Albert K. Butzel on Land Use Litigation and Lobbying

Albert K. Butzel did everything he could to avoid going to law school. After graduating from Harvard College, Butzel spent a year in Paris trying to become, as he put it, Ernest Hemingway or F. Scott Fitzgerald. He made a deal with his father, who was an attorney, that he would go to law school if he did not succeed as a fiction writer. About a year later, Butzel enrolled at Harvard Law School.

Having … <Read More>


South Street pier approved

Pier 15, as envisioned by EDC. Image: SHoP Architects PC.

Part of EDC’s East River waterfront plan fell within historic district. The NYC Economic Development Corp. and SHoP Architects PC presented a plan before Landmarks on March 17, 2009, to reconstruct Pier 15 in the South Street Seaport Historic District. The reconstruction is part of the City’s East River Waterfront Esplanade and Piers project, which is planned to stretch for two miles from the Battery … <Read More>


EDC to play key role in East River redevelopment

City takes needed steps to implement plan for two-mile esplanade along the East River from Battery Park to the Williamsburg Bridge. Image: NYC EDC.

Plan covers East River waterfront from the Battery to the Lower East Side. The Planning Commission approved two linked applications that will implement an East River Waterfront Concept Plan that was developed in 2005 though a planning effort that included 70 public meetings and intensive input from the community. The plan … <Read More>


Zoning change to allow wind turbines and heliostats

Computerized heliostats will redirect sunlight from top of new green highrise down to Teardrop Park South. The City Council approved a text amendment that allows for a new class of permitted rooftop obstructions on residential buildings in the Special Battery Park City District in Manhattan: wind turbines and heliostats, which are mirrors that redirect sunlight to spaces cast in shadow.

The Battery Park City Authority has invested $355,000 to install three heliostats, eight feet in … <Read More>


Water taxi dock approved

Dock to be located on the East River next to the Schaefer Landing luxury building. The Planning Commission unanimously approved an application by the Department of Parks and Recreation for the construction of a water taxi dock in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The dock is to be located on the East River adjacent to the waterfront esplanade of the Schaefer Landing luxury apartment building, west of Kent Avenue between South 8th and South 11th Streets.

The floating … <Read More>