By James DeWeese
The airport lease agreement could come up for a vote within two months.
Councilmen Hiram Monserrate (D-Corona) and James Sanders Jr. (D-Laurelton) and five fellow legislators announced Monday that they had invoked a “call up,” guaranteeing that the Council's Land Use Committee, of which Monserrate and Sanders are both members, will have to give its approval before the city can sign the agreement.
At the heart of the councilmen's concerns is the final amount of money the Port Authority will be required to pay for Queens' capital improvements. The current proposal would require the PA to pay $50 million over the next five years in equal annual installments.
“I believe it's too little money for too little time,” Sanders said. “It's hard to do capital construction with $5 million a year (in each of) several places in Queens.”
Sanders said he “had conversations at the highest level and we've been led to believe that there may be possibilities” to get more money for transportation projects in Queens.
Sanders also said he would like capital improvement money to go to the areas immediately surrounding airports.
As it stands, the 46-year lease deal also would raise the minimum yearly rent to $93.5 million for the two Queens airports, which are on city-owned land, and require the PA to make an initial lump-sum payment of $700 million to the city, $500 million of which would be for back rent.
The deal would put an end to years of speculation about the future of the city-owned airport lots: Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had been exploring the possibility of turning control of Kennedy over to a British firm. And Bloomberg had considered the possibility of trading city airport land for the former World Trade Center site, which the PA owned until shortly before Sept. 11, 2001.
Sanders congratulated the mayor on what he said was an excellent deal for the city but indicated that he and other Queens legislators on the Council's Land Use Committee would be taking a very close look to see how it might affect their borough.
“We have no desire to slow down the good governance of New York City,” Sanders said. “At the same time we want to alert our friends in the mayor's office to look carefully at this from a Queens angle.”
The plan calls for the creation of an eight-member airport advisory board to oversee capital plans, standards and policies and service agreements with city and state agencies. The advisory board would consist of four PA representatives and four city representatives.
An eight-member community advisory board would also be created to serve as a liaison between surrounding communities and the airport advisory board. But Monserrate said in a news release that as the deal is written, the airport board would not be directly accountable to the community advisory board.
According to the most recent plan, the community advisory board would consist entirely of City Council members, said Kristen Crofoot, a spokeswoman for Councilwoman Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills). Katz's district would be represented on the community advisory board.
“Living by an airport affects every aspect of a neighborhood – from noise to the environment to traffic congestion,” Monserrate said. “As local representatives, we must have a voice in a process that will undoubtedly affect our communities for decades to come.”
The Planning Subcommittee of the Land Use Committee will begin reviewing the lease deal April 19.
Monserrate spokeswoman Bridget Fisher said she expected the plan to reach the full committee a week later. And the plan will likely come before the full Council for a vote within two months, she said.
Reach reporter James DeWeese by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
