Mark Silberman

Hobbled by a bad back and recently returned from vacation, the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s General Counsel Mark Silberman sat down with CityLand to talk about his role at the Commission and Landmarks’ role in the City. He brings a perspective on the broader role of historic preservation nationally and in our culture.

A young environmentalist. Raised in Illinois and a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz, Silberman began his career in government and advocacy as a lobbyist in Washington for environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, an offshoot of the Sierra Club and the first grassroots international environmental organization. Silberman worked on amending the Safe Drinking Water Act to protect groundwater, pesticide reform, and hazardous waste issues.

Silberman decided he could be more effective with a law degree. He attended Hofstra University’s law school, choosing this institution largely for the opportunity to work with environmental lawyer and former Parks Commissioner William Ginsberg. After graduation, Silberman worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP’s recently created environmental law group, where, he estimates, he spent around 30 percent of his time working on pro bono cases. Among those cases, Silberman worked with two colleagues representing the Natural Resources Defense Council and the West Harlem Environmental Action Coalition over the operation of the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Harlem, eventually winning a million dollar settlement with the City. (more…)

Albert K. Butzel

Albert K. Butzel did everything he could to avoid going to law school. After graduating from Harvard College, Butzel spent a year in Paris trying to become, as he put it, Ernest Hemingway or F. Scott Fitzgerald. He made a deal with his father, who was an attorney, that he would go to law school if he did not succeed as a fiction writer. About a year later, Butzel enrolled at Harvard Law School.

Having grown up in the rural town of Birmingham, Michigan, Butzel had a natural predilection for the open country that soon turned into an interest in land use law. At Harvard, he took a summer job with Professor Charles Haar, an authority on land use law. Together, they analyzed the zoning regulations of various state governments. (more…)

Developer sought to extinguish deed restriction on Upper West Side property. The City, through the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Asset Sales Program, sold 330 West 86th Street in Manhattan to the building’s tenants. Because the property had been designated as an Urban Development Action Area Project, the deed stated that the tenants could only rehabilitate or conserve the existing dwellings, or construct new dwellings permitted by existing zoning laws. The deed also required the tenants to remove all building code violations and hazardous conditions. The tenants, rather than correcting the violations, sold the property to 330 West 86th Street LLC, a developer who allegedly sought to demolish the building to construct a high-rise apartment building. (more…)

Developer not required to submit a recorded easement or restrictive declaration ensuring rooftop access to adjoining buildings to meet open space requirements. A developer agreed to purchase 144 North 8th Street from Iqbal LLC and two affiliated entities, along with the unused development rights from Iqbal’s adjoining tax lot, to facilitate the construction of a 16-story mixed-use building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In order to meet open space requirements for the 16-story design, the developer needed access to the rooftops of the two existing buildings on Iqbal’s adjoining tax lot. Believing it would have acquired such access upon purchase, the developer applied for a Buildings permit to construct the 16-story building, and it was granted. Shortly thereafter, the property transaction closed, and the developer obtained title to 144 North 8th Street and the unused development rights from Iqbal’s tax lot.

A dispute subsequently arose between Iqbal and the developer, and Iqbal sued the developer, claiming, among other things, that the developer was not authorized to access the rooftops. The developer then counterclaimed for a declaratory judgment that it did have a right of access to the rooftops. After Iqbal filed the lawsuit, Buildings issued a Letter of Intent to revoke the permit, and requested an easement agreement between the parties granting access to the rooftops. No easement agreement was provided, and so Buildings issued a stop work order. The developer then submitted a revised zoning analysis showing a 10-story building, an alternative design that could be built if the developer was unable to use the rooftops. Based on the revised analysis, Buildings partially lifted the stop work order, and allowed construction of the lower ten-stories to proceed. With construction of the building underway, several residents and community organizations requested that the Brooklyn Borough Commissioner issue a final determination on the validity of the permit. The Commissioner found that the permit was valid, and the determination was appealed to BSA. (more…)

Comptroller Brad Lander. Image Credit: Office of the Comptroller.

On January 9, 2023, the Office of Comptroller Brad Lander released a new report “Turn Up the Heat,” which reviews the City’s efforts in addressing chronic heat complaints. By law, from October 1 through May 31, landlords are required to maintain indoor temperatures at 68 degrees in the daytime when outdoor temperatures are below 55 degrees, and at least 62 degrees indoors at night, regardless of the outdoor temperature. Hot water must also be provided at 120 degrees year-round. When landlords fail to meet these requirements, tenants can file complaints with 311, which can result in interventions by city agencies. The new Comptroller’s report examines the effectiveness of these interventions and what the city can do to improve its response, especially for the worst offending buildings.  (more…)