BID will encompass 149 properties and address sanitation and security needs. The Planning Commission unanimously approved an application by the Flatbush-Nostrand Junction District Management Association and the Department of Small Business Services to create a Flatbush-Nostrand Junction Business Improvement District. The proposed BID will allow an annual assessment on businesses and residents for improved sanitation and security and will encompass 149 properties containing 235 businesses. The BID area is roughly bounded by Flatbush Avenue, Glenwood … <Read More>
718-space garage approved adjacent to High Line
Garage will be part of large mixed-use project. HLP Properties LLC sought a special permit for a 718- space public parking garage on a Chelsea site spanning an entire city block between West 17th and West 18th Streets and Tenth and Eleventh Avenues. Access to the garage would be located on West 17th Street, a one-way westbound street. The 76,400- square-foot site currently contains a surface parking lot used primarily by the United States Drug … <Read More>
Two Staten Island neighborhoods down-zoned
Bay Terrace and Oakwood down-zoned to prohibit semidetached homes. On November 16, 2005, the City Council approved zoning map amendments to rezone 48 blocks of Bay Terrace and Oakwood, Staten Island.
Council Member Andrew J. Lanza initiated the Bay Terrace proposal in response to concerns about over-development in Staten Island. The proposal called for the rezoning of an area bounded by Amboy Road, Buffalo Avenue, Durant Avenue, and Bay Terrace. Under the proposal, 27 blocks … <Read More>
Olinville down-zoned; new R5A district created
- Olinville: Proposed Zoning used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.
Unique Bronx neighborhood down-zoned. On December 8, 2005, the City Council rezoned 39 blocks in Olinville, Bronx and, in a separate action, created a new R5A district which can be applied citywide. The Planning Department initiated the rezoning proposal in response to Bronx Community Board 12’s and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr.’s concerns over the increasing … <Read More>
Council disparages DOB
Zoning text loopholes closed; Council Members blame DOB for problems. Following the City’s 2004 enactment of lower density restrictions in Staten Island, three loopholes surfaced in the zoning text that continued to allow residential development inconsistent with the down-zoning’s goals.
The three problems stemmed from requirements for minimum lot area, lot width and open space. A minimum lot area is required for residential development of a lot; however, once the minimum lot area is met, … <Read More>
Council nixes designation of Cass Gilbert warehouse
Council overrode mayor’s veto, claiming Cass Gilbert-designed building is unworthy of designation. On December 5, 2005, Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed the City Council’s vote rejecting the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s designation of a Williamsburg, Brooklyn warehouse. The Council gathered sufficient votes on December 8th to override the mayor, calling the building simply unworthy.
Landmarks had unanimously designated the Austin Nichols & Co. Warehouse building in September 2005 over the objection of the owner and Council Member … <Read More>