Working West Shore 2030

Overview

Initiated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Staten Island Growth Management Task Force, Working West Shore 2030: Creating Jobs, Improving Infrastructure and Managing Growth identifies strategies that will help create jobs, upgrade infrastructure, preserve open space and manage growth on the borough’s West Shore. In order to jumpstart the twenty-year vision and coordinate efforts, the City has committed to short-term initiatives described in theWest Shore 2030 Three - Year Work Plan.

Working West Shore 2030 is the culmination of a collaborative effort among NYCEDC, NYC Department of City Planning, local civic groups, Staten Island elected officials and the over three hundred residents and business owners who invested their time, local expertise and passion for Staten Island’s future.

Working West Shore 2030 Study

Background

In the next twenty years, Staten Island’s population is expected to grow along with the region, due primarily to existing residents who will live longer and have larger families. As it stands, existing neighborhoods in the borough may not have the appropriate infrastructure or housing types to support populations that are expected to drive that growth—seniors and young adults. There are also economic challenges that will affect quality of life going forward. The majority of the borough’s workforce travels off-island for higher-paying jobs which contributes, along with limited transit options, to the borough’s traffic congestion.

Working West Shore 2030 provides an inspiring blueprint for growth. Based on an intense and inclusive public engagement process, and building upon past and current planning efforts, it highlights investments that would help create jobs, upgrade infrastructure, and manage growth on the borough’s West Shore—a vast area that encompasses 20 percent of Staten Island’s land and is approximately half the size of Manhattan. The effort and the vision provide a glimpse of what could be if public agencies, private developers and community stakeholders work in collaboration.

The four main objectives of Working West Shore 2030 are to:

1. Create quality local jobs for Staten Islanders and reduce the need for off-island commutes
2. Provide better connections between West Shore job centers and neighborhoods to the rest of the borough and the region through upgraded road and transit networks
3. Preserve and link open spaces, expand public waterfront access, and strengthen connections between parks and neighborhoods
4. Improve community services and choices for the West Shore and for surrounding neighborhoods, and expand housing and transit options to attract and retain young adults and meet the needs of a growing senior population

Study area description

Running the length of the Arthur Kill, the West Shore study area encompasses approximately 6,300 acres and 12 miles of shoreline. The area was historically defined by industrial uses and small residential neighborhoods which housed workers employed in local factories. Today, the study area is home to only five percent of Staten Island residents but adjoins many communities that have experienced growth over recent decades. While the majority of the study area is zoned for manufacturing (roughly 80 percent), only 20 percent of land in the area is currently used for industrial purposes. Over 50 percent of the area is existing or planned open space and natural areas, including wetlands.

For the purposes of this effort, the study area was divided into five zones based on differences in land use and geography (see slideshow for maps and pictures of each).

• Arlington - Port Ivory
• Bloomfield – Teleport
• Travis - Fresh Kills
• Rossville Waterfront
• Charleston – Tottenville

West Shore Opportunities and Challenges

The West Shore faces many challenges and opportunities to providing the jobs, services, and open space required by the borough, the City and the region:

• Industrial Property Challenges: Many industrial properties lack adequate roadway connections, utilities, maritime infrastructure, and connections to freight lines.
• Wetlands and Open Space: 45 percent of the study area’s vacant land is occupied by wetlands which cannot be developed and are not yet fully utilized for public access or storm water management.
• Incomplete Transportation Network: Large areas of wetlands and historic industrial uses have contributed to incomplete highway and roadway connections, while many areas are without the roadway and transit services required for new development and investment.
• Juxtaposition of Land Uses: Local residential communities near industrial and commercial areas often lack protection from truck traffic, and land use conflicts between job-producing and historic residential areas threaten the long-term success of both uses.
• Historic Communities: Travis, Charleston, Tottenville and other nearby communities want to preserve their neighborhood character, but also lack housing options for young adults and seniors, local services, and sewer infrastructure.
• Waterfront Connections: Past industrial uses, a deteriorated shoreline, permitting and regulatory challenges, and a lack of roadways limit maritime expansion and potential points of public access and amenities.

Working West Shore 2030 Report

Working West Shore 2030 is a guiding document—a framework for decisions that could lay the foundation to accommodate 20,000 new jobs in the West Shore over the next 20 years. This goal can be accomplished while preserving over half of the West Shore as parks and open space, and providing new, diverse residential opportunities in only seven percent of the entire study area.

A significant amount of infrastructure investment will likely be made by the private sector as strategic sites are developed. This document is intended to provide clarity and guidance to developers, property owners and public agencies to ensure a coordinated network of improvements. Public projects will require multiagency commitments and coordination. This report emphasizes those improvements that will promote job growth and private investment on the West Shore, including: infrastructure improvements, transportation and mobility planning, special economic development projects, managing and overseeing industrial/ commercial development, new mixed-use communities at transportation hubs, and more.

Three-Year Work Plan

The West Shore 2030 Work Plan includes commitments from city agencies—developed with the assistance and reflecting the input of hundreds of citizens and governmental partners. The document includes 39 initiatives to be started over the next three years with an emphasis on actions that support job growth. It clarifies agency responsibilities in the short-term and establishes public commitments that, along with private investment, are designed to move the West Shore 2030 vision forward. To help implement recommendations and to ensure coordination with all parties, several citywide initiatives are proposed, including:

• Establishment of a West Shore 2030 Working Group, led by City Hall and consisting of city agency representatives, that will help to coordinate city actions, to ensure those actions are consistent with other citywide and regional planning efforts, and to report on progress of the West Shore 2030 Work Plan
• Establishment, improvement and expansion of economic development programs intended to help retain and to recruit industrial users and to support the redevelopment of maritime infrastructure, including the establishment of a Staten Island Industrial Business Zone (IBZ)
• A commitment to work with government partners and stakeholders to identify new and alternative mechanisms for financing critical support infrastructure
• Significant progress on developing publicly owned properties

Public Outreach

The study's proposed actions are based on technical land use, transportation, and market studies, but they are grounded in an intensive public engagement process and partnership among multiple city agencies. Through 11 public meetings and interactive visioning workshops held across the study area, over 300 residents, elected officials, civic stakeholders, local business leaders, and state and regional partners, provided both a source and a sounding board for ideas and proposals.

Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee has played an important role in informing West Shore 2030 and is comprised of stakeholders with unique perspectives on transportation, environmental, waterfront, residential and business issues.

• Office of the Borough President
• Staten Island City Council Districts 49, 50, 51
• Community Boards 1, 2, 3
• Staten Island Chamber of Commerce
• American Institute of Architects, Staten Island Chapter
• Building Industry Association of New York, Staten Island Chapter
• Staten Island Economic Development Corporation
• Staten Island Taxpayers Association
• Charleston Civic Association
• Mariners Harbor Civic Association
• Arlington Civic Association
• Woodbrooke Homeowners Association
• College of Staten Island, CSI Project
• Con Edison
• VISY Paper
• Greenbelt Conservancy
• National Grid (Keyspan)
• New York City Department of Environmental Protection
• New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
• Metropolitan Transit Authority, New York City Transit
• Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
• New York State Department of Transportation
• New York City Department of Transportation
• New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
• New York City Department of Design & Construction

Additional Documents

West Shore Three-Year Work Plan - June 2011

West Shore 2030 Report - May 2010

Existing Conditions Report - Oct 2008

West Shore Study Market Analysis Report - Oct 2008

Contact Us

Contact the study team with your feedback at westshore@nycedc.com.