Map of proposed Special Hudson Square district. Subdistrict B was eliminated from the proposal. Image Courtesy: DCP.

Community Board urges Trinity to build a new recreation center to accommodate projected population increase. On February 12, 2013, the City Council’s Zoning & Franchises Subcommittee held a hearing for Trinity Church’s application to rezone 18 blocks generally bounded by West Houston and Canal Streets, Avenue of the Americas, and Greenwich Street. The Special Hudson Square District will facilitate residential development, maintain commercial office space, and encourage ground-floor retail. Trinity Church owns approximately 39 percent of the lots within the proposed Special District.

The proposal would retain the area’s M1-6 zoning, but would add provisions to allow residential and increased community facility uses. The Special District would establish height limits of 185 feet on narrow streets and 320 feet on wide streets as well as setback regulations. The proposal also includes Subdistrict A (see inset map), which would set a height limit of 430 feet. Subdistrict A would accommodate Trinity Church’s plans to develop a mixed-use development with a 75,000-square-foot, 444-seat public school across from Juan Pablo Duarte Square Park. The maximum floor area ratio would be 10.0 for non-residential uses and 9.0 for residential uses, with a possibility of 12.0 for participation in the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program. The proposal would also establish protective provisions to prevent the permanent conversion of existing commercial space and control hotel development. (See CityLand’s past coverage here).

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EDC’s vision for the Seward Park redevelopment area in the Lower East Side. Credit: EDC

The City agreed to increase number of housing units from 900 to 1,000 and set aside space for on-site public school. On October 11, 2012 the City Council modified and approved the City’s Seward Park Mixed-Use Development Project. The 1.65 million-square-foot project will impact nine City-owned lots on the north and south sides of Delancey Street between Ludlow and Clinton Streets in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The City envisions the development of six new mixed-use buildings, 500 underground public parking spaces, and the potential relocation of the Essex Street Market to a large space on the south side of Delancey. As initially proposed, the project would create 900 residential units,  450 of which would affordable for low-, moderate-, and middle-income tenants. The Economic Development Corporation, which is the authorized representative for the multi-agency effort, has not identified a developer, but plans to issue a formal request for proposals in January 2013.

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320 Court Street in Carroll Gardens

City Council reacted to application’s inaccurate architectural renderings and restaurant’s history of noise complaints. On August 22, 2012, the City Council denied Buschenschank restaurant’s application for an unenclosed sidewalk cafe at 320 Court Street between Degraw and Sackett Streets in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. The application called for 24 tables and 48 chairs fronting Court Street.

At the Council’s Zoning & Franchises Subcommittee hearing, a representative of local Council Member Brad Lander and a representative of Brooklyn Community Board 6 testified in opposition. In a statement read by his policy director, Michael Freedman-Schnapp, Council Member Lander urged his colleagues to deny the application. Lander noted that Buschenschank’s application to the City’s Department of Consumer Affairs had inaccurately measured the sidewalk width and had not provided enough pedestrian space between a bike rack and the proposed outdoor cafe. In addition, Lander stated that more than two dozen noise complaints about the restaurant had been registered with 311, and that the NYPD had issued the restaurant a noise violation. (more…)

Proposed 1,300-unit project near the Bronx River led by Gifford Miller would include a mix of affordable and market-rate apartments. On October 5, 2011, the City Council approved Signature Urban Properties’ proposal to build a ten-building mixed-use project overlooking the Sheridan Expressway and the Bronx River in the Crotona Park East and West Farms sections of the Bronx. To facilitate the approximately 1,300- unit project, Signature submitted multiple applications including a proposal to rezone an eleven-block area generally bounded by Boston Road to the north, Freeman Street to the south, West Farms Road to the east, and Boone Avenue to the west. Signature proposed rezoning the primarily industrial area from M1-1 to R6A, R7A, R7X, and R8X districts with C2-4 commercial overlays.

Signature proposes to build seven buildings along two blocks of West Farms Road and Boone Avenue between East 173rd and Jennings Streets and divided by East 172nd Street. Signature first plans to develop two buildings on the northern portion of the block bounded by East 172nd and Jennings Streets. The buildings will range in height from three to nine stories along Boone Avenue and from nine to fifteen stories along West Farms Road, and will include 237 residential units and 130 underground parking spaces.

Five buildings will be developed on the block to the north, which will be divided by a 60-foot wide landscaped open space. To the south, two buildings will range in height from six to thirteen stories and include 288 apartments, ground floor commercial space along Boone Avenue and a central courtyard with a public playground. Signature will provide space for a six-story elementary school in one of the three buildings on the block’s northern portion. If the School Construction Authority elects to build the school, Signature would create a total of 317 apartments in the remaining floor area. The three buildings would include a total of 370 apartments if the SCA does not build the school.  (more…)

Amendment redefines “development” and “building” and clarifies how the terms are used in order to reflect Planning’s intent. On February 2, 2011, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s Key Terms Text Amendment. Planning proposed the 700-page text amendment to ensure that existing regulations are interpreted and applied as originally intended under the zoning resolution. The amendment redefined the terms “development” and “building” and also included a host of modifications and clarifications designed to resolve conflicts and bring regulations into accordance with the Department of Buildings’ current practices.

The need for the text overhaul stemmed from a 2010 lower court decision ruling that the term “development,” as used in the zoning resolution’s curb cut regulations, only applied to newly constructed buildings and not existing buildings as argued by Planning. Planning addressed this ambiguity as part of the residential streetscape text change when it amended the curb cut prohibition so that it applied to all buildings rather than “developments.” 7 CityLand 55 (May 15, 2010). (more…)