City Beaches to Reopen July 1

Visitors are still encouraged to maintain social distancing measures on beaches. On June 24, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that New York City’s 8 public beaches will reopen for swimming starting on July 1, with social distancing precautions still in place. Lifeguards will be on duty every day from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm, but the Mayor reminds the public that swimming is strictly prohibited when lifeguards are not present.


City Council Intends to Aid Property Owners with Two Tax Deferment Bills

Public Hearing hinges on interest rates and how property tax deferments affect the City budget. On June 18, 2020, the City Council officially introduced two bills that would defer July 1, 2020, property tax liabilities for COVID-19 impacted property owners. One bill addresses the tax liabilities of primary residences and the other addresses the tax liabilities of businesses affected by the pandemic. The bills were originally heard as preconsidered bills at the June 10, 2020, … <Read More>


UPDATED: Playgrounds Reopen as Part of Phase 2

Over 1000 playgrounds will be reopened and cleaned, but equipment will not be sanitized. On June 18, 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that playgrounds would be reopened as part of Phase 2, which began Monday, June 22nd. While NYC parks generally remained open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many facilities within parks were closed and restrictions were placed to limit the activity allowed in parks in an effort to stop overcrowding and the spread of <Read More>


Mayor Directs DOT to Administer Open Restaurants Plan Ahead of Phase 2 Reopening

Today marks NYC’s official Phase 2 reopening. On June 22, 2020, New York City officially entered Phase 2 of the State’s COVID-19 reopening plan. In preparation for the reopening, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order directing the Department of Transportation, with aid from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Department of Small Business Services, to administer the “Open Restaurants” plan. The Open Restaurants plan will generally permit restaurants and bars … <Read More>


New Filings and Decisions Chart for May 2020

CityLand tracks these applications through the review process to a final decision. The majority of these decisions are available on the Center for New York City Law’s CityAdmin database (found at http://www.cityadmin.org/).

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure has been suspended and there were no scheduled City Planning Commission public hearings in May 2020.


Mayor de Blasio Plans to Paint and Co-Name City Streets in Honor of Black Lives Matter

The first street to be co-named and painted will be near City Hall. On June 9, 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the City will begin to co-name and paint selected streets in all five boroughs in honor of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Black Lives Matter movement, which began in 2013, works to address the issue of state and vigilante violence against Black individuals and works to bring equity to Black communities. … <Read More>