First Department rules NYSDEC was not an “involved agency” in project’s environmental review. In 2008, the City’s Economic Development Corporation selected MMPI Piers LLC, a subsidiary of Vornado Realty Trust, to renovate Piers 92 and 94 along the Hudson River between West 52nd and West 55th Streets in Manhattan. The piers have been used as exhibition space and for trade shows, and Pier 92 has served as a cruise ship dock when Piers 88 and 90 have been in use. MMPI intended to expand Pier 94’s headhouse to increase exhibition space, build a new pavilion that could be used for free by the community for up to 30 days a year, alter Pier 92’s ground level to accommodate loading and unloading of trade show materials, and reconfigure the vehicle entrance and exit to alleviate traffic congestion.

MMPI conducted an environmental assessment, and the lead agency for the review, the Department of Small Business Services, found that the project would not have significant adverse environmental impacts and issued a negative declaration. The City Council approved the project in July 2009. (more…)

Carol E. Rosenthal

Land use attorney Carol E. Rosenthal is able to combine her appreciation of architecture, government, and law all in a day’s work as a partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. After contemplating a major in art, Rosenthal graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in political science. She then earned her law degree from New York University School of Law and began her legal career as a clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Citing a desire to work on something “concrete,” Rosenthal entered private practice as a transactional real estate attorney.

A major turning point in Rosenthal’s career occurred when she left private practice to become assistant counsel to the New York City Department of City Planning. She based the decision on her longtime interest in government and policy, and desire to have an impact on the City’s future. One of Rosenthal’s major projects while at Planning was helping to create the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program. She recalls the uncertainty at that time about the legal issues related to zoning incentives and how closely the benefits needed to be related to the impact of a proposed project in order to withstand judicial scrutiny. Rosenthal and her colleagues structured the program to require that the developer build the affordable housing geographically close to the development receiving the floor area bonus. This promoted the creation of heterogeneous mixed-income neighborhoods. (more…)

Albert K. Butzel

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 grown up in the rural town of Birmingham, Michigan, Butzel had a natural predilection for the open country that soon turned into an interest in land use law. At Harvard, he took a summer job with Professor Charles Haar, an authority on land use law. Together, they analyzed the zoning regulations of various state governments. (more…)

Laurie Silberfeld

As Vice President and General Counsel at Hudson River Park Trust (the Trust), Laurie Silberfeld has played an important role in shaping Hudson River Park. Silberfeld talked with CityLand about her career and the progress of Manhattan’s waterfront park. role in shaping Hudson River Park. Silberfeld talked with CityLand about her career and the progress of Manhattan’s waterfront park.

Silberfeld, a former Regional Attorney with the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation, joined the Trust in 2000. She became familiar with the Trust while working on the park project’s permit approvals at DEC. When the Trust’s General Counsel position opened, Silberfeld viewed it as a unique opportunity to be part of building something with tangible results. (more…)

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 Maritime Building to East River Park. The plan intends to make lower Manhattan’s eastern waterfront accessible and appealing to pedestrians. Since Pier 15 fell within the South Street Seaport Historic District, the design required Landmarks’ approval.

Architect Gregg Pasquarelli presented the plan, explaining that the pier would consist of two levels, with a maritime education center and cafe on the lower level, and the upper level devoted solely to recreational space. The upper level floor would be constructed of wooden slats with half-inch spacing, allowing light below. Three lawns would be planted on the upper level, and amphitheatre- type seating would be installed for viewing the river. Pasquarelli claimed that the City had a history of two-level recreational piers, and the two levels allowed for maritime and recreational uses. (more…)