New fees to take effect in June 2007. City Planning’s fee increase for private applications made pursuant to the City Environmental Quality Review process and the City’s land use review procedure, ULURP, will take effect on June 29, 2007. Under the new rule, CEQR fees will typically rise 15 percent, and ULURP fees will go up by 40 percent in most cases. 4 CityLand 40 (April 15, 2007). The CEQR fee increase will also apply to BSA applications.
No one opposed the fee increase at the Planning Commission’s public hearing on April 25, 2007. Over the comment period, Planning received one written comment from the Real Estate Board of New York, which suggested that the increased fees be used to hire additional staff for the environmental assessment division. REBNY’s letter addressed the high cost of doing business in New York and recomrecommended that City Planning continue to increase efficiency and customer service. The letter appeared to object specifically to the fee increase for Type II actions, since they do not require further CEQR review, and reiterated its suggestion that the City expand its list of exempt projects. (more…)
City Planning claims new fees required to cover costs. City Planning moved to increase fees for private applications made pursuant to the City Environmental Quality Review process and the City’s land use review procedure, ULURP. At the Planning Commission’s March 12, 2007 review session, City Planning’s Deputy Counsel Julie Lubin explained that the increase would be the first since 2002, and was meant to align fees more closely to actual costs. The increase, Lubin added, would not cover all costs associated with the review of applications since 22 percent of applications come from government agencies, which are exempt.
Under the proposal, CEQR fees would increase 15 percent, except fees for Type II applications which would increase from $75 to $100. Type II actions do not require an environmental assessment, making costs to Planning
minimal. There are 12 levels of fees for non-Type II actions, with the cost based on the square
footage of the project. The smallest fees, for projects less than 10,000 sq.ft., would increase from $370 to $425. The largest fees, for applications over a million sq.ft., would increase from $253,000 to $290,950. (more…)
Down-zoning proposed for 135- block area of northeast Queens. On July 10, 2006, the Planning Commission certified as complete City Planning’s proposal to rezone 135 blocks of the Douglaston and Little Neck neighborhoods in northeast Queens. The area is generally bounded by Grand Central Parkway to the south, Douglaston Parkway, Alley Pond Parkway and Alley Pond Park to the west, Long Island Sound to the north, and the Nassau County line to the east. Under the City’s land use review process, the proposal now goes to Queen’s Community Board 11 for review. The board tentatively scheduled a public hearing for September 5, 2006.
The proposal seeks to downzone lots currently zoned to allow development of all residential building types (R3-2) to a zoning limiting development to detached one- and two-family homes (R3-X). A large portion of blocks currently zoned for detached single-family homes (R2) would be further restricted as to height by an R2A zone, and the commercial zoning in the area would be reduced to prevent commercial uses from encroaching onto predominantly residential blocks. (more…)
Construction on the Queens site parking lot began in June. Image Credit: DDC.
These teams will prepare the site for construction and enable court operations to continue for the duration of construction. On November 30, 2021, the Department of Design and Construction announced that four separate teams had been selected to receive design-build contracts to prep the sites of the new Borough-Based Jails. The Borough Based Jails project will build smaller jails in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn to allow for the eventual closure of Rikers Island to address crowding, safety and quality of life issues. The controversial project was approved in 2019. For CityLand’s previous coverage of the borough-based jails project, click here. (more…)
Roadway cafe in Brooklyn. Image Credit: NYC DOT.
Community boards in support and against the application had concerns about quality of life issues and community board involvement in future reviews. Last year’s Open Restaurants program was established to allow restaurants to operate sidewalk or roadway cafes without the extensive approval process to provide safe outdoor dining options during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the program was enabled through an emergency executive order that temporarily suspended the sidewalk café application process, a permanent program would require changes to laws and agency rules. The first step is a proposed zoning text amendment to get rid of the geographical restrictions of where sidewalk and roadway cafes can be located. While zoning text amendments do not need to go through the full ULURP process, it is customary for the Department of City Planning to seek the feedback of community boards for these applications. (more…)
