To attorney Paul Selver, the Market Matters Most

When asked to recall projects throughout his 35-year career, land use attorney Paul Selver’s discussion becomes a vivid narrative of how the economy translates into New York City’s physical changes. Selver sees 1977 as the point when developers started looking ahead for the first time; the 1981 to 1988 development boom coincided with the economy’s exuberance and ended with the stock market crash. To Selver, his current projects, like a six-block rezoning in Coney Island, … <Read More>


Three Bronx neighborhood rezonings approved

Harding Park/Clason Point Rezoning. Proposed Zoning used with permission of the NYC Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Rezoning encompasses unique residential co-op on Bronx waterfront. Responding to concerns over increasing out-of-scale development, City Planning initiated rezoning studies of Harding Park, Clason Point and Park Stratton in the Bronx, ultimately proposing to rezone 47 blocks.

Under the proposal, 34 blocks of Harding Park and Clason Point, located along the peninsula bounded by the Bronx … <Read More>


To David West, the Increased Sophistication of the Land Use Process Leads to Better Design

When architect David West joined Costas Kondylis and Parteners LLP in 1995, its founder suggested that he become the firm’s expert on the City’s zoning resolution. West, now a partner, shepherds the firm’s zoning analyses, responding to nearly 300 yearly requests regarding what a site’s zoning will allow and handling the firm’s appearances before BSA, Landmarks and the Planning Commission. In the past few years, he worked on the Plaza Hotel’s complicated conversion, the complex … <Read More>


City Planning’s General Counsel Talks of Emerging Planning Issues by Just Explaining What’s on His Desk

When asked to discuss current trends coming out of City Planning, David Karnovsky, General Counsel since 1999, offered to start the conversation with the matters sitting on his desk. From Broadway’s first air rights sale, to a new community board planning tool, to implementation of City Planning’s complex rezoning plans, the conversation revealed developing trends. Karnovsky, a Harvard Law School graduate, joined City Planning after serving as Special Counsel to the Deputy Mayor of Operations … <Read More>


City Planning action affects 1,000 acres in Staten island

 

Prince’s Bay Rezoning locator map used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Council Member Lanza and City Planning push forward Prince’s Bay down-zoning. On October 11, 2006, the Planning Commission approved a proposal to down-zone an 172-acre portion of Prince’s Bay, Staten Island and to adopt text amendments to restrict future development on an additional 830 acres. Council Member Andrew Lanza withdrew his original rezoning application … <Read More>


Apartments to be built opposite Holland Tunnel

Sixty-one unit apartment building to be built on Varick Street. The owner of 100 Varick Street sought a variance from BSA to build a 79- unit, 109-foot tall, 65,980-squarefoot residential development covering two lots located across from the Holland Tunnel entry plaza in Manhattan, zoned for manufacturing uses. No parking would be added to the development. At the first hearing before BSA, the owners of adjacent 125 Varick opposed the development, explaining that they held … <Read More>