What can be done in the spaces as they currently stand?

The NYCEDC keeps saying that the zoning at the current Empire Outlets space is too restrictive to be successful. What does the current zoning allow for?

The NYCEDC keeps saying that the previous submissions for Requests for Proposals were not viable. Can they be transparent on why they were not viable?

The NYCEDC has been saying that currently, the Empire Outlets space is not zoned to allow community serving shops, such as a grocery store.

(How could it have been zoned with such shortsightedness, considering St George is a food desert?)

That being said, the Outlets and former Wheel sites exist within a FRESH zone since 2021. Not a single FRESH store has been placed since that designation.

The Food Retail Expansion to Support Health Program (FRESH) was created in 2009 in response to a citywide study. This study highlighted the lack of neighborhood grocery stores providing fresh food options in several New York City communities. Its goal is to encourage stores in these communities that provide a full range of grocery products including fresh meat, fruit and vegetables.

This designation acknowledges that everyone in the affected area does not have close by access to a ‘high-quality supermarket”.

The EDC is demanding a zoning variance to include up to 30 stories in height to be built. They say nothing can be done without it.

Why not start small and request a small variance to add in community needs, such as a grocery store? If they can do that first, then while any large scale redevelopment construction is being done, we can have community serving spaces be open?

Why not cut the zoning variance requests into sections? Such as per set of buildings in the outlets? We believe that this project is too large to just move through one ULURP process. St. George and Staten Island deserve that the highest scrutiny be applied, and that each square foot be accounted for, considering these sites’ history of mismanagement and ignoring what the community needs.