manhattan said:
The head of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, the 20,000-member union that represents city firefighters, reiterated his concerns that Hudson Yards, a neighborhood projected to have a population larger than many American cities, has no dedicated firehouse. Gerard Fitzgerald, president of…
www.crainsnewyork.com
Firefighters union slams lack of firehouse in Hudson Yards
From the above referenced article:
The head of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, the 20,000-member union that represents city firefighters, reiterated his concerns that Hudson Yards, a neighborhood projected to have a population larger than many American cities, has no dedicated firehouse. Gerard Fitzgerald, president of…
www.crainsnewyork.com
"The FDNY spokesman said such a facility is being contemplated, but at a point in the future he couldn't specify."
"The issue the union is raising is something we extensively outlined last year in a study on the Hudson Yards Special District," the spokesman said. "Our analysis showed that, long term, we expect that as development continues in the district we will need to have additional resources on the West Side. Thus, we have begun working with the mayor's office to begin the process of finding space on the West Side for new department facilities and resources."
The initial study was scoped as follows:
DGEIS (Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement)
Task 3. Community Facilities and Services This chapter of the DGEIS will evaluate the effect on community services due to the development that would be allowed with the Proposed Action, including effects on police and
fire protection, public schools, outpatient and emergency health care facilities, libraries, and publicly funded day care facilities. Particular attention will be given to the need for additional public school capacity. The individual catchment areas for each service provider will serve as the study area boundaries for these analyses. The Community Facilities and Services section of the DGEIS will:
? Develop an inventory of existing public schools, libraries, outpatient and emergency health care service facilities, public day care centers, police precincts, and
fire stations, including emergency medical services, located in the study area. This will be accomplished via phone interviews and/or written communication with department representatives, school officials, and local medical service providers. Additionally, field checks will be performed and a map of all community facilities will be created.
Final Scoping Document
? Identify any direct or indirect impacts to the aforementioned community facilities, following the CEQR Technical Manual methodology. As the Proposed Action would result in development which would exceed the CEQR Technical Manual 100-residential unit screening threshold, potential indirect effects will be evaluated. Preliminary thresholds for the need for detailed analyses are as follows:
?
Fire Protection: Generally, an assessment of fire protective services is included only if the Proposed Action would affect the physical operations of, or access to and from, a station house. Although the CEQR Technical Manual suggests that a detailed analysis of fire protection services is generally conducted only in the case of direct impacts on facilities, the nature and scope of the Proposed Action in this case warrants an examination of potential impacts on service delivery.
The study report result is excerpted below:
3. Community Facilities and Services
Population growth expected as a result of the Proposed Action could have a significant impact on firefighting services in the area. The Proposed Action would require new elementary and intermediate school capacity serving the Project Area. The Proposed Action is expected to increase the number of children eligible for publicly funded day care, which could have a significant adverse impact on local publicly funded day care centers. The Proposed Action would increase the demand for services provided by public or publicly funded community facilities. It is anticipated that in 2010 the No. 7 Subway Extension, the Convention Center Expansion, the Multi-Use Facility, and a small portion of the commercial and residential development, with a net increase in residential development of approximately 844 dwelling units anticipated with the rezoning, would be finished and operating. It is conservatively assumed that the redevelopment of the Project Area would be substantially complete by 2025, including the new open space, an increment of approximately 9,899 additional dwelling units, and about 27 million square feet of commercial, retail, and hotel space. In addition, the Proposed Action could allow up to 192low- to moderate-income housing units in 2010 (or 22.75 percent of the total new housing units) and up to 1,368 additional low- to moderate-income units (or 15.11 percent of total new units) by 2025.
Fire?While the Proposed Action is not expected to displace existing fire station houses, the new worker, residential, and visitor populations expected as a result of the Proposed Action could have a significant impact on firefighting services in the area in both 2010 and 2025. The Proposed Action has been reviewed for potential impacts on fire protection services, and the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) believes it would need additional resources, including a new firehouse, to continue to provide adequate fire protection with the Proposed Action.