Seminar Topics:
— The Changing Face of Open Space: Legal Issues Associated with Open Space in New York City
— Parking Garages, Lots and Off-Street Parking: Proposed New Manhattan Core Parking Rules
— Accommodating Expansion of Undeveloped or Underused Urban Land
When: Thursday, April 25, from 1:45 to 6:00 p.m.
Where: 185 West Broadway (between Worth & Leonard Streets), Auditorium
Credit: 4 Professional Practice transitional & non-transitional CLE credits. Non-credit option also available.
Cost: $275 general registration.
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Parking in Manhattan is a controversial subject. The Department of City Planning weighed in on the topic when, in December 2011, it released a study of parking within Manhattan’s core business districts. City Planning reported that there are fewer off-street parking spaces than there were years ago. In 1978 the Manhattan core had 127,000 off-street public parking spaces; in 2010 there were only 103,000.
The reduction in spaces resulted in part from environmental policies that I was involved with as a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council. In 1975 the City was not in compliance with the federal carbon monoxide standards, and I served as co-counsel in a Clean Air Act litigation against the City. The Beame Administration in 1977 settled the case by limiting the right to construct off-street garages, and by removing parking meters from midtown, actions which led to the City’s 1982 parking rules. Under these rules acres of surface lots disappeared, as for example, along Sixth Avenue in the twenties. (more…)
Two-building project would include affordable rental building and market- rate condominium building. On July 13, 2011, the City Planning Commission heard testimony on L+M Development Partners Inc.’s proposed 266,500 sq.ft. mixed-use project for a through-block lot on the north side of West 116th Street between Malcolm X Boulevard and Fifth Avenue in Harlem. The midblock project site is occupied by a basketball court and a parking lot. L+M plans to redevelop the site with a twelve-story market-rate condominium building fronting West 116th Street and a nine-story affordable rental building fronting West 117th Street.
The eastern portion of West 116th Street, including the project site, is zoned R7-2. The rest of the block to the west is zoned C4-5X. To facilitate the development, L+M requested that the C4-5X district be extended east to include the entire block. The rezoning area includes a Baptist church and two mid-rise residential buildings. (more…)
Ten-year permit granted to Eden Day Spa. BSA approved the application of Eden Day Spa to legalize its existing spa at 388 Broadway between White and Walker Streets in Tribeca. The spa, a “physical cultural establishment” under the zoning code, required a special permit to be located within a manufacturing zone.
At the legalization hearing, Eden Day Spa, which has been at this location since 2001, did not face opposition. BSA approved a tenyear permit, but prohibited any transfer in ownership by Eden without its prior approval. (more…)

New signage in Quisqueya Plaza. Image Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
On February 27, 2023, the New York City Department of Transportation announced an investment of $7 million to bring capital upgrades to Quisqueya Plaza in Inwood. Located on Dyckman Street between Broadway and Seaman Avenue, the plaza was the first Open Street location to become a permanent plaza in 2021. (more…)