The New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) has acquired sites for three new schools in Long Island City in the first major development of the OneLIC Neighborhood Plan.
SCA announced last month that it has reached initial agreements to acquire three sites in the neighborhood following the inaugural meeting of the OneLIC Oversight Task Force.
OneLIC, which was approved unanimously by the City Council last November, will rezone more than 50 blocks in the neighborhood to create up to 14,700 new homes, 4,300 of which would be permanently affordable. The Council voted in favor of the rezoning after Council Member Julie Won announced that she had secured $1.97 billion in commitments from the city during last-minute negotiations.
Won pointed to “iron-clad” commitments to at least 1,300 new school seats, upgrades to the neighborhood’s sewage and plumbing infrastructure, a $206 million investment in Queensbridge Houses and around 15 acres of open space, which includes a fully connected waterfront from Gantry Plaza State Park to Queensbridge Park.
The One LIC Oversight Task Force, established to track the progress of city commitments, met last month to deliver what Won described as the “first concrete progress report” since the Council approved the rezoning last year.
SCA informed the Task Force that it had sited a new 600-seat school at 5-46 46th Ave. after reaching an agreement with Plaxall. SCA will build either an elementary, K-8 or middle school at the site following the demolition of the existing building.
The authority has also reached an initial agreement with a private owner to acquire a site at 43-58 11th St. for a new 650-seat school, while it is in negotiations to acquire a site at 22-09 Queens Plaza North, which would provide a further 650 seats.
SCA is also in the final stages of acquiring 47-51 33rd St. for a new facility for the Baccalaureate School for Global Education.
All site selections are subject to City Council approval and are expected to come before the Council later this year.
Won welcomed the announcement, describing the site acquisitions as the “first step” toward closing the gap between Long Island City’s population and its available school seats.
“Families living in Long Island City have watched their children sit on waitlists for neighborhood schools year after year while new housing kept going up around them,” Won said in a statement. “These site acquisitions are the first steps to close that gap, giving neighborhood families access to school seats while the City continues to fulfill commitments promised during the OneLIC Neighborhood Plan.
“Residents will soon be able to raise their families without having to choose between housing and local education and walk their children to school in a complete neighborhood.”
Won vowed that she would hold the city accountable for every promise it made during negotiations for the OneLIC rezoning.