In the first months of 2006, Council Member Tony Avella, Chair of the Subcommittee on Zoning & Franchises, introduced proposed legislation to change the make up of BSA, require NYPD arrests for any illegal demolition, and curb the illegal construction that residents say is driven by a rush to beat a down-zoning. CityLand asked Avella about his proposed land use initiatives and his career.
Public Service. When asked about land use issues within his 20-year … <Read More>
Sixty-one unit apartment building to be built on Varick Street. The owner of 100 Varick Street sought a variance from BSA to build a 79- unit, 109-foot tall, 65,980-squarefoot residential development covering two lots located across from the Holland Tunnel entry plaza in Manhattan, zoned for manufacturing uses. No parking would be added to the development. At the first hearing before BSA, the owners of adjacent 125 Varick opposed the development, explaining that they held … <Read More>
BSA sides with owner despite strong opposition. On August 22, 2006, BSA granted a variance to Atlas Packaging Solutions Holding Corporation, the owner of a vacant, 2,500- square-foot lot at 146 Conover Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, to allow construction of a six-unit, four-story, 5,350-square-foot residential building in a manufacturing zone (M2-1). Prior to 1980, the lot contained a residential building.
In support of the variance, Atlas argued that the site’s small size and the … <Read More>
Manhattan College and Pathmark partner on new supermarket and campus parking garage. On June 21, 2006, the Planning Commission unanimously approved an application made by Manhattan College to permit construction of a six-level parking garage/supermarket structure on Broadway and Manhattan College Parkway in the Bronx. The Commission also approved a revocable consent to allow a pedestrian bridge to connect the market and garage to the Manhattan College campus.
The college partnered with the Pathmark supermarket … <Read More>
Post-9/11 changes required amendment to 1996 BSA resolution. Compass Forwarding operates a freight transfer facility near JFK Airport at 159-15 Rockaway Blvd. in Springfield, Queens. In 1996, Compass obtained a variance to permit enlargement of its transfer station on condition that operations would be suspended Sundays. In July 2005, Compass applied to BSA to amend the terms of the variance to allow Sunday operation so that it could comply with post-9/11 regulations for air freight … <Read More>
BSA reduces project size by almost 7,000 sq.ft. SoHo Island, LLC applied to BSA for a use variance to construct a nine-story, 73,645- square-foot residential and retail building on Sixth Avenue between Canal and Grand Streets in SoHo. The 11,300-square-foot development site consists of three merged lots zoned for manufacturing. Currently, the site contains the Moondance Diner, a paved parking lot and a two-story building with a garage and a photography shop, all of … <Read More>