NYC assuming control, development of Governors Island

New York City will assume control over Governors Island from the state under an agreement announced Sunday that laid out a preliminary master plan for developing the 172-acre former military base off the tip of Lower Manhattan.

"The agreement establishes new and pure lines of authority over Governor's Island," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "It will in very short order result in the investment of more than $40 million in previously committed city funds for much needed infrastructure improvements and other work."

The plan calls for a 2.2-mile promenade along the waterfront and 87 acres of open green space. Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2012. A board called the Governors Island Operating Entity will run the island, except the 22-acre national monument operated by the National Park Service. Bloomberg will appoint nine of the new board's 13 members.

Governors Island was an Army base and then a Coast Guard base for nearly two centuries before the federal government turned it over to New York State in 2003. Since then, city and state officials have been struggling to come up with a plan for developing it.

A ferry from lower Manhattan goes to the island, which is open to the public for recreation during the summer and early fall. There are art studios, walking tours and theatrical performances. A maritime-themed public high school named for New York Harbor will open there in September, and New York University plans to build a satellite campus.

When U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced last year that professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four accused accomplices would be tried in federal court in Lower Manhattan, some community leaders proposed Governors Island as an alternative. Bloomberg opposed the idea. Plans to try the Sept. 11 defendants in civilian court are now in limbo.

The city has committed $41.5 million to Governors Island in its capital budget. - AP