Image credit: New York City Council.

City Council bills target lead levels. On May 10, 2018, Speaker Corey Johnson and 19 City Council Members introduced a package of 23 bills to eliminate lead poisoning in the five boroughs. The package of bills, the largest lead laws since 2004, seeks to strengthen, expand, and establish new protections on the city’s lead laws. (read more…)

Booth House

Landmarks’ designations of two residential buildings on City Island rejected due to objections of local council member. On March 12, 2018, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses voted against upholding the individual landmark designations of two residential buildings on City Island in the Bronx. The buildings are the Samuel H. and Mary T. Booth House at 30 Centre Street, and the Captain John H. Stafford House, at 95 Pell Place. Both houses were unanimously designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on November 28, 2017. (read more…)

Council Member Justin Brannan. Image Credit: NY City Council.

While many are still shoveling snow from the fourth nor’easter of the year, a new bill looks to increase penalties on chain business owners who fail to clear sidewalks. On March 7, 2018, Council Member Justin Brannan introduced a bill that will amend the Department of Sanitation section of the administrative code by increase the penalties for chain business owners who fail to properly remove snow, ice, and dirt from sidewalks following a snowfall. Council member Brannan hopes these changes will encourage increased enforcement by property owners with larger stretches of icy sidewalks that pose serious hazards to local residents while preventing smaller independent stores with less square footage and sidewalk space from being penalized unnecessarily. (read more…)

Council member Vanessa Gibson and Chair Francisco Moya. Image Credit: New York City Council.

Amidst opposition from community members and organizations, the Jerome Avenue Rezoning plan had its day at the City Council. On February 7, 2018, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on the application by the Department of City Planning and Department of Parks and Recreation for a zoning text amendment, zoning map amendment, and City Map amendment to de-map a portion of Corporal Fischer Place and to map new parkland along Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. The application was submitted in conjunction with several related actions to facilitate land use modifications associated with the Jerome Avenue Neighborhood Plan (Plan). The Plan’s aim is to foster a vibrant mix of residential, commercial, and community facility uses along the two-mile Jerome Avenue corridor in Bronx Community Boards 4, 5, and 7 in the southwest Bronx. (read more…)

Chair Francisco Moya. Image Credit: New York City Council

Zoning map amendment approved permitting ground floor space for commercial use in a residential block in the Williamsburg neighborhood. On January 23, 2018, the New York City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises unanimously voted to approve the zoning map amendment adding a commercial use permit to the ground floor space of 116 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn and the 9 adjacent buildings on the block. Five of those adjacent buildings already have commercial uses on their ground floors and this zoning map amendment will bring those existing commercial uses into conformance. For CityLand’s prior coverage on the matter, click here. (read more…)