Abigail Savitch-Lew

Erik Olson of the Department of City Planning presents the city’s proposed rezoning of East Harlem to the City Planning Commission for ULURP certification on April 24, 2017.

The location of the City Planning Commission’s hearing on the East Harlem rezoning, scheduled for Wednesday August 23, has been changed in order to accommodate a larger number of people. Instead of meeting at 22 Reade Street, the City Planning Commission will convene at 1 Centre Street.

The CPC’s meeting, which will include multiple agenda items besides the rezoning, will still start at 9:30 a.m. The hearing for the East Harlem rezoning specifically, however, will start no earlier than 2 p.m.

According to the Department of City Planning, the decision was made yesterday, Wednesday August 16, after DCP staff had assessed all the other items on the agenda, that the East Harlem portion of the hearing would not start before 2 p.m. and to let the public know so stakeholders can plan their time accordingly. A new notice will be placed in the City Record and broadcast widely, DCP said. In general, CPC’s meetings last for as long as there are speakers, so there was always a possibility that the East Harlem portion of the meeting wouldn’t get started until 2 p.m..

Paula Segal of the Urban Justice Center Community Development Project, however, is concerned the change may constitute a violation of notice requirements, which mandate that the city give at least 10 calendar days for the “notice of the time, place and subject of a public hearing.”

City Limits obtained the latest information from DCP late on Wednesday late in the afternoon after hearing rumors from community advocates about a different time and place for the meeting.