Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

LeadFreeNYC’s programs will be fully in place within 24 months. On January 28, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio along with Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, announced the LeadFreeNYC plan, a Roadmap to Eliminating Childhood Lead Exposure. The plan was put together following a 90-day review of all City agencies’ policies related to lead prevention. The plan builds upon the City’s current commitment to lowering lead exposure. The Mayor aims to use the full powers of his administration and the city agencies to meet this goal.

Park West Village superblock on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. (808 Columbus Ave, center). Image Credit: Google Maps.

Appellate Division finds that Buildings improperly issued construction permit for nursing home after misinterpreting the zoning resolution. Park West Village is a complex located on a superblock bounded by West 100^th Street to the north, West 97^th Street to the south, Columbus Avenue to the east, and Amsterdam Avenue to the west on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The complex was built in the 1950s and 1960s as part of a federally subsidized middle-income urban renewal project, and includes residential buildings, a parking lot, a school, a church, a public library, a health center, and commercial buildings. Three original 16-story residential buildings remain on the eastern portion of the superblock at 784, 788, and 792 Columbus Avenue. The Park West Village buildings all exist on the same zoning lot.

Image Credit: NYC DOB.

Despite increase in developments, construction in New York City has leveled. On January 22, 2019, Department of Buildings Commissioner, Rick D. Chandler, released a report on the City’s construction in 2018. The most significant finding from the report was that the City’s construction activity has leveled off after its real estate and development boom. The number of construction permits Buildings issued decreased in 2018. In 2018, Buildings issued 165,908 construction permits while in 2017, they issued 168,243. This was the first decline in permits since 2009. Despite the decrease, 2018’s permit totals were the second highest on record. In response to the report’s findings, Commissioner Chandler states that the building boom “may have finally reached its peak.”

Rendering of 461 Alabama Avenue. Image Credit: NYC CPC

The new building will have 43 apartments for formerly homeless individuals. On January 9, 2019, the City Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve an application for the development of a seven-story residential building at 461 Alabama Avenue in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. The City Planning Commission held a public hearing for the application on December 5, 2018. The applicant team consisted of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, CB Emmanuel Realty LLC, Services for the Underserved and Newman Design.

Dean Anthony W. Crowell, New York Law School & Lynn B. Kelly, New Yorkers for Parks, Executive Director invite you to join us for:

Open Space Dialogues: Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees

Wednesday, February 20, 2019 from 6-8PM

New York Law School

185 West Broadway, New York, New York 10013

Rendering of proposed senior living building. Image Credit: CPC.

City Council is next to consider the proposed development, which will bring 135 affordable units for seniors as well as a new 14-story residential building. On January 30, 2019, the City Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve proposed redevelopment of the former parkway hospital building in the Forest Hills section of Queens. The applicant, Auberge Grand Central, LLC, is seeking a rezoning of two lots located between the Grand Central Parkway Service Road and 112^th Street, and to have them designated as a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Area. The actions will facilitate the redevelopment of the former Forest Hills Parkway Hospital into a new eight-story senior housing building facing 113^th Street and a new 14-story residential building on the same block, facing Grand Central Parkway Service Road.