Atlantic Yards
Comments on the Draft Scope of Work for the Atlantic Yards Second Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
October 2026
Following years of delay in which two developers struggled to complete the Atlantic Yards project, a new team has put forward a proposal for modifications to the plan it says represent a “feasible alternative.” New York State Empire State Development (ESD) initiated an environmental review process in support of the proposal by releasing a Draft Scope of Work (DSOW) on August 24, 2026.
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Atlantic Yards is unusual not only because of its scale, but because ESD is considering substantial changes approximately twenty years after the original approval. The project is therefore an important test of how a public agency evaluates changed conditions, benefits and purposes within a long-running UDC plan.
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The Atlantic Yards Project was approved in 2006 with the “overarching goal” to “to transform a blighted area into a vibrant mixed-use community.” In support of that purpose, ESD produced a study of some 380 pages documenting blight in the area surrounding the MTA Vanderbilt Yard. Today, the properties ESD cited as blighted have largely been redeveloped. The DSOW states that the proposed project retains the purposes described in the 2006 FEIS and Findings, while adding that Phase II "would deliver an increased number of housing units to help address the State's housing crisis." However, the DSOW does not define the housing crisis or the needs assessment of affected populations. If addressing the current housing crisis is now an independent or expanded purpose, the SSEIS must say so clearly, explain how that purpose relates to those previously relied upon, and evaluate reasonable alternatives capable of advancing it.
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The Atlantic Yards Project also raises a broader issue. UDC projects can extend over decades, during which market conditions, public policies, financing, neighborhoods and development teams may change materially. Environmental review of a major amendment should therefore explain not only its technical impacts, but why the amended project remains an appropriate means of accomplishing the public purposes for which extraordinary public powers and resources are being used.
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The City Club's comments on other major public projects have emphasized clear objectives, transparent decision criteria, comparable alternatives, and durable governance and implementation arrangements. Those principles are especially important here because the proposed action would substantially revise the remaining development program while continuing under the existing MGPP and environmental commitments. The City Club is concerned that without them, the proposed action in this case may both ignore the two-decade history of the Atlantic Yards Project (in particular its failure to achieve affordable housing goals and commitments) and also embed risks to future elements that may again stall development and prevent important benefits from addressing public needs.
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