BID for Sunnyside,Queens approved

Plan encompasses 290 businesses in Sunnyside. On February 7, 2007, the Planning Commission approved an application by the Department of Small Business Services to create the Sunnyside Business Improvement District to cover 92 tax lots and 290 businesses primarily along Queens Boulevard, and Roosevelt and Greenpoint Avenues. The proposed BID will focus on sidewalk and gutter cleaning, graffiti removal and snow removal for bus shelters.

The $300,000 first-year budget will come from assessments on commercial … <Read More>


HPD pushes through 517 affordable housing units

Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn housing projects approved; sent to Council. On March 28 and April 11, 2007, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development obtained Planning Commission approval for eight affordable housing projects, totaling 517 units, to be developed in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Two of the Bronx projects, including the 50-unit Fox Leggett Cooperative Apartments and the 162- unit Grant Avenue Cooperative Apartments, provide ownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income families. Both of … <Read More>


Three Bronx neighborhood rezonings approved

Harding Park/Clason Point Rezoning. Proposed Zoning used with permission of the NYC Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Rezoning encompasses unique residential co-op on Bronx waterfront. Responding to concerns over increasing out-of-scale development, City Planning initiated rezoning studies of Harding Park, Clason Point and Park Stratton in the Bronx, ultimately proposing to rezone 47 blocks.

Under the proposal, 34 blocks of Harding Park and Clason Point, located along the peninsula bounded by the Bronx … <Read More>


Sale of 4 closed FDNY firehouses sparks controversy

Mayor’s Office agrees to create community committees to find new users. On April 9, 2007, the Planning Commission approved four applications by DCAS to sell four closed firehouses in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The plan sparked controversy with residents, community boards, Borough Presidents Scott Stringer and Marty Markowitz, and Council Members Bill de Blasio and David Yassky, who argued that their districts needed increased FDNY services and, if the firehouses remained closed, only a community … <Read More>


Council approves 190-space garage on West 59th

Opposition to garage led to reduction in public parking spaces. On April 23, 2007, the City Council voted to approve the special permit application of developers Continental Equities and Brack Capital for a 190- space public parking garage to be located within the 200-unit, as-of-right luxury condominium project currently under construction at 555 West 59th Street between Amsterdam and West End Avenues.

The original proposal called for the entire garage to be public parking. It … <Read More>


To David West, the Increased Sophistication of the Land Use Process Leads to Better Design

When architect David West joined Costas Kondylis and Parteners LLP in 1995, its founder suggested that he become the firm’s expert on the City’s zoning resolution. West, now a partner, shepherds the firm’s zoning analyses, responding to nearly 300 yearly requests regarding what a site’s zoning will allow and handling the firm’s appearances before BSA, Landmarks and the Planning Commission. In the past few years, he worked on the Plaza Hotel’s complicated conversion, the complex … <Read More>