Lynn Kelly. Image credit: New Yorkers for Parks.

New York City holds a special place in Lynn Kelly’s life. Ms. Kelly grew up in Old Town, Staten Island, has resided in Brooklyn’s Park Slope and now in Gowanus, and attended New York University in Greenwich Village. In reflecting on her life and career, Ms. Kelly said that “New York City has been the one thread through everything.” Ms. Kelly has dedicated her career to improving the City one job at a time. Currently, Ms. Kelly serves as the Executive Director at New Yorkers for Parks, an independent advocacy organization championing quality parks and open spaces for all New Yorkers in all City neighborhoods. (more…)

Boerum Hill HD. Image Credit: LPC.

Composed of three distinct areas to the north, south and west of the existing historic district, proposed expansion shares a character and development history designated section of Boerum Hill. Landmarks voted to add an extension to the Boerum Hill Historic District to its calendar for consideration for designation on October 31, 2017. The extension, as calendared, would bring approximately 288 properties under Landmarks’ purview. The extension is not contiguous, but composed of three separate sections to the north, south and west of the existing historic district. (more…)

160 Imlay Street, Brooklyn (circa 2006)

BSA, which had granted variance to developer in 2003, grants time extension due to five-year court battle. In 2003, the Board of Standards & Appeals granted a use variance to 160 Imlay Street Real Estate LLC to allow for the residential conversion of a six-story warehouse at 160 Imlay Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn. 160 Imlay Street LLC had claimed that it could not earn a reasonable rate of return with a complying use under the site’s M2-1 manufacturing zoning designation. The Red Hook-Gowanus Chamber of Commerce filed an article 78 petition challenging the variance. The Chamber, however, failed to name 160 Imlay Street LLC in the petition, and the City asked the State Supreme Court to dismiss the proceeding. The issue was appealed up to the Court of Appeals, which sent the case back to the Supreme Court. (read CityLand’s coverage here).

Supreme Court Justice Yvonne Lewis ruled that the lawsuit could continue without 160 Imlay Street LLC as a named party, and then vacated the variance. Justice Lewis returned the matter to BSA to determine whether 160 Imlay Street (more…)

Boundaries around landmarked building reduced to provide buffer for Whole Foods development. On January 24, 2012, Landmarks reduced the landmarked site boundaries of the New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company Building at the corner of Third Avenue and 3rd Street near the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. The dilapidated Coignet Building was built in 1872 as a freestanding building, and is believed to the City’s first concrete structure. Landmarks designated the building in June 2006. 3 CityLand 110 (Aug. 15, 2006). The designation included the building’s entire tax lot.

Whole Foods, which owns the Coignet Building and the rest of the block, requested that Landmarks reduce the building’s landmarked site boundary from approximately 125 feet to 55 feet along Third Avenue and from 55 feet to 40 feet along 3rd Street. The (more…)

Brad Lander

Council Member Brad Lander, chair of the City Council’s Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses Subcommittee, draws from his experience as a public policy advocate when executing his duties.

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Lander in 1991 earned a liberal arts degree from the University of Chicago. He then earned a master’s degree in Social Anthropology at the University College London in the United Kingdom, where he worked with community groups to research how a controversial plan to redevelop the London Docklands would impact local maritime communities.

Lander in 1993 returned to the United States and joined the Fifth Avenue Committee, a Brooklyn community group that advances economic and social justice. During his tenure Lander earned a second master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from the Pratt Institute. In 2003 he was named director of the Pratt Center for Community Development. He was also involved in advocating for the use of inclusionary zoning, which allows developers to construct larger buildings in exchange for allocating a portion to affordable housing. The campaign helped spearhead the City’s use of inclusionary zoning in neighborhoods outside of Manhattan. (more…)