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Miller selects Katz to head powerful land committee

By Daniel Massey

Revitalizing Lower Manhattan is a priority for city officials, but the newly selected chairwoman of the City Council’s Land Use Committee said the rest of New York City will not be left out in the process.

“Obviously, rebuilding Lower Manhattan is an important part of the city’s future,” said the Council’s new land use power broker, Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills). “But the other four boroughs also need to be carefully looked at.”

Katz was nominated by City Council Speaker A. Gifford Miller (D-Manhattan) to head the powerful Land Use Committee and approved by her Council colleagues.

To be sure the entire city’s land use needs are met Katz said she planned to speak with all 51 Council members.

“They know their districts better than everyone else,” she said. “I’m going to look to them for their opinions and for their thoughts on the future of development in their areas.”

Katz said the chairmanship is an extension of her previous job as director of Queens community boards, where she spent a great deal of time listening to individual council members advocating for their constituents.

She also said the committee, which includes five borough representatives, is a vital one for Queens.

“The most wonderful thing about the borough is it’s made up of neighborhoods we call home,” she said. “The committee has to be able to balance to make sure individual neighborhoods maintain their beauty and community orientation while remembering that there are certain areas that may need certain types of development.”

Her experience in the office of former Borough President Claire Shulman will be invaluable in maintaining that balance, she said, because she became familiar with all the diverse areas of Queens.

“There’s not a community I haven’t been in and that is going to priceless for a lot of issues that come before the committee,” she said.

But the first item on the agenda, Katz said, is to keep tax revenue flowing into the city by giving businesses incentives to keep them here.

“We need to figure real quickly how to keep businesses in the city,” she said. “It was an issue before 9/11, but is more important now than ever.”

The committee has jurisdiction over the City Planning Commission, the Department of City Planning, the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and land use and land marks review.

It approves site selection for new schools submitted by the School Construction Authority and approves the sale of city-owned property for housing purposes. It generally has responsibility for all land use review, including zoning changes and housing and urban renewal plans.

Katz’s committee includes three subcommittees, reflecting its large and important role shaping the city’s growth and development. The Land Use grouping is widely considered one of the most important Council committees.

The chairmanship comes with a stipend of $18,000 a year, the largest amount earmarked for committee leaders.

Reach reporter Daniel Massey by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.