Amount of bicycle parking spaces required for affordable housing developments could be waived or reduced. On March 4, 2009, the City Planning Commission approved, with several modifications, the Department of City Planning’s proposed bicycle parking text amendment. The amendment would require developers to provide secure, enclosed bicycle parking facilities in new buildings, enlargements of buildings of 50 percent or more, and conversions to residential use.

Although the Commission expressed support for the proposal, it believed revisions were necessary to address concerns raised during its February 4th public hearing. 6 CityLand 25 (March 15, 2009). The Commission modified the text to allow affordable housing developers to allocate less space, or no space at all, for bicycle parking that would otherwise be required. The reduction or waiver would apply to cases where the development lacked space for the required number of parking spaces, the additional space could not reasonably be constructed based on the amount of financing available, and the reduction was the minimum necessary to address financial limitations. The Commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development would be required to make these three findings before Buildings could grant the waiver or reduction. (more…)

Council Members Tony Avella and Melinda Katz secure exemption for certain one- and two-family homes from new street tree requirements. On April 30, 2008, the City Council modified the Department of City Planning’s proposals to amend the zoning requirements for street trees and yards. The proposals are designed to create green streetscapes, increase open space, and ameliorate storm water runoff problems.

Under the old zoning, property owners were required to plant street trees in a limited number of special districts and only under certain conditions, such as when there is new construction in an area. The old zoning also required only one rear yard per zoning lot, to be extended along the rear lot line. (more…)

Council Member Melinda Katz is Chair of the Land Use Committee, a position she has held since 2002, when she was first elected to the City Council. The City’s land use review process requires that almost all major land use initiatives, with few exceptions, pass her desk for review. During her tenure as Chair, Katz “worked as a team” with the Bloomberg administration on the City-initiated rezonings, the largest rezoning initiative since 1961, covering roughly onesixth of the City including Hudson Yards, Greenpoint-Williamsburg, Highline-West Chelsea, Downtown Brooklyn, and the Jamaica Plan. On an unseasonably warm January day, CityLand sat down with Katz to get a feel for her perspective on land use issues

“I live in the same house I grew up in.” The daughter of two Julliard-graduates, Katz was born and raised in Forest Hills, Queens. After graduating from Hillcrest High School in Jamaica, Katz attended the University of Massachusetts where she graduated summa cum laude. She then chose to attend St. John’s University School of Law because she “was young and wanted to save the world.” During law school, Katz interned with the Legal Aid Society, United States Attorney’s Organized Crime Unit, and United States District Court Judge Michael B. Mukasey. (more…)

New standards in tune with Mayor’s PlaNYC 2030. The City Council unanimously approved City Planning’s proposal to establish rules regulating the design of open public parking lots, as well as those for commercial and community use facilities. The new standards will apply to new lots and certain existing lots if enlarged.

Prior to the Council’s vote, parking lots were not subject to any Citywide zoning requirements that ensured vehicle maneuverability or environmentally friendly design. According to City Planning, the absence of maneuverability standards endangered drivers and pedestrians; while the absence of green standards encouraged broad expanses of bare pavement that exacerbated storm water runoff problems and increased the urban heat island effect by up to 10 degrees. (more…)

Two new zoning districts created under plan can be applied citywide. The Planning Commission voted unanimously on September 5, 2007 to approve the 206-block rezoning plan for Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, sending it to the City Council.

Initiated by local residents, the plan crafts contextual zoning districts for low-density row house blocks, and higher density mixed-use districts for commercial corridors on Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street. On a majority of the 206- block area, the rezoning would map lower density residential districts (R6A and R6B) that would place 50- foot and 70-foot maximum height limits, the first time height limits would be used on Bedford- Stuyvesant’s residential streets. Along with the rezoning, the plan proposes two new zoning districts and a new mixed-use district for Howard and Atlantic Avenues. It would also apply the City’s Inclusionary Housing provisions to 20 blocks along Atlantic, Fulton Street, Kane Place and Howard Avenue. (more…)