DCP Launches Updated Digital Land Use Portal, Online Application Tracker

The updated portal improves transparency and public access to the land review process. On January 14, 2021, the Department of City Planning (DCP) announced that the Zoning Application Portal (ZAP) has been expanded and updated. The Zoning Application Portal allows New Yorkers to review land use applications that are within public review. 


City Comptroller Aims to Stop Astoria Fuel-Powered Peaker Plant

Comptroller Stringer sent the letter in opposition to the Astoria Replacement Project because of the project’s reliance on fracked gas. On September 4, 2020, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer sent a letter to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Division of Environmental Permits urging the DEC to review the NRG Energy’s Astoria Replacement Project. Comptroller Stringer raised concerns about the project due to the wellbeing and of Astoria residents and the … <Read More>


Appellate Division Provides Major Win for Two Bridges Developers

Two Bridges development gets Appellate Division ruling but two lawsuits remain pending. On August 27, 2020, the First Department’s Appellate Division unanimously ruled in favor of a Lower East Side development that would consist of four towers, 11,000 square feet of retail, and over 2,700 residential units. Of the 2,700 residential units, approximately 700 units will be dedicated to affordable housing and 200 units will be set aside for senior housing. The project’s development group … <Read More>


Supreme Court Judge Finds Inwood Rezoning in Violation of SEQRA

City expected to appeal Judge’s decision invalidating the Inwood Rezoning. On December 10, 2019, Judge Verna L. Saunders of the New York State Supreme Court, New York county ruled in favor of the Northern Manhattan is Not For Sale’s Article 78 petition challenging the legality of the Inwood Rezoning. The rezoning was proposed by the city’s Economic Development Corporation and was set to up-zone 59 blocks in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan. Approval of the … <Read More>


Mayor Announces Long Island City Chosen to House New Amazon Headquarters

The project will bring tens of thousands of new jobs, billions in tax revenue, and investment in infrastructure, City says. On November 13, 2018, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that Amazon has selected Long Island City, Queens for one of its two new corporate headquarters. The City has been steadily increasing investment into Long Island City, with more than $2.4 billion of planned infrastructure investments and a recently announced $180 … <Read More>


Rezoning Application Will Bring Office Space to DUMBO

Borough President is critical of the proposed residential upzoning as part of zoning changes to build an office building. On October 17, 2018, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on an application for 29-37 Jay Street in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. The applicant is the Foreman family, who have had a multi-generational history in DUMBO as manufacturers of decorative pressed metal products. The applicant was represented by Melanie Meyers of Fried Frank … <Read More>