Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council

Since its adoption in 1965, the New York City Landmarks Law has been amended several times. In 1973, the Landmarks Preservation Commission was allowed to designate landmarks as part of its regular schedule rather than having to wait three years between designation hearings, as had previously been the case, and also gained the ability to designate publicly owned parks and publicly accessible interiors as landmarks. In 1997, the agency gained the ability to enforce the law with civil fines, and in 2005, this ability was extended to cases of demolition by neglect. All these amendments extended the powers of the Landmarks Preservation Commission and strengthened the agency. The same cannot be said of the many reforms proposed by the City Council earlier this year.

On May 2, 2012, the City Council held a joint meeting of the Housing and Land Use Committees to deliberate on eleven previously introduced and brand new bills, ranging from the benign to the emasculating, all related to the workings of Landmarks. The hearing lasted almost five hours and over 50 people from neighborhoods across New York testified on the bills, almost unanimously in opposition. The only people testifying in favor of the bills were representatives of the Real Estate Board of New York, who had recently organized the “Responsible Landmarks Coalition,” a gathering of real estate and development interests whose “Proactive Policy Agenda” closely mirrors the most damaging of the reform proposals. For the purposes of summation, I have divided the eleven bills into three sets.

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Parking is part of plan for BAM cultural district. The New York City Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals seeking developers to construct and operate an underground garage to be located beneath a newly constructed street-level public plaza on the 32,000-square-foot site located across Ashland Place from the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The triangular-shaped downtown Brooklyn lot, bound by Lafayette Avenue, Flatbush Avenue and Ashland Place, is currently used for street-level parking.

As part of the Bloomberg Administration’s efforts to revitalize downtown Brooklyn, the City identified the area around BAM as the BAM Cultural District, to be a vibrant, mixed-use multicultural arts district, which is already home to over 30 cultural organizations. The Brooklyn Public Library is also considering constructing a 100,000- square-foot visual and performing arts library, to be designed by Enrique Norten, which would be located just south of the public plaza and parking site. (more…)

Proposals due May 21, 2007. The New York City Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals on March 26, 2007 seeking developers to purchase and redevelop 130,000 sq.ft. of the Bush Terminal complex, located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The site, bound by 43rd and 47th Streets on the north and south and the 51st Street Rail Yard and Bush Terminal Piers on the east and west, contains three buildings totaling 37,100 sq.ft. Four tenants on month-by-month leases currently occupy the buildings. EDC anticipates proposals will seek to demolish the buildings.

The site is located in an M3-1 zoning district, allowing heavy manufacturing, and is also in a waterfront area, imposing additional limitations on development. The RFP requests plans for industrial uses to support the goals of the Bloomberg administration’s Industrial Business Zones. 3 CityLand 133 (Oct. 15, 2006).

Current City projects in the area include redevelopment of the nearby South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and plans to establish Bush Terminal Piers Open Space, an 18- acre park to be located just southwest of the site. (more…)