T H E C I T Y O F N EW Y O R K
O FFI C E O F T H E MA Y O R
N EW Y O R K, N Y 1 0 0 0 7
October 2, 2017

Dear Mr. Shahabudeen A. Ally, Esq.,
On Friday, September 29, 2017, we have received a resolution from Manhattan Community Board 12
requesting that the original date of the deadline for commenting on the Inwood Rezoning Proposal Draft Scope
of Work (DSOW) be extended from September 25, 2017 at 5:00 pm to October 31, 2017. The rationale for this
request is to allow for the Community Board and its respective committees to have sufficient time to secure
public comment on the proposed scope of work and to respond with a single resolution.
We would like to highlight that on Tuesday, September 5, 2017 the New York City Economic Development
Corporation (NYCEDC) received a request from Elizabeth Lorris-Ritter, Secretary to the Board, asking that the
comment period be extended from Monday, September 25 to a day after Tuesday, September 26, the date of
the September full board meeting. This would have allowed the full board to vote on a resolution that would
encompass the voice of all of the committees of the board.
Pursuant to this request, we extended the original deadline until Friday, September 29 at 5:00 pm, three (3)
days after the September meeting of the full board. NYCEDC responded to Ms. Lorris-Ritter as well as
yourself via email on September 6, 2017 and NYCEDC announced the extension via its listserv as well as at
the Scoping Hearing on September 14, 2017.
It is our understanding that the full board was unable to submit a resolution on the 26th; however, all of the
committees of the board, including the Executive Committee, will have the opportunity to meet again within
the first two weeks of October to discuss the DSOW. As such, we are extending the deadline until Friday,
October 13 at 5:00 pm. At that point in time the board, its individual members, and members of the public will
have had over sixty (60) days to comment on the DSOW since its issuance.
I would like to note that comments on the DSOW can be submitted by residents and other interested parties
and do not require a resolution on behalf of the board to be considered. We would like to clarify that the intent
of the DSOW is to lay out the framework for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) analysis, and the
technical procedures to be followed in the preparation of the EIS. While it does provide some description of the
rezoning proposal, the DSOW focuses on the EIS methodology; therefore, requesting public comments on the
geographic extent of the study area(s) for the EIS and the methodologies by which each technical analysis
would be conducted do not require a resolution by the board. Any comments received during the comment
period should focus on the EIS methodologies, and are not considered a position on the rezoning proposal
itself.
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 Please note that there will be additional opportunities to provide input into the environmental review process
with the release of the Draft EIS, which will coincide with the certification of the rezoning proposal into the
Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). ULURP is the process explicitly designed to provide
Manhattan Community Board 12 several opportunities to submit comments on the rezoning proposal itself and
ultimately take a position on the rezoning proposal by way of submitting a recommendation to the Borough
President, City Planning Commission, and City Council that is indeed approved by the full board.
In closing, we encourage your board members to submit comments to the DSOW as residents and interested
parties of Manhattan Community Board 12. We receive comments on an ongoing basis and do not require a
formal resolution from the Community Board to do so. To date, we have received over 100 comments from the
public in both written and oral form since the issuance of the DSOW on August 11, 2017. We hope to continue
to receive more comments to the DSOW on a daily basis leading up to Friday, October 13, 2017.
We acknowledge that the DSOW is a complex document that requires significant time to review and prepare
thoughtful comments. We hope that by extending the comment period by an addition fourteen (14) days, it will
enable Inwood residents, small businesses, local organizations, and other interested parties to submit
comments.
As a reminder, comments on the DSOW are to be sent or mailed to:
Esther Brunner, Deputy Director
Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination
253 Broadway, 14th Floor
New York, New York, 10007
Phone: 212-676-3293
ebrunner@cityhall.nyc.gov

Sincerely,

Hilary Semel
Assistant to the Mayor

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