Community groups gain access to withheld documents since Columbia University and ESDC hired same consultant. Columbia University hired AKRF, a prominent planning firm, to help gain agency approvals for its controversial expansion into Manhattanville. Two months later, the Empire State Development Corporation hired AKRF to conduct a blight study needed to determine if the use of eminent domain as part of Columbia’s plan was appropriate. Columbia paid AKRF’s consulting fees for preparing the blight study … <Read More>
Search Results for: Article 78 Petition
St. John the Divine project withstands EIS lawsuit
Court dismissed action because new environmental review would not restore scenic views. The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine leased part of its 11-acre campus to a developer, who built an 18-story residential building on West 110th Street at the corner of Cathedral Parkway and Morningside Drive. When local residents opposed the project, the developer agreed to make an honest effort to ensure that the building would qualify as an “80/20 building” under which … <Read More>
Court rejects challenge to Brooklyn rezoning
Owner claimed that City illegally spot zoned his two lots. In 2006, the City Council voted to rezone 80 blocks of Midwood, Brooklyn, including two lots on Ocean Avenue owned by Jacob Fetman. When the City Council voted on the plan, it modified the initial district proposed by City Planning for the west side of Ocean Avenue between Avenues L and M, giving the west side of that block a different zoning district than the … <Read More>
First Department orders BSA to issue variance
Court affirmed power to overturn BSA even when it failed to consider all five variance factors. In 1999, George Pantelidis, owner of a townhouse in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, obtained a permit from the Department of Buildings to construct a glass-enclosed stairwell at the rear of his building. The stairwell allowed the Pantelidis family, who occupied the second and third floors of the five-story building, to move about their residence without using the public stairs.… <Read More>
Suit challenges Randall’s Island concession
Claim alleges that the City improperly skipped land use approvals in Randall’s Island agreement on private school use. Parents of public school students and community residents from East Harlem filed an article 78 petition in Supreme Court on June 14, 2007, seeking to void the City’s approval of a concession agreement between 20 private schools and the Randall’s Island Sports Foundation. The petition asks the court to invalidate the agreement and force the City to … <Read More>
Council considers law to allow review of BSA decisions
Proposal would permit Council by a majority vote to review variances and special permits. The City Council’s Land Use Committee heard public testimony on July 24, 2007 on Local Law Intro. 261 to amend the City Charter’s review procedures on BSA decisions. The amendment, sponsored by Council Member Tony Avella, would give the Council the power to review BSA variances and special permit decisions if a majority of the full Council votes to take review. … <Read More>