Calvin Wong testifies before the Board of Standards and Appeals. Image credit: BSA

On July 28, 2015, the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to grant a zoning variance to the applicant, Akerman Senterfitt LLP, for the construction of the Brooklyn School for Medically Frail Children in the Ditmas Park neighborhood of Brooklyn.  The construction would yield a pre-kindergarten school at 570 East 21st Street with dormitory facilities for physically-handicapped children who require breathing ventilation and general respiratory care throughout at least part of the school day.  The school would anticipate enrollment of up to 50 students, 20 of whom would be expected to live in the on-site housing facilities.

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HPD claimed site’s former railway use complicated development of seventeen apartment buildings. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development selected the Southern Brooklyn Community Organization to build seventeen, four-story affordable housing buildings on two narrow City-owned parcels on 37th Street in Borough Park, Brooklyn. The block-long parcels are separated by 13th Avenue and were once occupied by the South Brooklyn Railroad and the elevated BMT Culver Shuttle line. The parcel west of 13th Avenue would be developed with nine buildings and a parking lot, and the parcel on the east side of the avenue would be developed with eight buildings and accessory parking spaces.

The City in November 2010 rezoned the project site from M2-1 to M1-2/R6A as part of the Department of City Planning and HPD’s broader Culver El rezoning. 7 CityLand 154 (Nov. 15, 2010). HPD sought BSA variances because the project would violate the zoning resolution’s rearyard requirements and would not provide enough space between windows and lot lines. (more…)

BSA extends time to complete construction based on common law, not the zoning code. Brooklyn’s South Park Slope neighborhood was rezoned in November 2005 to prevent out-of-scale development, forcing some developers to stop work on projects that no longer conformed to the new zoning. 2 CityLand 161 (Dec. 2005). Two developers in South Park Slope, with projects at 639 Sixth Avenue and 400 15th Street, requested permission to extend their construction time, filing two applications each: one based on the zoning resolution’s provision for extending construction time and a second on common law vested rights.

The owners of 400 15th Street argued that construction of a proposed five-story, 7,035-square-foot residential building was delayed due to poor soil conditions and unstable foundations in adjacent buildings, which resulted in a redesign as well as a lawsuit with a neighbor. The owners also argued that compliance with the new zoning would result in serious economic loss due to reduced floor space, less marketable units, and wasted construction costs. Finally, the owners argued that they had completed substantial work, including demolition, land clearing and excavation, and would lose $577,492 in costs. (more…)

Variance will permit four-story residential building. Bernard Scharff, owner of three lots located at 1380 62nd Street in Borough Park, Brooklyn and split between M1-1D and R5 zoning districts, sought a variance to build a 52,000-squarefoot, six-story, 34-unit residential building, with ground floor retail and underground parking. The 16,000-square-foot site, 14,000 of which are in the manufacturing district and the remaining 2,000 in the residential district, contains a one-story hardware and lumber store.

Scharff argued that the site’s split-zoning, its proximity to the LIRR and a subway tunnel, and poor soil conditions rendered conforming development infeasible. BSA determined that hardship existed, finding that the residentially-zoned portion of the site did not meet the minimum size for detached housing and that the manufacturing portion was not large enough for conforming manufacturing uses. BSA requested two feasibility studies, one for a reduced 48,000-squarefoot building (3.0 FAR) and another for a reduced height building. Scharff argued that a 48,000-squarefoot building was not economically feasible, which BSA did not credit, and the reduction in height would not achieve his goal of accommodating larger families because he would have to eliminate two three-bedroom apartments. BSA suggested applying the residential zoning to the entire site and requested a feasibility study using 26,240 sq.ft., the maximum size allowed for residential. Under those guidelines the building would contain 24 units, but Scharff argued that without a penthouse and commercial space the proposal was not feasible. (more…)

Moshe Friedman testifying before the Board of Standards and Appeals. Image credit: BSA

The variance permits the construction of a new floor to accommodate the School’s programmatic needs. On March 22, 2016, the Board of Standards and Appeals conditionally approved a variance to construct an additional floor onto the Bais Yaakov D’ Chasidei Gur religious school, located at 1975 51st Street in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. The four-story building will be expanded into a five-story building to accommodate the School’s existing students and anticipated increase in enrollment.

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