City Seeks Input on Environmental Review

NEW YORK CITY-The Bloomberg administration is using a slowdown in construction starts as an opportunity to solicit input about the environmental review component of the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure of development projects. An online questionnaire about the environmental review process was launched Thursday and will be posted at nyc.gov until Friday, May 22.

According to a release, the survey is intended to help the city improve and expedite environmental review by identifying inefficiencies and proposing ways to improve the process. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says in a statement that “identifying opportunities to reduce costs and delays in the environmental review procedure will bring greater predictability to the process. By gathering information from stakeholders–from consultants to community boards–we will be positioned to improve the process without compromising environmental protection standards or public participation.”

The survey solicits feedback on how projects should be prioritized and how agency resources should be allocated, as well as how the city might improve inter-agency coordination, the completion of timely and efficient analysis and communication among city agencies, applicants and the public, the release states. It does not, however, bring up the possibility of changes to ULURP or other policies.