Owner gets 2 approvals: 4-story cast-stone/brick building to replace existing garage; 1910 mansion to be expanded. The 1 Montgomery Place Association, the owner of two lots within the Park Slope Historic District, applied for permission to alter the existing 1910 neo-Federal-style mansion at 1 Montgomery Place and, immediately adjacent at 125 8th Avenue, to demolish a one-story garage and build a new four-story building.

BKSK Architects designed a cast-stone and brick four-story structure to replace the existing garage. The design included a caststone bay extending from the first to the second floor; brick cladding on the second and third floors; and the repetition of cast-stone cladding and a prominent grey cornice on the top story. Metal balconies would ornament the second and third stories. For 1 Montgomery Place, BKSK presented a proposal for a copper-topped, one-story addition on the roof and a new area-way, ADA-ramp access and landscaping along 8th Avenue.

At the initial hearing, Landmarks expressed concerns over the height and location of the rooftop addition at 1 Montgomery Place, commenting that it was too visible from adjacent streets. BKSK submitted a revised proposal that reduced the height by 80 ft. and increased the setback from the existing wall from 5’6″ to 13’4″.

Landmarked bank to be converted to market. On February 15, 2005, Landmarks unanimously approved the adaptive reuse of the New York Savings Bank, located at West 14th Street and Eighth Avenue, by Balducci’s, a high-end food market that traces its roots to a Greenwich Village fruit and vegetable stand. Constructed in 1896, the marble-facade Classical Revival-styled bank was designated an individual and an interior landmark in 1988. In 1994, it was converted to a large carpet store that remained at the site until December 2004.

Balducci’s proposed to alter the bank’s exterior doors, create grade-level entry doors along the Eighth Avenue side and add handicap access. An interior staircase and vestibule wall, added in 1952, would be removed to restore the interior more closely to its original appearance. No new architectural elements would be introduced into the interior and none of the food display cases or racks would be secured to the interior marble.

Queens school sought to build additional floors and play area to accommodate increased enrollment. The Jewish Center of Torath Emeth sought a variance for a proposed expansion of Yeshiva Ketana of Queens, a boys school located at 78- 15 Parsons Boulevard in a R3-2 zoning district of Kew Garden Hills. The lot contains a two-story 21,142 sq.ft. school and a one-story synagogue. The expansion included an 8,500 sq.ft. two-story addition to house additional classrooms, offices, resource rooms and a 2,800 sq.ft. rooftop play area, and would be in excess of both FAR and front wall restrictions. Additionally, the plans called for an elevator to be sited outside the building structure in violation of front yard restrictions.

Torath Emeth argued that the current building was not capable of accommodating a potential increase of 50 students, and the additional play area was required to meet the Department of Education playarea- per-child standards. The local Civic Association objected to the project, citing parking concerns. Torath Emeth responded that most of the students live within a onemile walk of the school. It also submitted a letter from DOT indicating that “No Parking School Days” signs will be installed on 78th Avenue.

Undersized Staten Island lot can be developed if trees replanted. Owners of an undersized, 9,733 sq.ft. Staten Island lot at 380 Lighthouse Avenue sought to construct a single-family home that required variance approvals because of the small lot size and because the proposed home failed to meet rear or side-yard requirements.

The lot fell within the Special Natural Area District, a 1974 zoning control passed by the City to protect existing topography, trees, plantings and integral sloping, triggering a separate review. Under the zoning resolution, the Planning Commission normally has jurisdiction over the requirements to protect a lot’s natural features, but with 380 Lighthouse Avenue, only BSA could grant approval because the lot was less than 12,500 sq.ft. and the Planning Commission lacked jurisdiction to vary lot size.

BSA found the requirement to move subway entrances uneconomic. Century 21 sought a variance to allow a 4,583 sq.ft. expansion on the second floor of its lower Manhattan store and a waiver from the requirement, triggered by the expansion, to relocate two subway entrances from the street to the store’s interior.

Century 21 occupies space in three contiguous buildings in lower Manhattan: the former East River Savings Bank located at 26 Cortlandt Street, a 33-story office tower at 22 Cortlandt, and a building at 10 Cortlandt. Customer circulation problems exist due to walls and fire stairs within the three buildings that cannot be changed. Its original plan for an as-of-right expansion within the 22 Cortlandt Street building failed when reasonable terms could not be reached with that building’s owner.

140 blocks rezoned to stop out-of-character development. The Planning Commission unanimously approved an extensive rezoning of two of Queens oldest residential neighborhoods; Kew Gardens and Richmond Hill, both of which have seen a measurable increase in out-of-character development over the past four years. A lot-by-lot analysis completed by the Planning Department found an inconsistency between the existing building types and the zoning, which was unchanged since the City’s initial adoption of zoning districts in 1961. Some districts permitted large 13 to 17-story apartment buildings in areas with single-family, detached homes.

Designed as a contextual rezoning based on the areas’ prevailing building types, the proposal sought to down-zone areas characterized by one and two-family detached homes, such as in Kew Gardens south of Maple Grove Cemetery and west of the Van Wyck Expressway, and increase the permitted size of development in areas that could support it, like the Jamaica Avenue corridor from 102nd to 130th Street in Richmond Hill. The final application covered 140 blocks.