By Joe Lamport
Managing Editor

Community Board 4 recommended approval Sept. 14 of plans for the $400 million redevelopment of the Bronx Terminal Market, but with a set of six conditions that would resolve important problems, members said.

The board's approval is part of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. Now the plans go to the Bronx Borough President's Office for review. The City Planning Commission would consider the proposal following the borough president's office review.

At some point during that process, a "community benefits agreement" would outline commitments to ensure jobs for local residents, among other things. But the agreement has not been drafted, a major concern for community board members.

Developers presented plans for the market to a joint meeting of the board's housing and land use and municipal services committees on Sept. 7. It would bring 2,300 jobs to the area and revitalize the community, they asserted. The full board voted on the site plans at a general meeting of the community board on Sept. 14.

"We're obviously very gratified with the vote," said Jesse Masyr, an attorney representing the Related Companies, which has proposed developing the "Gateway Center" in place of the Bronx Terminal Market.

But community members raised concerns about the affects the redevelopment would have on air quality, transportation and local merchants. They also expressed displeasure with the developers' apparent unwillingness to draft the community benefits agreement.

"We've asked for months (for a community benefits agreement) and you haven't gotten back to us," said Chinyelu Udoh, a board member, at the Sept. 7 meeting.

The community benefits agreement was one of the six conditions the board set for the project. The others were:

· Reevaluate parking at the development. Board members expressed concern that the proposal includes too much parking. Some board members have called for an independent traffic study.

· Redesign the River Avenue side of the development. The current plan calls for 720 feet of blank wall on an important community street, board members said. "That wasn't acceptable because River Avenue was a major entrance to the community," said Lukas Herbert, a board member and urban planner. "It should have store fronts."

· Resolve problems with public transit to the development. The developers should work with the Metropolitan Transit Authority to see if three buses that end their runs at 145th Street in Manhattan can continue across the 145th Street Bridge to the development. And they should help the community assure that $2.4 million earmarked by Congress for a MetroNorth train station finds the matching funds necessary to build a new station. MetroNorth's Hudson line runs right through the project site.

· Improve connections between the hotel proposed at the site and the community. The hotel is virtually a "car-only" facility and cut off from the community.

· Use green building technology in the project.

The conditions the board set are the first set of formal exchanges between the community and the developers. At the Sept. 7 meeting, residents criticized the developers for not approaching the community sooner.

"Since 1965, people in this community have been taking care of this community," said Michael Trotter, a community activist. "We have to be involved. If we're not involved, we will have to take alternative measures. That's not a threat, but I think you should seriously think about sitting down with us very soon."

Masyr said he was committed to drafting a community benefits agreement and welcomed community input.

"The idea of working together is the ideal," he said. "We're committed to it and it will make for a better project."

Of the other conditions, Masyr said only traffic issues raised concerns.
"I don't know how to react," he said of the traffic issues. "We're in the middle of the process of" studying the traffic.

The $400 million plan to redevelop the Bronx Terminal Market would bring a 1 million square foot mall and a hotel and parking facilities. About 2,300 permanent jobs would be created and 2,200 construction jobs.

The community benefits agreement would mainly address the issue of jobs, Masyr said.

"There would be a lot of focus on employment opportunities," he said. People "living nearest and most in need" would be targeted for those opportunities.