WTC site damage assessment map, Sept 21, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

to the Department of Buildings that specified conditions are met. Lastly, variances may be granted when it would result in hardship to comply with the Zoning Resolution (Department of City Planning undated).

The City Charter requires the ULURP process be implemented when special permits are requested that are within the jurisdictir i of the City Planning Commission (Section 197- c).

The Manhattan Office of the Department of City Planning has provided zoning information for those buildings damaged or destroyed during the WTC attack. The WTC was zoning C6-4/C5-3 (commercial) and WTC 7 building was zoned C6-4 (Manhattan Office, Department of City Planning 2001). Article 8 of the New York State Envirorunental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), as implemented by City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR), requires that every proposed text or map change be assessed for its impact on the environment.

Environmental Impacts

Conflicts with land use or zoning are not expected during the construction of actions proposed by the applicant. Implementation of the proposed projects would not require a change in the Zoning Resolution; as such, no project-related impacts associated with the proposed alternatives are expected. No significant impact to area zoning or land use would be anticipated since the proposed projects would result in a recovery to pre­ disaster conditions.

3.6.2 Employment/Economic Base

The WTC disaster has caused severe social and economic impacts thrpugh changes to the physical environment, transportation resources, business closing and relocation, employment layoffs, school closings, student relocations, utility disruption, etc. The social and economic character of the immediate area has been significantly affected. There has been interruption in service to communities, lack of access to community facilities, and disruption to existing patterns of circulation, and potential impacts to neighborhood health and safety. These changes will linger and will produce changes in land development patterns and development densities that may not be in character with or on the same scale with the pre-existing neighborhood and community. In a large measure, community cohesion has been severely impacted by physical and psychological changes related to the WTC disaster and after-effects. Reports have been developed to establish the extent of economic and transportation impa''* ■ and are referenced below. The lower Manhattan study area consists of a mixture of older and modem office towers; approximately 120 million square feet of office space and the ground floors of the office buildings occupied by retail uses and lobbies. With over 120 million square feet of office space, Lower Manhattan is the third largest business district in the U.S. In the 1990s, a severe economic recession eliminated as many as 100,000 jobs, and some high-profile firms have merged, moved or gone out of business. In recent years, the economic climate

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