Rezoning of 75 blocks in Central Bronx Approved by City Planning Commission

Rezoning would impact 75 blocks along the Third Avenue and Tremont Avenue corridors. On September 15, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone 75 blocks along the intersecting Third Avenue and Tremont Avenue corridors in central Bronx. The L-shaped rezoning area comprises three sections. The east/west Tremont Avenue corridor is bounded by Daly Avenue and Webster Avenue. The industrial Third Avenue corridor, running north/south, is generally bounded by … <Read More>


Large rezoning approved in southeast Queens

Council Member Sanders claimed that contextual rezoning would check development pressure. On September 16, 2010, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s 193-block rezoning proposal in Rosedale, Queens. The contextual rezoning impacts a triangular-shaped area generally bounded by Idlewild Park and Hook Creek to the south, the Nassau County border to the east, and Brookville Boulevard to the west. Planning proposed the rezoning in order to reinforce Rosedale’s lowdensity suburban character against recent … <Read More>


New community garden preservation rules released

Parks intends to preserve community gardens under its jurisdiction. There are more than 600 community gardens participating in the City’s GreenThumb Program. Since 2001, gardens on City-owned lots have been administered pursuant to practices memorialized in a 2002 agreement between the City and the State Attorney General’s Office, which expired on September 17, 2010. Prior to its expiration, the Department of Parks and Recreation published a new set of rules that codified and strengthened the … <Read More>


Sugar Hill project OK’d

Thirteen-story building would house the Faith Ringgold Children’s Museum, a day care center, and provide 124 affordable housing units. On September 15, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved Broadway Housing Communities’ rezoning proposal to facilitate the development of a thirteen-story affordable housing project in the Sugar Hill section of West Harlem. Broadway Housing proposed rezoning the northwest portion of a block bounded by West 155th and 153rd Streets and St. Nicholas Place and St. Nicholas … <Read More>


ECB dismissed falsified facade report charge

Building’s facade buckled two-and one- half-years after engineer’s report. Richard Lefever, a licensed engineer, examined the facade of a building and filed a report with Buildings in February 2007. In the report, Lefever had the option of designating the facade as safe, unsafe, or safe with a repair and maintenance program (SWARMP). Lefever chose the third option, because he identified facade conditions that required repairs within two years to avoid deteriorating into unsafe conditions. The … <Read More>


Revised facade renovation for SoHo store approved

New H&M storefront retains more of building’s original fabric than previous proposal. On September 7, 2010, Landmarks approved a revised proposal to replace the storefront of an 1860s-era building owned by H&M at 558 Broadway in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. Landmarks had previously rejected a proposal to replace the two-story building’s entire brick facade with layered panels of fiberglass-reinforced concrete. 7 CityLand 76 (June 15, 2010). H&M’s new proposal would only impact the ground … <Read More>