Architect Who Helped With Jail Plans Now On Panel Reviewing Them

NEW YORK — A member of a task force that helped Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration draw up plans to replace Rikers Island now sits on a city panel that will vote on them.

The mayor named David Burney, an architect and Pratt Institute associate professor, to the City Planning Commission, which will eventually vote on the controversial plans for a new jail in each borough but Staten Island. The City Council approved Burney's appointment Thursday.

Burney is also among some 90 members of the Justice Implementation Task Force, a group the mayor established to help shepherd along his effort to close the notorious Rikers complex. Burney said he may recuse himself from the planning commission's review of the projects.

"I will have to take counsel’s advice on whether I should be recused on that," Burney told Patch. "I haven’t actually been that involved with the siting issues."

But a spokesman for the city Law Department said that would not be necessary.

"The working group he was part of issued broad based recommendations about design principles and was part of a much larger process that has informed this effort, and it does not conflict with what the CPC will be voting on," the spokesman, Nick Paolucci, said in an email.

The City Planning Commission plays a critical role in the city's lengthy land-use process, known as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP. It certified the city's application for the four new lockups as complete earlier this week and will vote on the plans following reviews by community boards and borough presidents.

De Blasio, a Democrat, announced the Justice Implementation Task Force's creation in 2017 alongside his 10-year plan to close Rikers and replace it with four smaller jails by 2027. He appointed the group to "help keep the plan ... on track and guide it through the hurdles that will arise," according to the city's website.

The task force comprises several senior officials from city agencies and law enforcement, along with academics and representatives of community and advocacy groups.

Its ranks include some officials from the Department of City Planning but no other members of the City Planning Commission. Burney will serve out the rest of a former member's five-year term that expires on June 30, City Council records show.

Burney is on the task force's Working Group on Design. His work with the group has mostly dealt with what the new jails should look like, he said, but his involvement has waned since the project has moved into the siting process.

"I was mostly involved with the design of jails and how do we design humane jails that create a normative environment that help the inmates and deal with mental health issues and so on," said Burney, adding that he's attended 12 to 15 meetings, mostly over the past year.

Asked whether he planned to stay on the task force, Burney said, "There’s a lot of people ..., so they may not really need me."

Members of the Council's Rules Committee did not question Burney about his involvement with the jail plans before approving his appointment Thursday morning. But Speaker Corey Johnson asked how Burney defined independence, as he said the mayor's appointees to the commission rarely vote against his wishes.

Burney said he would "not be influenced by political considerations." He noted that he worked for the city government under four different mayors — from 1990 to 2014, according to his resume, most recently as commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction.

"My professional judgment has to prevail in every situation," Burney said.