Adult businesses challenged constitutionality of 2001 amendments to City’s zoning resolution. A Department of City Planning study concluded in 1994 that the City’s adult entertainment businesses caused certain negative secondary effects, such as increased crime and decreased property values. In response to this study, the City amended the zoning resolution in 1995 to bar “adult establishments” from all residential zones and most commercial and manufacturing districts. Adult establishments were defined as commercial businesses whereby a … <Read More>
Search Results for: Zoning
Court challenge to East Village/LES rezoning fails
Developer argued City inadequately considered rezoning’s economic impact. In May 2008, the Department of City Planning proposed rezoning 111 blocks in Manhattan’s East Village and Lower East Side neighborhoods. Planning proposed the contextual rezoning in order to preserve the area’s low- and midrise character and channel new construction to blocks suitable for development. The plan included rezoning large mid-block portions above Houston Street from R7-2 to R8B to establish height limits while providing an increase … <Read More>
Sunset Park rezoning challenge dismissed
Community groups had claimed City should have conducted a detailed environmental review for 128-block rezoning. In April 2009, the Department of City Planning proposed a 128-block rezoning in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The rezoning sought to prevent out-of-scale development in the residential neighborhood by applying contextual zoning districts, establishing height limits, and mapping commercial overlays on appropriate blocks to match the area’s built character. The plan included applying the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program provisions to create … <Read More>
Court rejects challenge to Brooklyn rezoning
Owner claimed that City illegally spot zoned his two lots. In 2006, the City Council voted to rezone 80 blocks of Midwood, Brooklyn, including two lots on Ocean Avenue owned by Jacob Fetman. When the City Council voted on the plan, it modified the initial district proposed by City Planning for the west side of Ocean Avenue between Avenues L and M, giving the west side of that block a different zoning district than the … <Read More>
Dental practice use within zoning laws
- 218 E. 61st Street, Manhattan. Photo: Kevin E. Schultz
Neighborhood associations claimed dental office violated restrictive covenant dating back to Civil War and current zoning laws. Two neighborhood associations in the Treadwell Farm Historic District, an area bounded by 61st and 62nd Streets and Second and Third Avenues in Manhattan, sued Jak Cohane, the owner of the bottom two stories of a four-story brownstone located at 218 East 61st Street, who leased his premises to … <Read More>
Court affirms dismissal of spot zoning claim
Lower Manhattan property owner claimed it was singled-out by down-zoning. In 2003, the City Council approved a South Street Seaport down-zoning that reduced the permitted height and mass of future development in a 10-block area of Lower Manhattan. Peck Slip Associates LLC., the owner of a surface parking lot at 250 Water Street, sued the City and City Council, claiming that the down-zoning made development impossible. It further claimed that the 2003 downzoning was inconsistent … <Read More>