Bronx developer claimed non-compliance with zoning law was minimal and should not impede vesting of rights. Developer GRA V LLC applied for an excavation and foundation permit from the Department of Buildings for construction of a 63- unit apartment building in a neighborhood of one- and two-family buildings within the Bronx’s Van Cortlandt Village. Despite an Administrative Code requirement that permit applications be accompanied by a lot diagram survey prepared by a licensed surveyor, the developer only included a Sanborn map signed and stamped by its architect. Buildings accepted the Sanborn map in lieu of the survey, relying on the architect’s seal, and issued the foundation permit to the developer.

Aware that the City was in the process of downzoning the neighborhood to restrict development to one- or two-family buildings, the developer moved quickly with construction, completing excavation and 85 percent of the foundation by the day the City Council approved the rezoning. After Buildings issued a stop-work order, the developer filed a request to continue work, arguing that it had acquired a vested right to continue. While Buildings did not initially oppose the developer’s request, a survey submitted by neighbors showed the developer’s Sanborn map was inaccurate. The developer submitted its own survey, confirming that the Sanborn map inaccurately marked the adjacent building’s footprint, failing to show it was set back 1.9 feet from the street line. As a result, the developer’s proposed structure, bound by the “narrow streets” zoning requirement not to build any closer to the street line than the nearest adjacent building, pierced the setback area at three small points. Following the submission, Buildings denied the request. (more…)

Competitor challenged procedures in EDC’s selection of Baldor for South Bronx lease. The New York City Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals for a long-term lease of two parcels across the street from the City Terminal Market at Hunts Point in the Bronx. Baldor Specialty Foods and the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Association, among others, submitted proposals. EDC chose Baldor after deciding that it had submitted the most competitive lease package. Baldor, which offered the most rent money, would invest between $5 to $7 million in infrastructure improvements, would retain 510 employees and add another 450 within three years, and offered to sell or lease its existing facility to displaced Bronx Terminal Market wholesalers. In contrast, the Cooperative offered to combine the premises with the existing Terminal Market. This proposal would require significant reconfiguration and cost $400 million, which the Cooperative proposed should be financed by City, state and federal monies.

After EDC announced its decision to award the lease to Baldor, the Hunts Point Cooperative filed an article 78 petition, claiming that EDC conducted a sham bidding process, that its proposal was more beneficial than Baldor’s, that the RFP’s seven-day response period, instead of the usual 60-day period, showed the decision was predetermined, and that Baldor, the City and EDC had entered into a side agreement to quell the controversy over the displaced Bronx Terminal Market wholesalers. (more…)

Community claimed the FEIS flawed, the project was a nuisance and a Bronx facility would be more economical. In June 2005, Sanitation obtained final City approval for construction of a marine transfer station on the site of an inactive waste transfer station at East 91st Street and the East River. The approval was part of a citywide proposal to make each borough responsible for the export of its own waste. Sanitation’s proposal to reactivate the site, which it closed in 1999, faced severe opposition and the City Council voted it down, forcing Mayor Bloomberg to veto the denial. 2 CityLand 86 (July 15, 2005); 2 CityLand 52 (May 15, 2006).

Local residents, business owners and ACORN, a national community organization, challenged the City’s approval, alleging that the City illegally segmented the environmental review by not studying impacts on final freight destinations, failed to consider the transfer station’s impacts when operating at maximum capacity within the FEIS, and clashed with the City’s own policies to create a residential district around East 91st Street. The residents also alleged that the marine transfer station’s noise, odor and air pollution impacts would create a public and private nuisance. The residents argued that, if the City relaxed its policy of making each borough self-reliant, it would be more economical to use an existing truck-to-rail waste transfer station operated by a private company in the Bronx. (more…)

Water filtration plant survives two lawsuits. In a 1997 settlement agreement with the federal government, the Department of Environmental Protection agreed to build a filtration plant for the Croton Reservoir. DEP selected 23 acres in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx to build the plant. In 200 1 , the Court of Appeals ruled that extended construction on park land required State approval. 7 CityLaw 41 (200 1 ). I n 2003, the state legislature gave the required authorization to construct the plant in the park. In July 2004, DEP completed a supplemental environmental impact statement, and on September 28, 2004, the City Council approved the plant location and construction.

The Friends of Van Cortlandt Park claimed that the approval violated a zoning resolution requirement that no building permit be issued on former public park land without the Planning Commission’s creation of a new zoning district. The City argued that it had made a determination to override the zoning resolution requirements because the benefits of siting the plant at that location were important, the project was approved for water filtration use only and, designating a zoning district would serve no purpose. (more…)

HPD provided temporary housing for tenants and then filed liens against the tenants’ former landlords for expenses in providing the temporary housing. The Court of Appeals issued one opinion involving two separate cases concerning expenses incurred by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for temporary shelter. In 1995 the Fire Department issued a vacate order affecting two tenants of a building in Brooklyn owned by David Rivera. HPD provided the tenants with temporary shelter services in single-room occupancy apartments from June 1995 through December 1995. HPD, acting under the City’s Administrative Code, filed a notice of lien against Rivera’s building seeking reimbursement for HPD’s expenses. (more…)