40-31 82nd Street Rezoning. Image credit: CPC.
Mixed-use building seeks to bring residential and commercial space, but residents do not agree. On May 23, 2018, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on the 40-31 82nd Street Rezoning application by The Heskel Group under representation by Nora Martins of Akerman LLP. The application seeks a zoning map amendment and zoning text amendment to develop a mixed-use building with residential, commercial, and community facility space in a currently vacant lot. The project site is located along Ithaca Street, Baxter Avenue and 82nd Street in Elmhurst, Queens. (more…)
Maurice T. Lewis House. Image credit: LPC
Turn-of-the-century mansion, identified as part of Sunset Park survey, was calendared as a last-minute addition to agenda two weeks prior to hearing, followed immediately by designation. Landmarks voted to designate the Maurice T. Lewis House, at 404 55th Street in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, immediately following a public hearing on March 6, 2018. Landmarks had only added the item to its calendar two weeks prior, as a last-minute addition to the day’s agenda. (more…)
Morris Park Avenue. Image credit: GoogleMaps
Proposal encompasses 188 businesses in a 1.06 mile stretch of Morris Park Avenue in the Bronx. On August 9, 2017, the City Planning Commission approved the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to create the Morris Park Business Improvement District in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx. The BID would consist of 188 properties along both sides of Morris Park Avenue, bounded by Unionport Road to the west and Williamsbridge Road to the east. The BID area is a low-density, pedestrian-friendly commercial corridor. The street is zoned with C1 and C2 commercial overlays which allows for restaurants, boutiques and specialized retails; health, legal, real estate and financial institutions; and beauty, hair and nail salons. (more…)
One Vanderbilt. Image credit: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC
Early in January 2017 the City of New York began the official public approval process for a proposal to rezone East Midtown Manhattan. The proposal was based in part on a report by the East Midtown Steering Committee co-chaired by the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and the District 4 Council Member Daniel Garodnick.
The new 2017 proposal is the third proposal for rezoning East Midtown. In 2013 the Bloomberg Administration proposed to rezone East Midtown, but was forced by opposition to withdraw the proposal. In 2015 the City rezoned the limited area along the Vanderbilt Corridor adjacent to Grand Central Terminal. Both the current 2017 proposal and the 2015 adopted Vanderbilt Corridor rezoning are an improvement over the Bloomberg Administration’s withdrawn proposal; a developer cannot just write a check to receive bonus floor area, but must build an improvement to the public realm. Still, both the new proposal and the Vanderbilt Corridor rezoning represent “zoning-for-dollars,” and take zoning in a wrong direction. How might we do better? (more…)
Image Credit: explorenewdorp.com
City Council votes to create the City’s latest Business Improvement District on Staten Island. On April 5, 2017, the City Council voted 50-0 to approve the Department of Small Business Services’ application to create the New Dorp Business Improvement District for Staten Island’s New Dorp neighborhood. The BID will consist of properties along New Dorp Lane and adjacent commercial streets between Hylan Boulevard and Richmond Road. The proposed BID contains 146 properties and 180 businesses, most of which are small and family-owned companies. (more…)
