Council Subcommittee Approves Crown Heights Mixed-Use Building with 103 Two-Bedroom Units

The new building is intended to revitalize a largely vacant block along Pacific Street in Brooklyn. On May 2, 2019, the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises voted to approve a rezoning of the western portion of a block bounded by Pacific Street to the north, Dean Street to the south, Franklin Avenue to the east, and Classon Avenue to the west in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The applicant proposed to rezone … <Read More>


Major Staten Island Project OK’d by City Planning Despite Significant Opposition; City Council Up Next

The proposed zoning actions were largely disapproved by the Community Board, the Borough President, and even Staten Island’s appointee to the City Planning Commission. The Department of City Planning, along with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services filed an application requesting several ULURP actions to help implement the goals of the Bay Street Corridor Neighborhood Plan. The Neighborhood Plan is a comprehensive plan to … <Read More>


City Planning Creates Plan Responding to Bushwick’s Rapid Development

The plan will address community concerns including affordable housing, open space, transportation safety, and economic development. On April 24, 2019, Department of City Planning Director Marisa Lago released the Bushwick Neighborhood Plan Update. The plan was created in response to the neighborhood’s rapid development, population growth, resident displacement, and lack of affordable housing from an increase in market-rate construction.


EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: The 25th Annual Citywide Seminar on Ethics in City Government: Tradition and Change – 5/23 & 5/29

This year marks the Silver Anniversary of this successful collaboration between the Conflicts of Interest Board and the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School.  It also marks a time of tremendous change at the Conflicts of Interest Board, including several new legal mandates and a significant number of new Board rules. Accordingly, this year’s conference is devoted
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Louise Carroll Appointed Commissioner of HPD

Carroll previously worked with HPD on housing incentives. On May 2, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Louise Carroll as the new Commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Carroll, whose career in public service includes prior work with HPD to protect tenants, will work on preservation to avoid tenant displacement and work with the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.


Rezoning to Bring 30-Unit Building to Bedford-Stuyvesant

The rezoning will bring two non-applicant properties into zoning compliance but has the Borough President and City Planning Commission concerned that it will also create an opportunity for out-of-context development. On April 24, 2019, the City Planning Commission voted to approve an application for a proposed six-story residential and ground floor retail building at 2 Howard Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. To facilitate the project, the applicant is seeking to rezone a portion … <Read More>