Maximum height limit reduced from 150 to 120 ft. in portions of proposed C4-5X district. On March 24, 2009, the City Council approved, with one modification, the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone and create the Special Forest Hills District within a 10-block area in Forest Hills, Queens. The rezoning area, roughly bounded by Queens Boulevard to the north, the Long Island Rail Road to the south, Ascan Avenue to the east, and Yellowstone Boulevard to the west, had originally been zoned C8-2, C4-2, and R7-1 in 1961. The C8-2 and C4-2 districts allowed for further development of the predominant uses in the area, which were automotive, commercial, and mixed-use. Over time, the auto repair shops and gas stations gave way to retail businesses and restaurants, and the area transformed into the commercial core of Forest Hills. Despite the change in neighborhood character, the outdated zoning remained, and developers increasingly sought variances from BSA to construct large, residential and commercial buildings.

Local residents and elected officials became increasingly concerned with the possibility of haphazard, out-of-character development. They feared developers applying for variances would endeavor to construct buildings that did not reflect the current neighborhood context. Council Member Melinda R. Katz and Queens Community Board 6 requested that Planning devise a rezoning for the commercial core that better reflected current uses and development patterns in the area. Two years later, Planning proposed to rezone the area to R5D/C2-3, C4- 4A, and C4-5X, and to establish the Special Forest Hills District within the entire 10-block area. (more…)

Lynn Kelly

Ever since Lynn Kelly was appointed President of the Coney Island Development Corporation [CIDC] last year, she knew that time was of the essence. Her mission: restore Coney Island to its former prominence, and do it quickly, or lose the opportunity forever.

Kelly, a former Deputy Director of the City’s Art Commission, joined the New York City Economic Development Corporation in 2001. Over the next six years, she managed a portfolio of development projects and land sales of more than $50 million. Appointed President of the CIDC by Mayor Bloomberg in April 2007, Kelly took on the responsibility of saving “the People’s Playground.” (more…)

Further study needed before as-of-right residential conversions in West Village. The Planning Commission voted on June 4, 2008 to significantly reduce the area subject to the private rezoning application of KMG Greenwich LLC for Hudson Square in Manhattan. The vote followed a contentious public hearing before the Commission, where residents and elected officials called the rezoning piecemeal, and warned that it would result in a loss of needed businesses and jobs. 5 CityLand 56 (May 15, 2008).

The Commission removed three full blocks and five lots from the already small five-and-one- half block rezoning proposal. Unchanged by the modification was the rezoning of the lots owned by KMG. The rezoning will facilitate KMG’s plan to convert the vacant building at 627 Greenwich Street to 41 units of housing and to build a 20- unit residential building at 623 Greenwich Street, replacing an atgrade parking lot. (more…)

Developer claimed structural limitations made off-street parking economically infeasible. POKO Partners LLC, a property manager and developer of low-income housing, planned to convert a 50,000sq.ft. vacant theater at 1501 Pitkin Avenue in Brooklyn into a seven-story mixed-use development with two floors of retail, commercial, and community facility space and five floors of residential use. If the 66-unit building were constructed as proposed, 33 off-street parking spaces would be required. POKO sought a variance from the parking requirement from BSA.

POKO claimed that providing off-street parking was infeasible partly because the existing building covered the entire lot area, leaving no open space for parking. POKO also argued that structural limitations did not allow for subsurface parking since the existing cellar was shallow and only partially excavated, and that if parking were required on the ground floor, rental income would be eliminated, thereby rendering the project economically infeasible. In response to BSA’s inquiry about whether the cellar could provide parking, POKO claimed that inconsistent cellar heights would require costly demolition and might weaken the aging, 1930s structure.

BSA granted the variance, finding that the as-of-right scenario with ground floor parking would not provide a reasonable return. BSA also found that eliminating the parking requirement would not alter the essential character of the neighborhood nor would it impair the future development of the area, noting POKO’s contentions that the area contained several mixed-use buildings and did not suffer from a lack of on-street parking, and that adding residential units would not generate significant parking demand since the anticipated, lower income residents were collectively expected to own few cars.

BSA: 1501 Pitkin Ave., Brooklyn (94-08- BZ) (Sept. 23, 2008) (Chris Wright, for POKO). CITYADMIN

Residents and elected officials warn against disturbing area’s critical balance of uses. On April 23, 2008, the City Planning Commission heard public testimony on KMG Greenwich’s proposal to rezone five and one-half blocks of Hudson Square North, roughly bounded by Morton, Hudson, Clarkson, and West Streets.

Currently, the area’s zoning prohibits as-of-right residential development. Under KMG’s proposal, the area would be rezoned to M1-5/R7X, allowing residential, community facility, commercial, and manufacturing uses. The proposal would facilitate the residential conversion of 627 Greenwich Street, as well as the development of a new 80,000-square-foot residential tower at 111 Leroy Street. 5 CityLand 7 (Feb. 15, 2008).

At the public hearing, attorney Jay Segal of Greenberg Traurig, representing KMG, argued that Hudson Square North, after a series of BSA variances, was already a predominantly residential neighborhood. KMG’s environmental consultants, AKRF claimed that the proposal would result in the relocation of only 90 jobs. (more…)