Every month CityLand creates a comprehensive set of charts to track land use applications undergoing public review. This includes new applications filed with the Department of City Planning and the Board of Standards & Appeals, applications certified into the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, and applications before the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
We track these applications throughout the review process and until a final decision has been made by the competent City Agency. The majority of these decisions are available on the Center for New York City Law’s CityAdmin database (found at www.CityAdmin.org). When possible, we have provided a link within our Filings and Decisions chart to provide easy access to the relevant documents (i.e. application materials or a final decision).
New Filings and Decisions chart May 2012
Property owners claimed they could not be fined for lessees’ illegal outdoor advertisements. Four separate property owners leased space on their premises to companies that procured, erected, and/or maintained advertisements in the space. The leases were all long-term. The Department of Buildings issued multiple notices of violation to the owners charging them for failing to register as an outdoor advertising company, failing to obtain a permit or a proper permit for outdoor advertising signs, and violating various zoning regulations. Each owner challenged the NOVs at a hearing before an ALJ, arguing that, as property owners, they were not outdoor advertising companies subject to the Code. In each case, the ALJ agreed with the owners and dismissed the charges. DOB appealed all four cases to the Environmental Control Board.
The Board reversed the ALJs’ orders as to the outdoor advertising company determination, imposing civil penalties ranging between $15,000 and $80,000. The Board determined that the owners qualified as outdoor advertising companies engaged in the outdoor advertising business, thus they were subject to the Code’s enhanced penalties for illegal signage. The Code provided that an outdoor advertising company was a person who, as part of his or her regular conduct of business, directly or indirectly made space on signs available to others for advertising. The Board found that by leasing space to advertising companies, the owners directly or indirectly made space on the signs available to others for advertising purposes. The owners failed to rebut this finding with contrary evidence, such as proof that leasing space on their buildings to advertising companies was outside their regular conduct of business. The owners filed article 78 petitions challenging the Board’s determinations, but the lower court denied them all. (more…)
- 838 Sixth Avenue, far left, former site of illegal signage. Photo: Brett Reitter.
Building owner failed to establish that advertising signs were a legal, non-conforming use. After Buildings inspectors observed non-illuminated advertising signs larger than 200 sq.ft. on a building at 838 Sixth Avenue in Midtown South, near 29th Street, Buildings charged the owner, Yung Brothers Real Estate Co., with creating a public nuisance by displaying advertising signs greater than 200 sq.ft. without a permit in violation of the construction code and the zoning resolution. The owner admitted that the signs were displayed on the building facade, but argued that the signs were lawful because it had obtained a permit in August 2007. The owner further argued that even if any of the alleged violations occurred before the permit was issued or after its revocation, affixing signs was a legal, non-conforming use because signs had been maintained at the location before a 1995 rezoning prohibited advertising signs on the property.
OATH ALJ Faye Lewis recommended that the signs be removed, concluding that the owner lacked a permit and proof that the signs were a legal, non-conforming use. The owner failed to show that there was an advertising sign on the building prior to the 1995 zoning change. Although the owner submitted a 1940 photograph showing a sign painted on the building’s wall for “Bratman Brothers,” there was insufficient evidence to determine whether it was an advertising sign or whether Bratman Brothers had occupied the building and put up an accessory sign. (more…)
Special Garment Center District, Fashion Avenue. Image Credit: City Planning
Zoning changes will bring many buildings into compliance and will lift manufacturing space preservation requirements. City officials step in to ensure garment manufacturing has a continuing place in the district. On September 26, 2018, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on a proposed rezoning of the Special Garment Center District by the Department of City Planning, in conjunction with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC). The Special Garment Center District encompasses approximately 13 blocks between West 35th and West 40th Streets, west of Broadway. (more…)
Rendering of development at 119-121 Second Avenue. Image credit: LPC.
Public speakers and commissioners sought to ensure that deaths in 2015 catastrophe suitably memorialized. Landmarks considered an application to build a new development on two lots at 119-121 Second Avenue at its July 10, 2018, meeting. The empty lots are the site of a 2015 explosion, caused by an illegal gas set-up, which killed two people, caused multiple injuries, and destroyed three buildings. The site lies in the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. The site’s developers, Nexus Development Group, acquired the property in 2017. (more…)
