Ross F. Moskowitz. Image Credit: Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, LLP.
At the CityLaw Breakfast on September 5, 2014, Carl Weisbrod laid out the De Blasio Administration’s housing policy. As was widely reported, the City will look to implement mandatory inclusionary housing on all City-sponsored rezonings. One of the first tests of this new policy is the privately sponsored Astoria Cove development in Queens, where an affordable component will likely be required if approved under ULURP. (more…)
Draft rendering of Metropolitan College of New York’s Bronx campus building, viewed from Brook Avenue. Image credit: Metropolitan College of New York
College sited educational facilities in an M1-1 zone. On June 24, 2014, the Board of Standards and Appeals granted a use variance to Metropolitan College of New York, a non-profit educational institution headquartered at 431 Canal Street in Manhattan, to use the entire second floor of a new building at 459 East 149th Street at the corner of Brook Avenue in the Bronx for educational purposes. The site is in the shape of a triangle, bounded by East 149th Street on the west, by Brook Avenue on the east, and by an MTA right-of-way on the north where the 2 and 5 subway lines run aboveground.
East Fordham Road Rezoning Project Area. Image Credit:Pictometry International Corp.
Central Bronx area rezoned is adjacent to the Bronx Zoo, the Bronx Botanical Garden, and Fordham University. The Council approved the Bronx Planning office’s proposed zoning map amendments affecting a 12 block area in the Central Bronx. The new zoning established height limits, protects neighborhood character, and reinforces existing commercial character. A major goal of the rezoning is to stimulate revitalization of the area through private investment, the construction of affordable housing and to create an attractive gateway to important Bronx cultural institutions.
On September 30, 2013, the Bronx Borough Office of the Department of City Planning (DCP) testified before the City Council’s Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises in support of the proposal to rezone an area along East Fordham Road, a major east-west thoroughfare passing through the central Bronx. The rezoning area is generally bounded by East 191st Street to the north, East 187th Street to the south, Southern Boulevard to the east, and Bathgate Avenue to the west. (more…)
Credit: Magnusson Architecture and Planning
NYCHA-proposed rezoning would facilitate development of two eight-story buildings and 16 attached duplexes on an underutilized parking lot. On August 22, 2012, the City Planning Commission approved NYCHA’s proposal to develop a 238-unit, multi-building affordable housing project in the Soundview section of the Bronx. The 155,000-square-foot project site is on the southeastern edge of a block bounded by Randall, Bronx River, Lacombe, and Rosedale Avenues. NYCHA’s 13-building Soundview Houses housing complex is north of the site, and the 205-acre Soundview Park lies to the southwest of the site. A portion of the project site is occupied by an underutilized 120-space parking lot used by the Soundview Houses.
NYCHA selected CPC Resources and Lemle & Wolff to develop the project. The project would include two eight-story apartment buildings, 16 attached two-family homes, and a total of 79 parking spaces. One eight-story building would include 85 one-bedroom units exclusively available for rent by senior citizens aged 55 and older, and one three-bedroom unit for a superintendent. A second eight-story building would provide a total of 120 rental units, and include a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. Both buildings would be marketed to persons earning 60 percent or less of the area median income. The proposed two-family duplexes would include a three-bedroom unit and a two-bedroom rental unit. NYCHA intends to make each unit available for purchase to persons earning 100 percent of the area median income. (more…)
Carol Samol
As director of the Department of City Planning’s Bronx Office, Carol Samol uses zoning tools to promote sustainable economic development in the Bronx. She has also participated as a leader in a broader City effort to reform the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure’s pre-certification process.
Journey to the Bronx. Samol grew up in the upper Ohio Valley near Wheeling, West Virginia and studied English at Berea College, a small liberal arts college in Kentucky. Berea College admits academically promising students who are able to attend for free so long as they work in some capacity for the school. After graduation, Samol moved to the Bronx where she earned a Master’s Degree in Philosophy from Fordham University. Philosophy served as an extension of Samol’s English studies, allowing her to expand her analytic skills. Samol searched for a practical application of her studies, ultimately developing an interest in urban planning. She attended New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and earned a Master’s in Urban Planning. Samol says that she felt an instant and personal connection to the Bronx, the borough where she continues to reside. Ultimately, Samol knew that she would help work towards the borough’s redevelopment.
