Manhattanville controversy
In the summer of 2003, President Bollinger announced the University's intentions to build a satellite campus extension in the area bounded by 125th and 133rd Streets between Broadway and 12th Avenue, an are of approximately 18 acres. Manhattanville is an industrial and largely depopulated area northwest of campus. Controversy surrounds the impact of Columbia's plans on the neighborhood and the possibility of the state using eminent domain to condemn properties in the area. Some of the objection surrounds the planned construction of a Bio Safety Level 3 laboratory on the campus.
The Student Coalition on Expansion and Gentrification is the main student group against expansion. The Coalition to Preserve Community is a neighborhood group dedicated to stopping the expansion.
Contents
Two Visions for Manhattanville
The Columbia Plan
Columbia has retained world renowned architect Renzo Piano to lay the master plan for the expansion, a plan which Bollinger has insisted must be implemented either in whole or not at all. Current plans call for the first phase of construction to include new sites for the Business School, the School of the Arts, the newly created Jerome Greene Neuroscience Research Center, and a K-8 public Magnet school under Columbia's direction for children of northern Manhattan residents.
The 197-a Plan
197-a refers to section 197-a of the New York City Charter. This section authorizes community boards and borough boards, as well as the Mayor, the City Planning Commission, the Department of City Planning, and any Borough President, to sponsor plans for the development, growth, and improvement of the city, its boroughs and communities.
Community Board 9, has draft 197-a plan for Morningside Heights, Manhattanville, and Hamilton Heights. It was developed in cooperation with the Pratt Institute Center for Community Development and the Department of City Planning.
Once ratified, the plan itself has no legal force. Yet, since the plan is an embodiment of the "people's will" any development or activity that ran counter to the plan would be a major contretemps for Columbia. The 197-a plan does not prevent the development of the Manhattanville campus, but does contain provisions that would require significant modifications to Columbia's current proposal.
Eminent domain
Typical of these kinds of land use disputes, there are a number of 'hold-outs' in the Manhattanville area. That is several business have been approached with buyout offers by Columbia, but have refused the offer. Anne Whitman of Hudson Moving and Storage is prime example. Whitman has expressed fears that Columbia will use political influence to have her property condemned. Bollinger is on record stating use of eminent domain would not be ruled out.
The 197-a plan will contain clauses proscribing the use of eminent domain in the area. It is unclear whether the languages is or is not a direct response to Columbia's implied threat to use eminent domain to ensure a contiguous campus.
Support of the plan
- Expansion creates new job opportunities[1] in the neighborhood
- Expansion leads to more commerce in the area and in New York City[2]
- Plan includes community amenities including the creation of parkland and the creation of Columbia secondary school
Objections to the plan
- The expansion would considerably change the character of the neighborhood
- The expansion would require residents in the neighborhood to relocate[3]
- The expansion would eliminate several business operating in the area
- The University has indicated it would use eminent domain if necessary
