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[Donald Trump] needs zoning changes and special permits from the city to build the 18 million square feet of real estate in the Television City project. If he succeeds, his complex would fill the old rail yards between 59th and 72nd Streets, the Hudson River and West End Avenue with 7,600 apartments in about a dozen towers, a shopping mall, a hotel, 9,000-car garage, a park and the proposed NBC studios.
The statement also predicted added subway crowding from Television City and other development projects on the Upper West Side. While the previous would-be developers of the Penn Yards site had agreed to renovate the badly overtaxed and crowded 72nd Street IRT express station, Trump so far has refused to abide by that agreement. His draft statement said the cost of these improvements should be borne by all the developers in the area, as well as by public agencies.
His consultants propose a free jitney service for subway riders from Television City's residential towers, mall, hotel and offices to the 59th Street IND-Columbus Circle IRT stations, which they say would ease congestion at the 66th and 72nd Street IRT stations. The 59th Street station is supposed to be renovated under the terms of a development deal at the Coliseum site on Columbus Circle.
Effects of the Complex Here are some of the major findings on the impact of TelevisionCity, according to the preliminary draft environmental statement.
Bay Ridge, upper Manhattan and the Bronx would suffer some interference with television reception from the world's tallest tower.
A significant worsening of traffic at dozens of intersections on the Upper West Side would require extensive traffic changes.
Bus reroutings into Television City are proposed. Additional buses would be required for Television City riders and for riders forced off current routes that may be changed.
Additional crowding in subway stations would require new construction.
Shadows would be cast over Riverside Park and planned waterside park.
The proposed supermall would take some business from Herald Square stores, and from malls in Brooklyn and Queens.
The world's tallest tower, which developer Donald Trump wants to build as part of his massive Television City complex on Manhattan's Upper West Side, could interfere with TV reception in Brooklyn and the Bronx.
The 152-story building, 1,949 feet tall, would reflect up to 30 percent of the signal strength from transmissions beamed from the top of the World Trade Center, according to a preliminary draft environmental impact statement prepared by Trump consultants on Television City.
In addition, the project would increase auto traffic, passenger congestion at subway stations and air pollution, the study says.
The statement found that while households in lower Manhattan would not be affected, those lying within an area 100 feet wide and 2.8 miles long in western Brooklyn, especially Bay Ridge, "may experience some ghosting interference. The reflected signal will cause a ghost image that may appear displaced slightly to the right."
And a similar path five feet wide opening up to 60 feet wide through upper Manhattan into the Bronx "may cause appearance of a border on the edge of well-defined portions of the picture."
The statement suggested that interference could be minimized if viewers shifted or rotated their antennas.
In a separate study, the Federal Aviation Administration found that the proposed tower would interfere with landings at a LaGuardia Airport runway during bad weather and would hinder the use of a runway at Kennedy Airport.
Trump needs zoning changes and special permits from the city to build the 18 million square feet of real estate in the Television City project. If he succeeds, his complex would fill the old rail yards between 59th and 72nd Streets, the Hudson River and West End Avenue with 7,600 apartments in about a dozen towers, a shopping mall, a hotel, 9,000-car garage, a park and the proposed NBC studios.
Opposition to the project from West Side groups has been heated. Robert Kupferman, cochair of Community Board 7's committee reviewing Television City, said he was afraid that the city's review of the plan would be incomplete.
The preliminary draft environmental impact statement must be certified as complete by the city before undergoing a six-month public review process.
In the draft statement, Trump's consultants also said the complex would significantly increase traffic at dozens of intersections on the Upper West Side by the time it was completed in 1998. Measures to take care of those traffic problems could worsen traffic in other locations, the report said.
To deal with the traffic, the consultants propose turning West End Avenue into a seven-lane highway from 54th Street to 70th Street with no curbside parking for much of the day, and eliminating parking for 100 feet from several major intersections, such as 72nd and 59th Streets at West End Avenue.
Any curbside parking lost along local streets would be "more than offset by the new spaces provided on the new internal {Television City} streets, although the on-site locations would not be as convenient for some parkers," the statement said.
The statement also predicted added subway crowding from Television City and other development projects on the Upper West Side. While the previous would-be developers of the Penn Yards site had agreed to renovate the badly overtaxed and crowded 72nd Street IRT express station, Trump so far has refused to abide by that agreement. His draft statement said the cost of these improvements should be borne by all the developers in the area, as well as by public agencies.
His consultants propose a free jitney service for subway riders from Television City's residential towers, mall, hotel and offices to the 59th Street IND-Columbus Circle IRT stations, which they say would ease congestion at the 66th and 72nd Street IRT stations. The 59th Street station is supposed to be renovated under the terms of a development deal at the Coliseum site on Columbus Circle.
The study also found the project and the increased traffic would worsen air quality at various Upper West Side locations.
One of Trump's attorneys on the project, Stephen Kass, said that there was still a long way to go before the environmental issues were settled.
"At the moment it is premature to delve into those subjects in detail, since the public review process will be examining these issues in depth and since the draft materials are themselves undergoing continuing refinement," he said. "We do, however, look forward to complete and open discussion of these and other impact issues at the appropriate time."
As for the television reception problems, Trump's consultants and aides minimize them.
"Those things are absolutely minute in terms of the impact and have been raised only so that we are totally thorough in terms of issues covered by the EIS," said Norman Levine, vice president for the Trump Organization and project manager for Television City.
"We don't believe this will be of any significance and will be easily mitigated," Levine said.
Those familiar with television tranmissions said the intensity of the interference would depend on the design and materials used in constructing the proposed and highly controversial building. Flat shiny metal surfaces reflect much more efficiently than angled surfaces made largely of non-aluminized glass.
And they said a household's location in relation to the main television beam and the reflected television signals would make a difference in whether shifting an antenna could solve the interference problems.
Daniel Wolf, broadcast coordinator atop the World Trade Center, from where most television broadcasts are now transmitted, said he doubted many people would be bothered by ghosts off the proposed tower, although it would depend on the "surface skin of the building and its angles."
"New York is not noted as a great reception area for television n matter where your antenna is placed," he said, adding that studies before the Twin Towers were built predicted much greater interference with Empire State Building transmissions than actually occurred.
But Vincent Pasquale, a planner for Westchester County, said, "When the World Trade Center first went up, there were a lot of signals being bounced around and you would see an image of the World Trade Center on your screen, a twin outline."
Pasquale said interference of various sorts continued even after the transmitters were shifted from the Empire State Building to the World Trade Center.
Newsday Map-Air Raid From Television Center. Where transmissions will affect home TV reception (see microfilm)
(Copyright Newsday Inc., 1987)