Rendering of 1050 Pacific Street in Brooklyn. Image Credit: CPC.

The new building is intended to revitalize a largely vacant block along Pacific Street in Brooklyn. On May 2, 2019, the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises voted to approve a rezoning of the western portion of a block bounded by Pacific Street to the north, Dean Street to the south, Franklin Avenue to the east, and Classon Avenue to the west in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The applicant proposed to rezone the area from a manufacturing district, M1-1, to a mixed-use residential and manufacturing district, M1-4/R7A. The rezoning will facilitate a new eight-story development at 1050 Pacific Street with 103 residential units and ground floor commercial space. The development is located a block away from 1010 Pacific Street and is also part of Brooklyn Community Board 8 and Department of City Planning’s M Crown study. (more…)

Illustrative rendering of the envisioned street view. Image Credit: DCP.

The proposed zoning actions were largely disapproved by the Community Board, the Borough President, and even Staten Island’s appointee to the City Planning Commission. The Department of City Planning, along with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services filed an application requesting several ULURP actions to help implement the goals of the Bay Street Corridor Neighborhood Plan. The Neighborhood Plan is a comprehensive plan to foster a new mixed-use residential and commercial corridor connecting the St. George, Stapleton and Tompkinsville North Shore neighborhoods of Staten Island. The plan was developed with extensive input from community stakeholders, local advisory committees, elected officials and others, working with the Department of City Planning and other City agencies including the Parks Department, the Economic Development Corporation, the Department of Environmental Protection, and Department of Transportation, for over three years. (more…)

Alcohol ads will now be banned on City property, including at Wi-fi LinkNYC kiosks citywide. Image Credit: Epicgenius/Wikimedia Commons

The ban was created to protect the health of New Yorkers. On April 30, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an Executive Order that immediately banned all alcohol advertising on City property, including bus shelters, newsstands, phone booths, recycling kiosks and Wi-Fi LinkNYC kiosks. The administration sought the ban to protect New Yorkers from exposure to alcohol advertisements which can lead to an increased likelihood and quantity of alcohol consumption. (more…)

Map of proposed project site for the Bronx jail at 745 East 141st Street. Image Credit: NYC CPC

The four jails are set to replace Rikers island by 2027. On March 25, 2019, the City Planning Commission certified the City’s application for four borough-based jails as a part of the City’s plan to shut down Rikers Island. The four jails – in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn – will have a total of 5,748 beds and a capacity of 5,000 inmates. The additional 748 beds will be used to account for taking occupied cells out of service for repairs, separating inmates based on gender or sentenced versus non-sentenced or other space needs. (more…)

Image Credit: Department of Buildings

The map provides a 12-month snapshot of building permits, complaints, inspections, violations, and accident reports for every property in the city. On March 8, 2019, Buildings released the DOB Buildings Profiles Map, a new, interactive map that provides insight into Buildings’ interactions with the nearly 1.1 million buildings and 45,000 active construction sites it regulates. The map is Buildings’ latest tool in a series of interactive dashboards, reports, and data tools to give the public information about the City’s buildings and construction sites. The map’s information will allow the user to better understand the recent movement in the construction industry and DOB compliance activities in the City. (more…)