Contextual rezoning of 80 Bronx blocks considered

Webster Ave/Bedford Park/Norwood proposed rezoning. Image: Courtesy of NYC Department of City Planning.

Contextual rezoning would permit residential development along Webster Avenue and apply lower-density districts in Bedford Park and Norwood. On January 5, 2011, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on the Department of City Planning’s Webster Avenue/Bedford Park/Norwood Rezoning plan in the Bronx. The 80-block proposal includes a thirteen-block section of the north/south Webster Avenue commercial corridor between 193rd and 211th … <Read More>


Large rezoning in northeast Queens modified

Contextual rezoning of 418 blocks in Auburndale, Oakland Gardens, and Hollis Hills modified to address concerns of private co-op. On October 27, 2010, the City Council modified the Department of City Planning’s 418-block rezoning of three communities in northeast Queens. The contextual rezoning impacted the Auburndale subarea, which is generally bounded by Station Road to the north, the Long Island Expressway to the south, Francis Lewis Boulevard to the east, and Kissena Park to … <Read More>


Council reversed Commission on curb cut denial

The City Planning Commission denied developer’s special permit request to expand an existing parking facility into a 195-space public garage. The City Council’s Land Use Committee modified and approved SDS 15 William Street LLC’s proposal to amend the Special Lower Manhattan District’s curb cut prohibitions and widen two curb cuts on the north side of Beaver Street between Broad and William Streets in Manhattan’s Financial District. Both curb cuts are south of SDS’s recently completed … <Read More>


Council approved Hines’s 1,050-foot MoMA tower

Council refused Hines’s request to restore the 200 feet cut from the proposed MoMA tower. On October 14, 2009, the City Council approved a modified version of Hines Interests’ proposal to build a mixed-use tower adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art complex at 53 West 53rd Street in Midtown, Manhattan. The original proposal called for an 85-story, 1,250-foot tower that would include 51,949 sq.ft. of additional gallery space for MoMA, a 147,965 sq.ft. hotel, … <Read More>


EAS not required for NYPD command center

The NYPD to house Joint Operations Command Center in building adjoining One Police Plaza. In 2000, the New York Police Department planned to demolish a two-story building at 109 Park Row in Manhattan and replace it with a nine-story building. After September 11, 2001, the NYPD decided instead to renovate the existing building and create a $13.8 million, 22,000 sq.ft. Joint Operations Command Center. The command center would operate as a state-of-the-art crisis response situation … <Read More>


Modified Coney Island Plan Approved

Council increases affordable housing component and removes Wonder Wheel from new parkland. The City Council approved the City’s controversial rezoning and revitalization plan for Coney Island at its July 29, 2009 meeting. In addition to rezoning 19 blocks running from West 8th to West 20th Streets between Mermaid Avenue and the Riegelmann Boardwalk, the City will also create a 27-acre amusement and entertainment district. The City will map new streets, including Wonder Wheel Way east … <Read More>