Mini-storage owners unsuccessfully challenged FEIS. Columbia University proposed an expansion plan that would allow it to construct a new 17- acre campus in the Manhattanville neighborhood of West Harlem. The plan would create academic building space, university housing, as well as a contiguous below-grade facility, or “bathtub,” to support campus functions. After the City Planning Commission determined that Columbia’s plan might have a significant impact on the environment, Columbia prepared a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) which concluded that Columbia’s plan, as modified during the review process, would not result in any adverse impacts not already identified in the FEIS. The City adopted the FEIS’s findings, and a modified version of Columbia’s plan was ultimately approved by the City Council, as was Manhattan Community Board 9’s alternative development plan for West Harlem. 5 CityLand 3 (Feb. 15, 2008).

Tuck-It-Away Associates, a business in the proposed development area, challenged the City’s adoption of the FEIS’s findings. Tuck- It-Away claimed that the City failed to take the required “hard look” at the potential environmental impacts of the bathtub, and failed to adequately consider CB9’s plan. Tuck-It-Away also asserted that the City unlawfully segmented the environmental review process by postponing the review of some outstanding issues relating to the maintenance and construction of the bathtub to an unspecified future date. (more…)

Physical alterations ruled irrelevant when assessing historical and cultural significance of two light-court tenements. Between 1898 and 1915, the City and Suburban Homes Company First Avenue Estate was built in Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhood. It consists of 15 light-court tenements, which are residential buildings configured to maximize light and air, in contrast to the tenements of the period. In April 1990, Landmarks voted to designate the Estate as a landmark site, encompassing the entire block bounded by East 64th and 65th Streets between York and First Avenues. The Board of Estimate approved designation for 13 of the Estates’ 15 buildings, but left the remaining two out for future redevelopment.

Stahl York Avenue Company LLC, current owner of the Estate, obtained building permits in late 2004 to replace windows and alter the facade of the two buildings left out of the 1990 designation. Under the permits, Stahl could, among other things, stucco the buildings’ brick facades, change the facade color from tan to red, and enlarge window openings. Approximately two years later, after Stahl had begun work under the permits, Landmarks unanimously voted to amend the Estate’s designation to include the two buildings. 3 CityLand 169 (Dec. 15, 2006). The City Council approved the amendment, and Stahl filed an article 78 seeking to reverse. (more…)

Lawsuit intended to keep 19th century landmark from falling into a state of disrepair. In 2005, Landmarks designated the Windermere Apartments, three buildings located on West 57th Street and Ninth Avenue, in order to preserve its Queen Anne-style architecture and to recognize its storied history as a residence for young, self-supporting women entering the workforce in the mid-1800s. The owners claimed that the buildings were in an “unsafe condition” and did not warrant designation; preservation groups claimed that they could be restored despite their many years of neglect. Landmarks agreed with the preservationists and voted to designate the building.

Subsequent to designation, Landmarks sent a series of notices to Toa Construction, the owners of the Windermere, stating that it was required to ensure the buildings were kept in a state of good repair as per the Landmarks Law. Toa failed to provide Landmarks with a restoration plan in response to any of Landmarks’ notices. (more…)

Court rules TransGas Energy’s condemnation is premature. TransGas Energy Systems proposed to construct a power plant along the East River waterfront in Williamsburg. It spent $1.5 million in March 2001 on an option to purchase the site, and, in 2002, filed for approval from the state Siting Board.

At Siting Board hearings, the City opposed the plan, testifying that it planned to rezone the entire Williamsburg neighborhood and create a waterfront park. In 2004, the Siting Board denied the proposal and TransGas immediately filed a new application proposing to move the plant below ground to allow park space above. Thereafter in May 2005, while TransGas’s second proposal waited for a decision, the City rezoned north Brooklyn, which included Planning Commission approval of plans to acquire the site for a waterfront park. (more…)

City obligated to vacate the Gansevoort sanitation garage by 2012 and Pier 97 by 2008. The Hudson River Park Act, passed by the State Legislature, obligated the City to relocate by the end of 2003 its sanitation operations from Gansevoort Street in the West Village and Pier 97 in Clinton to begin development of park space along the Hudson River. The City continued to occupy both sanitation facilities beyond 2003 and subsequently began construction of a new facility at the Gansevoort site intended for use until 2012.

In April 2005, Friends of Hudson River Park sued the City asserting that it failed to use its best efforts to relocate the Gansevoort Street and Pier 97 facilities and that the construction of the new facility on Gansevoort Street violated the Act. The City responded that temporary use of both facilities would allow it to relocate operations without significant adverse impacts on the public and that it was committed to completing replacement facilities at West 57th Street and on the West Side Highway at Spring Street. (more…)