Tenant will supply U.S. Navy with docking services and emergency provisions. On March 9, 2005, the City Council approved a draft lease submitted by the City’s Economic Development Corporation for a 40,000 square-foot portion of the Staten Island Homeport Pier to a tenant to be chosen by the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. The chosen contractor will provide layberthing services to U.S. Navy vessels, allowing the ships to dock, be maintained in a state of readiness, and be rapidly supplied when called to send emergency provisions to troops. The lease area includes five buildings within the southern portion of the Homeport Pier.

Under the lease, rent to the City for docking one ship is set at $450,000 per year payable at $37,500 per month, increasing to $675,000 per year, $56,250 per month, for a second U.S. Navy vessel. The lease establishes an initial seven-month term, expected to commence in January 2006, with five options that could extend the lease term to December 2010. The approved lease does not set the proposed rent increase for the option periods. Under the lease, the contractor will be responsible for all needed improvements, dredging and utilities. (read more…)

New zoning designed to protect Bay Ridge from high-density development. On March 23, 2005, the City Council approved the Planning Department’s rezoning plan for a 249-block area within Brooklyn’s Special Bay Ridge District, bounded by 65th Street to the north, Seventh Avenue to the east and Shore Road to the south and west. In 1978, after neighborhood residents protested the development of three large residential buildings, the twin 30-story Bay Ridge Towers and the 13-story Shore Hill Apartments, the City established the Special Bay Ridge District. The 1978 zoning generally restricted construction to three stories on residential streets and eight stories on the avenues.

The current down-zoning resulted from additional lobbying by Bay Ridge residents who, even after the special district was established, felt that it was not enough to protect their neighborhood from over-development and the proliferation of “Fedders houses,” named after the air-conditioning units that protrude from the outside walls. In February 2003, residents sought support of newly elected Council member Vincent Gentile, who developed a Preservation Task Force to address their concerns. (read more…)

Grandfather clause that had allowed removal of slopes, trees and vegetation on large lots eliminated. The City Council approved an amendment to the 1974 Special Natural Area District text that will further protect significant natural features like steep slopes, trees and vegetation in three areas of the City: Riverdale in the Bronx, Fort Trotten in Queens, and Staten Island’s Greenbelt and Shore Acres. The Planning Commission initiated work on the text amendment in 1997 at the request of civic groups and community leaders in the Bronx and Staten Island.

Under the original text, owners had to obtain Commission approval for alterations to lots in the natural area districts, except that owners of lots of less than 40,000 sq.ft. with a residential building constructed prior to December 1974 could enlarge the building and make site alterations without Commission review. This clause grandfathered 50 percent of the lots within the special natural area district in Staten Island and 60 percent in the Bronx and had, since 1974, allowed the removal of natural features on over 50 percent of the lots within the districts without Commission review. (read more…)

Science Annex construction will alleviate overcrowding in Midwood High School. On December 15, 2004, the City Council approved a proposal by the New York City School Construction Authority for the construction of a three-story, 45,476 sq.ft. science annex for Midwood High School in Brooklyn. The project site is a 67,600 sq.ft. parcel of City-owned property located across from the existing school on Bedford Avenue. It is currently used as an informal parking lot and play area.

The annex will alleviate the overcrowded high school by providing 340 seats of additional classroom space, as well as updated laboratories and a new library. In 2003 the Independent Budget Office ranked Midwood, operating at 163 percent of capacity, as one of the ten most overcrowded high schools in the City. The project proposal, whose funding is available in the Department of Education’s Capital Plan for Fiscal Years 2005-2009, also includes interior modernization of the existing school, renovation of the 49,800 sq.ft. adjacent school yard and a two-story pedestrian bridge connecting the existing school to the annex. (read more…)

Changes will increase the protection and affordability of low-income housing and lower the commercial square footage. The Council approved all ten Hudson Yards land use actions after extended negotiations with the Bloomberg Administration on modifications to the rezoning text as well as the financing mechanism. The Council’s modifications were aimed primarily at lowering the overall development potential of commercial uses, increasing the potential for residential uses, lowering density along the Tenth Avenue corridor and altering the inclusionary affordable housing text.

The development potential for commercial uses was reduced from 26 million sq.ft. to 24.3 million sq.ft. The Council reduced the permitted floor area from 15 FAR to 13 along the west side of Tenth Avenue, unless a project included community facility space. Height controls were modified in Hell’s Kitchen, adjacent to the Lincoln Tunnel approaches, to limit the height to 180 ft. (read more…)