Hearings held on nine Robert Moses projects

Depression-era pools and play centers considered for individual designation. In the 1930s, under the guidance of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, the City built dozens of parks and swimming pools using federal Works Progress Administration funds. In the summer of 1936 alone, the City opened eleven large pool-oriented play centers.

On January 31, 2007, Landmarks heard public testimony on the proposed designation of nine of these WPA play centers, including the Bronx … <Read More>


FDNY order must be appealed to BSA

Owner appealed FDNY order during criminal proceeding for non-compliance. After inspecting Second Avenue Woodworking Corp., located at 4902 Second Avenue in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, a fire inspector issued a violation ordering Woodworking to close and seal two out-of-service fuel storage tanks, and to provide the Fire Department with an affidavit certifying the system was closed and sealed. Woodworking sent a letter to the Department stating that the tanks had been removed by … <Read More>


Council approves two new high schools

Each school to accommodate over 1,600 students. On May 25, 2005, the City Council approved the New York City School Construction Authority’s proposals for the construction of two new schools: a high school in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and an intermediate and high school facility in Heartland Village, Staten Island. Student occupancy of both schools is expected to begin in September of 2008.

Sunset Park High School will be located at 932 4th Avenue and 156 … <Read More>


Variance for mixed-use building approved

15-unit residential building with commercial space approved for manufacturing district. The owner of 214 25th Street, a 12,617-squarefoot lot in an M1-1D district of Sunset Park, Brooklyn with two vacant, low-rise manufacturing buildings, sought a variance to convert and enlarge one of the structures into a 15-unit, 20,656-square-foot residential building.

The owner argued that manufacturing uses were infeasible due to the buildings’ small size, cost to retrofit, lack of street access, narrow interior spaces and … <Read More>


FDNY gains approval for two new firehouses

New station houses would consolidate FDNY units. The Planning Commission unanimously approved FDNY’s two applications for the acquisition and selection of lots in Brooklyn for two new firehouses that will consolidate Engine 201 and Ladder 114 in Sunset Park, and Engine 277 and Ladder 112 in Bushwick.

The FDNY sought approval to acquire a vacant, privately-owned lot at 5117 Fourth Avenue, Sunset Park, adjacent to Engine 201’s existing firehouse, where it would construct a new … <Read More>


Marine transfer stations cause controversy

Residents of Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Bensonhurst vigorously opposed Sanitation’s proposed sites. Sanitation sought site selection approval to construct four 90,000- square-foot, three-story marine transfer stations on sites formerly used as waste transfer stations or garbage incinerators. In Manhattan, Sanitation sought to reuse the site at East 91st Street and the East River, which had contained a waste transfer station until 1999. In Brooklyn, sites at Shore Parkway in Bensonhurst and at Hamilton Avenue … <Read More>