That was quick. The Real Estate is reporting that the Empire State Development Corp. has recertified the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Atlantic Yards, which had been sent back for re-tooling last week. Turns out that 148 comments from the public, 60 of them "substantive," were left out of the document originally certified on Nov. 15.
Chair Charles Gargano had promised a "thorough" review. Employees worked over Thanksgiving weekend to get out a new document in time for today's ESDC meeting, creating what was sure to be a festive mood in the copy room. He said the missing comments were "inadvertently left out...There were a lot of comments. Some were sent to the wrong person, some were sent by e-mail." So, with two weeks lost to the boo boo, there is still technically time to put all the approvals in place before the Pataki administration leaves Albany. Final vote in ten days. State Comptroller gets a week after that. Then, the Public Authorities Control Board can vote. Or drag their feet until the new tenant moves into the Governor's office.
· ESDC Certifies Atlantic Yards--Again [TRE]
· Boo Boo Could Delay Atlantic Yards Approval Until '07 [Curbed]