 View the full document (1.8 mb).
Introduction
The
1989 City Charter (Section 203) required the City
Planning Commission to adopt criteria
to
further the fair distribution of the burdens
and benefits associated with city facilities,
consistent with community needs for services
and efficient and cost effective delivery of
services and with due regard for the social
and economic impacts of such facilities upon
the areas surrounding the sites.
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
accordance with the Charter, the City Planning
Commission adopted the Criteria for the Location
of City Facilities which have been in effect since
July 1, 1991. They are commonly known as the "fair
share" criteria because they attempt to foster
an equitable distribution of public facilities
throughout the city. They do so by encouraging
community consultation and by establishing a set
of considerations that must be taken into account
by city agencies when they select sites for new
facilities or substantially change existing facilities.
The
guide was first issued in 1991, before the criteria
actually took effect, to help city agencies interpret
and apply the new regulations in their siting
decisions. Changes of this kind are rarely easy,
and developing a consistent approach to the criteria
was especially challenging during the early years
of the new regulations. This revised guide benefits
from the experience of many agencies over the
past seven years and reflects the practices, interpretations,
and judicial rulings that have emerged since 1991.
The
Department of City Planning (DCP) encourages agencies
to use the guide when they submit applications
subject to the fair share criteria for City Planning
Commission review. Although an agency's consideration
of the criteria is not publicly reviewed until
the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP)
or contract procurement process is underway, project
planners should begin to keep the criteria in
mind well before that time -- when they evaluate
service needs and consider new facilities or changes
in facilities, when they begin to identify possible
sites, and when they analyze the factors that
will determine their ultimate choice of site.
Consideration of the criteria at the earliest
decision points may be critical to successful
completion of a siting action.
The
guide explains how the criteria may affect a range
of agency actions, such as:
- planning
new facilities and choosing their sites
- expanding,
reducing or closing facilities
- preparing
departmental statements for the annual citywide
statement of needs
- issuing
requests for proposals
- consulting
with community boards and borough presidents
- justifying
choice of site in the ULURP review process,
the office acquisition review process, or in
a statement to the Mayor, as applicable
- responding
to community concerns about facility operation.
View the full document (1.8 mb). |
