City Council Subcommittee Approves Soundview Development Including Church with Modifications

Zoning Subcommittee approved a proposed 286-unit fully affordable housing complex in the Bronx’s Soundview neighborhood. On May 30, 2017, the City Council’s Zoning Subcommittee voted 5-0 to approve an application submitted by Azimuth Development Group, LLC, to develop four attached buildings with residential, community facility and retail uses. The applicant sought to up-zone most of the 63,000 square foot development site and to designate the site as a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Area.


City Council to Consider Higher Heating Requirements After Committee Passes Bill

Committee on Housing and Buildings voted to raise minimum heating requirements and to uncouple the requirement from outside overnight temperatures. On May 22, 2017, the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings recalled and passed a bill to require owners of residential buildings to maintain a minimum temperature in dwelling units that are occupied. Current law requires a minimum temperature to be maintained during heating season which is defined as the period between October 1 … <Read More>


Illegal Conversion Legislation Considered [UPDATE: City Council Passes Bill]

UPDATE: On May 10, 2017, the City Council voted 49-0 approve the new legislation. The new law, sponsored by Council Members Vincent Gentile and Jumaane Williams, increases the minimum civil penalty for immediate hazardous illegal conversions to $15,000 fine for each dwelling unit beyond the number that are legally authorized. The legislation was proposed after a two-alarm fire in an illegally converted unit in East Flatbush, Brooklyn killed one person, injured five more, and … <Read More>


City Council Holds Hearing on Hotel-to-Condo Conversion Moratorium [UPDATE: CITY COUNCIL APPROVES EXTENSION]

UPDATE: On May 10, 2017, the City Council voted 45-4 to approve the extension of the moratorium on hotel-to-condo conversions within the Borough of Manhattan. Council Members Daniel Garodnick, David Greenfield, Steven Matteo, and Paul Vallone all voted in the negative. The Committee on Housing and Buildings previously voted 11-0 on May 8, 2017. The bill will now go to the Mayor’s desk for his signature.

City Council Committee heard testimony in considering an extension <Read More>


City Council Approves the Creation of New Dorp BID

City Council votes to create the City’s latest Business Improvement District on Staten Island. On April 5, 2017, the City Council voted 50-0 to approve the Department of Small Business Services’ application to create the New Dorp Business Improvement District for Staten Island’s New Dorp neighborhood. The BID will consist of properties along New Dorp Lane and adjacent commercial streets between Hylan Boulevard and Richmond Road. The proposed BID contains 146 properties and 180 businesses, … <Read More>


City Council Considering 251 Affordable Units to be Built on Top of the Flatbush Caton Market

Approval would allow the construction of 251 Affordable Units above a local vendor market and community facility. On March 28, 2017, the City Council’s Zoning Subcommittee will consider an application from the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to dispose of city-owned property, transferring the property to BRP Caton Flats LLC. The subject lot is located at 794 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn’s Flatbush-Ditmas Park neighborhood. The development application also requires a zoning map amendment to change … <Read More>