Sale limited to community-use buyer. On March 14, 2007, the Planning Commission approved DCAS’ application to sell the lot at 269 Henry Street in Manhattan containing a four-story firehouse used by FDNY Engine Company No. 15 until 2001 when it moved to Pitt and Delancey Streets.
In the land use review process, Community Board 3 and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer opposed an open-ended sale. Stringer requested a restriction on the sale requiring the new use to provide a clear community benefit. The board wanted DCAS to immediately withdraw the application to allow the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to continue negotiations toward a final sale of the firehouse to the Henry Street Settlement, a community group started in the late 1890s by Lillian Ward, located immediately adjacent to the building. (read more…)
Plan encompasses 130 businesses. On February 7, 2007, the Planning Commission approved an application by the Department of Small Business Services to create a new Court Livingston Schermerhorn Business Improvement District for 350 tax lots and 130 businesses in downtown Brooklyn.
The proposed BID will allow an annual assessment on businesses and residents to enhance security, sanitation, holiday lighting, marketing, maintenance and economic development. Within the boundaries of the BID are a Barnes & Noble, a United Artists Multiplex, Brooklyn Law School and Brooklyn Borough Hall. (read more…)
Proposal includes controversial new bulk waiver that will impact ten community districts. West 60th Street Associates, LLC applied to rezone 14 lots in Manhattan’s Lincoln Square neighborhood from manufacturing to commercial zoning. On 11 lots, West 60th would develop a mixed residential and commercial project with 301 rental units, 41 condos, 10,000 sq.ft. of retail and 200 parking spaces. Along with a special permit for on-site parking, West 60th proposed a text amendment that would allow a new bulk waiver by special permit.
As proposed, the text change would allow developers of general large scale developments located within certain commercial districts, to vary the required height factor calculation, a bulk measurement that takes into account open space, height regulations and set backs to establish the final building shape. The height factor often leads to buildings set back from the street, surrounded by open space. West 60th argued that a permitted variation would result in improved open spaces and site plans. The text amendment would impact lots in ten community districts in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. (read more…)
Developer plans two hotels with 354 rooms on platform above Amtrak. SCW West LLC applied for a special permit to allow development of two hotels on a platform to be built over two active, below-grade Amtrak rail lines and a vacant through-lot located west of 10th Avenue in Manhattan. The special permit sought to include the platform’s area into the calculation of lot area. SCW proposed a 12-story, 118-foot tall, 203-room hotel on West 43rd Street and a 9-story, 90-foot tall, 151-room hotel on West 44th Street. The 20,000-square-foot site lies partially within a residential zone and the Special Clinton District preservation area, but may be developed entirely for hotel use since over half of it is within, and the remainder lies adjacent to, a manufacturing zone.
At a September 13, 2006 public hearing, no speakers appeared in opposition; however, Community Board 4 voted against the special permit, noting that the design was too commercial and that floor area should be shifted from the 12-story hotel to the 9-story hotel, allowing both buildings to conform to neighborhood character. The board opposed the hotels’ plans to accept tour bus bookings and the inclusion of parking, arguing that it would create congestion. Anthony Borelli, speaking for Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, spoke in favor of the proposal and commended SCW for its willingness to work with the community.
The Commission approved, commenting that the hotels would not impede use of the rail line and Clinton’s streets could accommodate the project’s traffic, especially since neither hotel would include banquet halls or meeting facilities. Amtrak must still approve the platform’s structural design and its ventilation system.
ULURP Process
Lead Agency: DCP,Con.Neg.Dec.
Comm.Bd.: MN 4,Den’d, 32-0-1
Boro. President: App’d
CPC: 505-513 West 43rd Street (C 060334 ZSM – special permit) (Oct. 11, 2006). CITYADMIN
- Prince’s Bay Rezoning locator map used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.
Council Member Lanza and City Planning push forward Prince’s Bay down-zoning. On October 11, 2006, the Planning Commission approved a proposal to down-zone an 172-acre portion of Prince’s Bay, Staten Island and to adopt text amendments to restrict future development on an additional 830 acres. Council Member Andrew Lanza withdrew his original rezoning application in 2005 when opposition called it too restrictive and claimed it would interfere with a potential senior housing development on the Mt. Loretto site, a large tract of land owned by the Archdiocese of New York.
A majority of the 172-acre area to be down-zoned retains the original 1961 R3-2 zoning, which allows multi-family buildings as well as detached and semi-detached homes. The new proposal seeks to restrict future development to one and two-family detached homes on 40-foot lots (R3X). The second zoning change would impact the 22- acre former Camp St. Edwards site, currently under development. The proposal would match the current construction, changing the zoning to limit development to single-family homes with a minimum of 5,700- square-foot lots (R3X to R1-2). (read more…)
