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Introduction
Section
203 of the 1989 City Charter required the City
Planning Commission to adopt criteria "to
further the fair distribution of the burdens and
benefits associated with city facilities....".
The Charter mandate was prompted by the widespread
perception -- and sometimes the reality -- that
some communities were becoming dumping grounds
for unwanted city facilities. The city's poorer
neighborhoods were particularly concerned that
they were being saturated with facilities like
shelters because most city-owned property is in
low-income areas. In fact, there is hardly a neighborhood
in the city, no matter what the income level,
that does not believe it is "oversaturated"
by burdensome facilities of one kind or another
or, at the very least, overlooked when it comes
to distributing benefits. The Charter provisions
were a reaction against poorly planned and often
secretive siting decisions driven by expediency.
To
encourage early consultation with communities,
a companion provision in the Charter (Section
204) requires the city to publish an annual Citywide
Statement of Needs listing and describing
the facilities the city plans to site, close or
substantially change in size over the next two
years. Community boards are given the opportunity
to comment on the statement and the borough presidents
may propose sites in their boroughs for needed
facilities. To inform the public of existing patterns
of municipal uses, the Statement of Needs
must be accompanied by a map and list of city-owned
and leased properties (called the Atlas and
Gazetteer of City Property).
In
December 1990, the City Planning Commission unanimously
adopted Criteria for the Location of City Facilities,
commonly known as the Fair Share Criteria, which
became effective July 1991. At the time of adoption,
the Commission called upon the Department of City
Planning to monitor and evaluate the effects of
these new and untested guidelines and to periodically
report its findings to the Mayor and the Commission.
This
report presents the department's observations
about the fair share siting process during the
three-year period since it became effective. It
begins with summaries of the criteria as adopted
and the statement of needs process, followed by
an analysis of the number, type and locations
of facilities sited under fair share. The report
outlines a range of issues and shortcomings associated
with implementation of fair share. The issues
identified are based on review of borough president
and community board comments, litigation related
to fair share, consultation with siting agencies
and examination of their fair share analyses,
and the testimony of elected officials, community
representatives and others at a public meeting
held in June 1993. The report assesses the extent
to which the fair share process has thus far achieved
its key goals: "equitable" distribution
of facilities; open and early consultation with
affected communities; sound planning practices
including heightened attention to impacts of facilities
on neighborhoods; and efficient, cost-effective
implementation of siting plans.
The
report concludes with a series of recommendations
for addressing identified shortcomings. Recommendations
include both administrative actions to improve
implementation, and proposals for the Mayor's
consideration to formally amend certain provisions
of the criteria.
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