
Image Rendering of proposed building at 816 Herkimer Street, Cluster 2 Image Credit: City Planning
HPD’s Open Door Program a key facet of Rochester Suydam application. On February 26, 2020, the City Council Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Sitings and Dispositions heard the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and BJF Development’s application for the disposition of City owned property, the designation of an Urban Development Action Area and the approval of a property tax exemption under Article XI of the Private Housing Finance Law. The approval would facilitate the development of seven new buildings and 78 affordable homeownership units in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The application was approved by the City Planning Commission on February 19, 2020. To read CityLand’s prior coverage of the Rochester Suydam project click here.
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Image credit: New York City Council.
On August 3, 2023, the City Council voted to pass a bill to establish an Office of the Homeowner Advocate. The bill, Int. 398-A, was sponsored by Council Member Selvena N. Brooks-Powers. (more…)

Gail Benjamin and Anthony Crowell answer questions from Council Members on September 7, 2022. The Council voted to approve their nominations to the City Planning Commission a week later. Image Credit: City Council
On September 14, 2022, the City Council voted to approve Gail Benjamin and Anthony Crowell to the New York City Planning Commission. Earlier that same day, the City Council Committee on Rules, Privileges, and Elections also voted in favor following a hearing a week earlier. (more…)

Council Member Brad Lander. Image Credit: William Alatriste for the City Council.
The proposal would allow for the construction of a new ten-unit, four-story residential development on a vacant Brooklyn lot. On December 12, 2016, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises heard testimony on an application for the rezoning of three lots at 14–18 Carroll Street, in the Columbia Street Waterfront District neighborhood in Brooklyn Community District 6. The developer proposed the construction a ten-unit residential building on three vacant lots, totaling 6,229 square feet and currently zoned for light manufacturing. The application included a zoning text amendment to apply Inclusionary Housing regulations to the area prior to the December 12th hearing. The developer would have had to make a required payment into the City’s affordable housing fund required by the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law. (more…)

Rendering of Rheingold Development as seen from Bushwick Avenue and Forrest Street, Brooklyn. Image Courtesy of Forrest Lots, LLC.
Controversial Bushwick development project questioned on affordable housing goals in public hearings. On December 10, 2013, the full City Council voted 48-1 to rezone six blocks in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in order to allow the development of ten mixed-use developments. The rezoning area is bounded by Bushwick Avenue, Flushing Avenue, Melrose Street, Stanwix Street, and Forrest Street. Council’s Committee on Land Use voted 18-1 and Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises unanimously voted 10-0 to approve the project. Council Member Charles Barron voted in the negative at the Stated Meeting and Land Use Committee meeting, citing concerns about housing affordability. (more…)