Council presses EDC on decision to use state GPP process for Brooklyn Marine Terminal plan

Majority Leader Amanda Farias, chair of the New York City Council Committee on Economic Development, opened an oversight hearing by asking why the Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment is being advanced through a state general project plan — a process she and other members said sidesteps the city's standard land‑use review and reduces opportunities for local democratic oversight.

"We will also be examining the decisions to bypass the city standard uniform land use review procedure in favor of the state's expedited general project plan process," Farias told the Economic Development Committee during opening remarks.

The question matters because ULURP (the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure) requires formal review by community boards, borough presidents and the council; GPPs are the state's tool for projects characterized as having regional importance and can limit those local review steps. Council members warned that advancing the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, a 122‑acre site spanning Red Hook and the Columbia Waterfront, through a GPP could…