The Belnord Apartments

Banking group claimed proposed limitations on widths of new ground floor storefronts along Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, and Columbus Avenue unfairly discriminate against banks. On June 21, 2012, the City Council’s Land Use Committee approved the Department of City Planning’s Upper West Side Neighborhood Retail Streets proposal. The proposal would establish two Special Enhanced Commercial Districts in Manhattan’s Upper West Side and establish limits on the widths of new and expanding ground floor retail stores, banks, and residential lobbies along portions of the neighborhood’s main commercial thoroughfares: Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, and Columbus Avenue. One special district would cover the majority of Amsterdam Avenue between 73rd and 110th Streets and Columbus Avenue between 72nd and 87th Streets. The other special district would cover Broadway between 72nd and 110th Streets. The proposal would also apply a C1-5 commercial overlay to a portion of one block on Columbus Avenue in order to reflect existing uses.

City Planning created the proposal in response to community concerns about the proliferation of banks with large storefronts, new retail tenants combining multiple small storefronts, and new developments providing only single-tenant, ground floor space. According to City Planning, the proposal would reinforce the neighborhood’s diverse, multi-store character, and encourage an active streetscape on the three commercial corridors.

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New Business Improvement District approved after Council recommended second comment period. On February 29, 2012, the City Council approved the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to create the Westchester Square Business Improvement District in the Bronx. The district will include 145 businesses along portions of East Tremont Avenue, Williamsbridge Road, and Westchester Avenue in the northeast Bronx. The district will have first-year budget of $320,000, with $120,000 allocated to sanitation services, $95,000 to administrative expenses, and $72,000 to marketing.

The proposal had to overcome some unforeseen procedural hurdles before its formation. The BID’s 30-day public objection period expired in November 2011. The Council’s Finance Committee, however, decided to postpone its vote on the proposal after discovering that the BID Steering Committee had not complied with public notice requirements. It had hand-delivered some of the notices for the Council’s objection-period triggering public hearing, rather than using the mail as required by law. Chair Domenic M. Recchia Jr. was concerned that the error would expose the BID to legal challenges, and decided to restart the hearing process to give the Steering Committee an opportunity to provide complying notice. The Steering Committee delivered proper notice for the new hearing, and a second objection period was triggered in early January. 9 CityLand 4 (Feb. 15, 2012).  (more…)

Council authorized budget increases for BIDs in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens. On January 18, 2011, the City Council adopted a local law authorizing increases in the annual budgets of six business improvement districts in the City. The boards of directors of the Grand Central Partnership, the 24th Street Partnership and the 125th Street Partnership in Manhattan, the Fordham Road BID, and the Mosholu-Jerome-East Gun Hill Road BID in the Bronx, and the Bayside Village BID in Queens initiated the process by submitting proposed budgets reflecting increased property assessments to the City’s Department of Small Business Services. Pursuant to the administrative code, the boards of (more…)

Bronx BID formation delayed to ensure compliance with public notice requirements. On January 3, 2012, the City Council’s Finance Committee held a public hearing triggering another 30-day objection period for the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to create the Westchester Square Business Improvement District in the Bronx. The proposed BID would be within Bronx Community Boards 10 and 11. The district, with a proposed first-year budget of $320,000, would include 90 tax lots and 145 businesses.

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At hearing, concerns raised about whether public notice requirements were met for proposed BID. On October 17, 2011, the City Council’s Finance Committee held a public hearing on the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to create the Westchester Square Business Improvement District in the Bronx.

The BID would be within Bronx Community Boards 10 and 11 and extend along portions of East Tremont Avenue, Williamsbridge Road, and Westchester Avenue. The district would include 90 tax lots and 145 businesses that include local retail, neighborhood services, and national chain stores. The BID would allow an annual assessment on property owners in order to provide supplemental sanitation and security services, marketing and promotions, and special events. The BID’s first-year budget would be $320,000, with $120,000 going to sanitation services, $95,000 to administrative expenses, and $72,000 to marketing. The remaining budget would be allocated to special events, holiday lighting, and a reserve fund. The budget would come from an assessment on commercial properties of $57 per-linearfront- foot. Owners of corner-lot properties and properties with commercial uses above the ground floor would pay an additional $300. The owners of vacant mid-block properties would pay $300, and the owners of vacant corner properties would pay $600. Wholly residential property owners would pay a $1 assessment. Government and non-profit properties would pay nothing.  (more…)