments to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Further information and a copy of the 
Final 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 
Final GEIS is also available on LMDC's Web site: http://www.RenewNYC.com in the ``Planning, Design & Development'' section.
    A copy of the Final GEIS is also available for public review at the 
following locations:

Chatham Square Library, 33 East Broadway, New York, NY 10007
New Amsterdam Library, 9 Murray Street, New York, NY 10002.
Humanities and Social Sciences, Library, 476 5th Avenue, New York, New 
York 10028.
Hamilton Fish Library, 415 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10002.
Hudson Park Library, 66 Leroy Street, New York, NY 10007.
Manhattan Community Board1, 49-51 Chamber Street, 
715, New York, NY 10007.
Manhattan Community Board 2, 3 Washington Square Park, New 
York, NY 10012.
Manhattan Community Board 3, 59 East 4th Street, New York, NY 
10003.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Proposed Action would provide for the 
construction on the Project Site of the World Trade Center Site 
Memorial (Memorial), an interpretive museum (Memorial Center), cultural 
facilities, and Memorial-related improvements, up to 10 million square 
feet of above-grade Class A office space, plus associated storage, 
mechanical, loading, below-grade parking, 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, open space 
areas, and certain infrastructure improvements. The Proposed Action 
would be assisted in part by HUD Community Development Block Grant 
funds appropriated by Congress for the World Trade Center disaster 
recovery and rebuilding efforts.
    The Project Site consists of the World Trade Center Site (WTC Site) 
and the Southern Site 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 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.
    The proposed design would extend Fulton and Greenwich Streets 
through the WTC Site, dividing the site into quadrants. The Memorial, 
Memorial Center, 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 four other proposed towers would descend in height clockwise 
to the fifth tower on the Southern Site.
    This fifth tower would have a ground-floor retail area and would be 
located on the south end of the Southern Site. The Southern Site would 
be reconfigured to open Cedar Street between Greenwich and Washington 
Streets and close 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. St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church would rebuild 
its facility in the open space not far from its previous location on 
September 10, 2001.
    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, a below-grade bus parking 
garage serving the Memorial, below-grade rentable storage, below-grade 
chiller and fan plants, a parking garage for building tenants and 
safety and security related facilities. The bus parking may be 
underground on the Southern Site or possibly on the WTC Site itself.
    The Final 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, air quality, noise, hazardous 
materials, infrastructure/safety/security, traffic and parking, transit 
and pedestrians, coastal zone, floodplain, natural resources, 
electromagnetic fields, environmental justice, and construction. The 
Final GEIS also considers mitigation measures, alternatives, 
unavoidable adverse impacts, growth-inducing aspects of the Proposed 
Action, irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources, 
indirect and cumulative effects and other areas of potential 
environmental impact.
    Alternatives looked at in the Final GEIS include a no-action 
alternative, and a reasonable range of other alternatives, including a 
Memorial-only alternative, a restoration alternative, rebuilding 
alternatives, a WTC Site-only alternative, an enhanced green 
construction alternative, a co-generation alternative, a reduced impact 
alternative, an at-grade loading alternative, and a cooling towers 
alternative.
    Issuance of the Final GEIS will trigger a review period, after 
which a ROD will be issued. The issuance of the ROD will conclude a 
planning and environmental review process that started with the notice 
of intent to prepare a GEIS published in the Federal Register on July 
7, 2003 (68 FR 40289). On July 23, 2003, LMDC held two public scoping 
meetings in order to receive public comment on the Draft Scope, and the 
public comment period on the Draft Scope remained open until August 4, 
2003. The notice of availability of the Draft GEIS was published in the 
Federal Register on January 23, 2004 (69 FR 3382). On February 18, 
2004, LMDC held two public hearings in order to receive public comment 
on the Draft GEIS, and the public comment period on the Draft GEIS 
remained open until March 15, 2004.
    Questions may be directed to the individual named above under the 
heading FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.


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    Dated: April 20, 2004.
Roy A. Bernardi,
Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development.
[FR Doc. 04-9469 Filed 4-26-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-29-P