Example of an enlargement pursuant to a BSA-approved special permit in Brooklyn Community District 10 (original residence shown on the left). Click Photo to enlarge. Image credit: Brooklyn Community Board 10
Special Permit was meant to allow growing families to expand their familial residences, but Brooklyn Community Board 10 argues that its usage has been abused. On June 20, 2016, a proposal was presented to the City Planning Commission to amend the New York City zoning text relating to the Board of Standards and Appeals Special Permit provisions under Section 73-622, which provides for the enlargement of one- and two-family detached and semi-detached residences. Currently, Section 73-622 only applies to four Community Districts, and it permits additions to the perimeter wall height, and extensions into the requisite rear yards and side yards of the residences located within those Community Districts.
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498 Broome Street. Image credit: Umberto Squarcia Designs, Inc.
Permit will allow Use Group 2 residential on the third through sixth floors only. On March 9, 2015 the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises voted to approve a modified special permit for the conversion of 498 Broome Street in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District of Manhattan to Use Group 2 residential. The approved permit restricts conversion of the building to Use Group 2 residential for only the third through sixth floors, and leaves the cellar, first, and second floors subject to the standing zoning regulation which permit Joint Live-Work Quarters for Artists. The permit as originally requested would have allowed Use Group 2 on portions of the first floor and all of the second through sixth floors.
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Image of current districts under the FRESH program. One of the Mayor’s proposed zoning amendments will expand the FRESH program in outer boroughs. Image Credit: NYC DCP
The zoning proposals include allowing gyms and spas to open as-of-right. On March 9, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced several proposed zoning changes to support small businesses, create more groceries stores and improve accessibility across the city. The zoning proposals will enter the public review process later this year. (more…)
Some areas of Staten Island that would be affected by rule changes. Image Credit: NYC DCP
The changes allow homeowners to bypass the lengthy review process for certain types of projects. On July 2, 2020, the Department of City Planning announced new proposed zoning rules for some Staten Island neighborhoods that make zoning rules more efficient and homeowner-friendly, and that reflect recent advances in environmental science. (more…)
200 Amsterdam Avenue Rendering Image Credit: SJP Properties
Advocates applaud decision while developers find decision deeply flawed. On February 15, 2020, the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development and the Municipal Art Society of New York, won an Article 78 case regarding the construction of a 668 foot, 52-story condominium building located at 200 Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. New York County Supreme Court Justice W. Franc Perry’s ruling requires the Department of Buildings to revoke the building permit and compel the developers, SJP Properties and Mitsui Fudosan America, to remove the floors that exceed what is permitted under the Zoning Resolution.
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