Officials Rethink WTC Renewal Plans

Plans for the devastated World Trade Center site may be changed to feature less commercial development — and a longer timetable for finalizing proposals, officials say.

Responding to withering criticism of six initial designs unveiled Tuesday, Joseph J. Seymour, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told The New York Times the agency could drop its requirement for 11 million square feet of office space.

The agency, which owns the site, had made the stipulation to reflect the amount of commercial space lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

Also in the report published Sunday, Louis R. Tomson, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, said the agency could extend by as much as three months the September deadline for narrowing the six designs to three.

Their comments followed the largest public meeting yet about what should be built at the site. More than 4,000 people gathered Saturday for a daylong discussion at Javits Convention Center, including families of those killed in the attacks, survivors, rescue workers and residents of lower Manhattan. Grief counselors attended the session to provide comfort for participants.

A number of architects and planners complained the six plans are unimaginative. Others were outraged that some designs call for building over the footprints of the twin towers — the actual site where the buildings once stood.

Using electronic keypads, participants in the first of a series of town hall meetings weighed in on aspects of the six preliminary conceptual plans offered earlier this week by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (LMDC), which is overseeing the planning of the redevelopment effort.

The plans have "many variables, but there are also three constants: a memorial, infrastructure and your participation," said LMDC President Lou Tomson.

Each of the six preliminary plans presented combine significant acreage for a memorial, a new transportation hub for the city's subways and commuter rail lines to New Jersey, and 11 million square feet of office space.

Many critics, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, say the space devoted to offices should be reduced.

None of the six plans call for structures as tall as the 110-story Twin Towers, which after they were constructed about 30 years ago were the tallest in the world.

"We should rebuild two towers to at least the levels they were before or the evil has won," said Richard Sherman of Brooklyn, who wore a patriotic shirt calling for revenge on those who hijacked airliners and flew them into the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

"The best place for a memorial is on the top floor, the 111th floor of one of the new towers," Sherman said.

"The approach to the memorial was the first consideration," said LMDC chairman John Whitehead. Whitehead added that each of the proposals were preliminary.

"It is much more likely that the final plan will be a mix of some or all of these plans," Whitehead said.

Some, particularly relatives of victims of the attack, want a major memorial and no buildings on the towers' "footprints."

"I don't want it to be like it was before," said Tessa Molina of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, whose late husband worked for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the North Tower.

"We should put the names of all of those killed where the towers used to be," Molina said. "They paid their lives for what the terrorists wanted."

This is the first of a series of "town hall" meetings the LMDC will host as it tries to tailor plans to satisfy a wide range of community and business groups

A second town hall meeting will be held Monday.