City’s Adult Use Zoning Rules Upheld

The Court of Appeals, after 22 years of litigation, upheld the City’s adult use zoning rules and dismissed the complaint challenging the rules. In 1994 the City’s Department of City Planning completed a study of sexually focused businesses: adult video and bookstores, adult live or movie theaters, and topless or nude bars. The study led to the passage in 1995 of a zoning amendment barring adult establishments from residential and most commercial and manufacturing … <Read More>


City Developer Denied Tax Abatement

Court found that application was not filed within the statutory time period of one year. On January 27, 2016, the New York State Supreme Court denied a Brooklyn developer’s petition to reverse a Department of Finance decision to not grant a tax abatement. The Developer, 96 Wythe Acquisitions, filed the petition after the Department of Finance denied the application for the tax abatement because it was not filed within the mandatory one-year requirement. 96 Wythe … <Read More>


Community Group Renews Suit for Pierhouse Injunction in Brooklyn Bridge Park

Save The View community group argues new evidence shows rooftop bulkheads are not mechanical.  On July 22, 2015, community group Save The View Now filed to renew their motion for a preliminary injunction against construction of the Pierhouse development in Brooklyn Bridge Park.  The group’s initial challenge, arguing the development’s rooftop mechanicals violated an agreed-upon height cap, was dismissed on June 10.


New York State Court of Appeals Permits NYU Expansion Plan

Court found no implied dedication of target parcels as parkland.  In 2012, the City Council approved a plan by New York University to develop two “superblocks” bounded by West 3rd Street, Houston Street, Mercer Street, and LaGuardia Place in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan as part of an expansion plan for the campus.  Assemblymember Deborah Glick, joined by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the Historic Districts Council, and other local … <Read More>


City Residents Fail in Last-Ditch Attempt to Block Construction of Solid Waste Facility

A federal judge has dismissed an action brought by New York City residents challenging the re-development of a marine waste transfer station. On July 10, 2014, U.S. District Court Judge Paul A. Crotty (S.D.N.Y.) dismissed claims against the City and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, clearing the way for development of a marine waste transfer station at 91st Street and the FDR Drive.


City may have to pay for seized land in Staten Island

City claimed that 97,000 sq.ft. property taken through eminent domain had no value. Cassino Contracting owned a 97,000 sq.ft. parcel in Staten Island, located at the southeast corner of Woodrow Road and Grantwood Avenue. The City later acquired title to the property, at which time the property was vacant and restricted by a declaration that the property would only be used as a storm water retention basin unless the City constructed a storm sewer.… <Read More>