New standards in tune with Mayor’s PlaNYC 2030. The City Council unanimously approved City Planning’s proposal to establish rules regulating the design of open public parking lots, as well as those for commercial and community use facilities. The new standards will apply to new lots and certain existing lots if enlarged.

Prior to the Council’s vote, parking lots were not subject to any Citywide zoning requirements that ensured vehicle maneuverability or environmentally friendly design. According to City Planning, the absence of maneuverability standards endangered drivers and pedestrians; while the absence of green standards encouraged broad expanses of bare pavement that exacerbated storm water runoff problems and increased the urban heat island effect by up to 10 degrees. (more…)

Two new zoning districts created under plan can be applied citywide. The Planning Commission voted unanimously on September 5, 2007 to approve the 206-block rezoning plan for Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, sending it to the City Council.

Initiated by local residents, the plan crafts contextual zoning districts for low-density row house blocks, and higher density mixed-use districts for commercial corridors on Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street. On a majority of the 206- block area, the rezoning would map lower density residential districts (R6A and R6B) that would place 50- foot and 70-foot maximum height limits, the first time height limits would be used on Bedford- Stuyvesant’s residential streets. Along with the rezoning, the plan proposes two new zoning districts and a new mixed-use district for Howard and Atlantic Avenues. It would also apply the City’s Inclusionary Housing provisions to 20 blocks along Atlantic, Fulton Street, Kane Place and Howard Avenue. (more…)

Center would enable citywide management of emergency services. On September 6, 2007, the NYPD held a public hearing on the draft scope of an environmental impact statement for the proposed construction of a second 911 center for the City. The proposal by the NYPD, the FDNY and the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, consists of a 493,500- square-foot office building, along with an accessory parking garage with capacity for 500 vehicles. Designed to house intake and dispatch for first responders from the NYPD, the FDNY and the Emergency Medical Services, the facility would also support command control centers for the FDNY and the NYPD, which will enable citywide coordination in one central location between police and fire officials and the Office of Emergency Management.

The site is located on 8.9 acres of the northern portion of the Hutchinson Metro Center, a commercial office park. The only access to the proposed site currently is by Industrial Street, a private, unmapped roadway. Under the proposal, the City would amend the City Map, altering Industrial Street’s designation to a 50-foot wide public street stretching north of Waters Place for 0.75 miles. NYPD, the project’s lead agency, expects the 911 center to be operational by 2011. (more…)

The proposed height provision had, as approved by the Planning Commission, been applicable citywide. On February 28, 2007, the City Council approved the four linked applications for the mixed-use development of West 60th Street Associates, LLC with significant modifications to the developer’s proposed citywide zoning change on bulk.

West 60th originally proposed a zoning text amendment that would allow developers of general, large-scale developments located in certain commercial districts to modify the height factor calculation, a bulk measurement, if it resulted in better site plans and open space. As approved by the Planning Commission, the new bulk waiver special permit would apply to ten community districts in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. 4 CityLand 4 (Feb. 15, 2007). (more…)

Losing bidders challenged DOT’s selection of Spanish-based outdoor advertising franchisee. In May 2006, the City approved a 20-year franchise to Cemusa, Inc. to construct and maintain citywide street furniture, including bus shelters, news racks and pay toilets, on which Cemusa would be permitted to sell advertising space. Approval by the City’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee came after a DOT-initiated request for proposals, a DOT-review and award process, and a public hearing. 3 CityLand 129 (Sept. 15, 2006).

Losing bidders NBC Decaux and Clear Channel challenged the City’s approval, claiming that DOT improperly communicated with Cemusa two months before its decision, leading to Cemusa’s bid edging out the competition, and Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff colluded with City officials to offer franchise criteria that favored Cemusa due to its ability to provide worldwide ad space for the 2012 Olympic bid. The parties also alleged that DOT improperly computed Cemusa’s plan for scrolling ad space by counting it as guaranteed revenue even though it was unclear whether the City would allow scrolling ads. Finally, NBC and Clear Channel argued that Cemusa was not the most experienced bidder and that Cemusa’s bid did not represent measurable cash values required by the RFP, since it offered worldwide ad space in lieu of cash. (more…)