Owner withdraws variance application

Owner sought variance to construct catering facility and 89-room hotel. Tikvah Realty LLC, owner of Le Marquise Caterers, a catering facility located at 815 Kings Highway in Homecrest, Brooklyn, applied to BSA for a variance to construct a new catering facility with 89 hotel rooms, ground floor retail, and 394 below-grade accessory parking spaces. The project exceeded the limits on floor area and failed to provide sufficient parking. The proposal called for the catering facility … <Read More>


Olinville down-zoned; new R5A district created

Olinville: Proposed Zoning used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Unique Bronx neighborhood down-zoned. On December 8, 2005, the City Council rezoned 39 blocks in Olinville, Bronx and, in a separate action, created a new R5A district which can be applied citywide. The Planning Department initiated the rezoning proposal in response to Bronx Community Board 12’s and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr.’s concerns over the increasing … <Read More>


BSA rejects developer seeking a dormitory use permit

Developer planned a 19-story dormitory building without an existing school affiliation. BSA denied developer Gregg Singer’s appeal from a Department of Buildings determination rejecting Singer’s application to build a 1 9- story, 222-unit student dormitory building on the site of former P.S. 64, located at 609 East 9th Street in the East Village. Singer had acquired the five-story, former elementary school from the City for $3.15 million at a 1 998 auction. The existing building … <Read More>


Primary/Intermediate school approved

School to address increased capacity. On July 27, 2005, the City Council approved a proposal by the New York City School Construction Authority for the construction of a 62,000-square-foot primary/intermediate school in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn. The project site consists of two privately owned parcels located on East 107th Street, between Flatlands and Avenue J. The first parcel is 17,000 sq.ft and contains a vacant two-story building previously used as a Yeshiva; the second … <Read More>


Two Staten Island neighborhoods down-zoned

Staten Island Council Member wins approval for down-zoning despite strong concerns of Commissioners Merolo and Phillips. Council Member Andrew J. Lanza, representative for District 51 on the south shore of Staten Island, sought two map amendments for the Eltingville and Tottenville sections of Staten Island, which would predominantly restrict new development to single-family homes

In Eltingville, Council Member Lanza sought to rezone 12 blocks bound by Richmond Avenue, Koch Boulevard, Hayes Avenue and Hylan Boulevard. … <Read More>


City wins adult use case

City amended law to obstruct loopholes. In 1993, adult establishments had proliferated within the city, growing from only nine in 1965 to 177 in 1993. A 1993 Planning Department study, precipitated by this increase, concluded that adult uses produced secondary negative impacts like increased crime, property value depreciation and a reduction in commercial activity in areas where the uses were heavily concentrated. This study became the basis of a 1995 citywide zoning amendment that prohibited … <Read More>