Two Bridges Pre-EIS Stakeholder Engagement
CLIENT:
JDS Development, Starrett Development, L+M Development Partners, CIM Group
LOCATION:
New York City, NY
November 2016
Start:
August 2017
END:
LINKS:
Sector:
Private
Service areas
Karp Strategies led stakeholder engagement and technical training related to an environmental review process for several high-rise developments planned in a dense urban neighborhood in the United States. The developments are positioned to have a transformative impact on the demographics and culture of this neighborhood. Existing residents from nearby public housing developments have expressed anxiety over both gentrification and displacement. The environmental review process is the only official opportunity for local community members to voice ideas or concerns and be involved in shaping these projects. In light of that, Karp Strategies was hired to design and execute four unique stakeholder engagement meetings and technical trainings to create additional opportunities for community members to learn more about the process. In so doing, all interested could learn about environmental review and voice their thoughts directly to the developers and community at large. Karp Strategies was tasked with conveying the technical details of the complex process to an audience of community members, and to communicating stakeholder questions and feedback to the developers, environmental consultants, and broader community. By facilitating this process, all involved jointly learned about key ideas and themes that required thoughtful review and learning. The Karp Strategies team developed a strategy to conduct a series of public workshops and meetings that provided information and training, and provided a forum for community discussion and feedback. Partnering with legal, environmental, and planning experts, and city agencies, the firm worked to ensure that the complexities of the environmental analysis were shared, discussion thoughtfully facilitated, and questions answered to the extent they could be at that phase of the project. To achieve this, Karp Strategies managed a multilingual team of up to 25 trained facilitators, ensuring inclusivity by creating outreach and informational material in four languages, and providing translators at all meetings. The firm managed the design, logistics, partnerships for, and implementation of all public workshops, as well as designing and managing the project website. Karp Strategies performed analysis of community feedback following each meeting, which was shared with all involved. This analysis ensured future meetings considered the neighborhood context and built upon existing questions.