Image: Joel Sternfeld ©2000, courtesy of Friends of the High Line.

Acquisition of the High Line’s third section would allow the City to complete contiguous 1.45-mile elevated public park. On May 12, 2010, the City Planning Commission heard testimony on the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and the Department of Parks & Recreation’s proposal to acquire the northern portion of the High Line elevated rail line from CSX Corporation. This section branches out from Tenth Avenue and 30th Street — a portion referred to as the “spur” — and runs east along the perimeter of the Hudson Yards on West 30th Street before turning north up Twelfth Avenue and terminating below grade at West 34th Street. The acquisition would facilitate the transfer of ownership to the City and permit the development of the High Line’s third and final section.

The High Line is a 1.45-mile elevated steel and concrete rail line built in the 1930s to deliver meat and other goods throughout Manhattan’s lower west side. Trains stopped running along the High Line in 1980, and nearly twenty years later community activists formed Friends of the High Line in order to preserve the High Line and advocate for the construction of a publicly accessible park on the structure. (more…)

The Vision 2020 Comprehensive Waterfront Plan

Proposal is part of inter-agency effort to develop blueprint for managing the City’s shoreline. On April 8, 2010, the Department of City Planning held a public hearing on the Vision 2020 Comprehensive Waterfront Plan. Vision 2020 builds on the City’s original 1992 waterfront plan, and Planning is required by local law to submit a new waterfront report by December 31, 2010 and revise it every ten years thereafter.

2020 plan is part of a broader City-wide initiative to establish a long-term blueprint for sustainable management of the City’s 578 miles of shoreline. Known as the Waterfront Vision and Enhancement Strategy, the plan also includes the City Waterfront Action Agenda, created by the Economic Development Corporation, to identify high-priority initiatives that could be implemented within the next three years.

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Proposal is part of interagency effort to develop blueprint for managing the City’s shoreline. On April 8, 2010, the Department of City Planning held a public hearing on the Vision 2020 Comprehensive Waterfront Plan. Vision 2020 builds on the City’s original 1992 waterfront plan, and Planning is required by local law to submit a new waterfront report by December 31, 2010 and revise it every ten years thereafter.

The Vision 2020 plan is part of a broader City-wide initiative to establish a long-term blueprint for sustainable management of the City’s 578 miles of shoreline. Known as the Waterfront Vision and Enhancement Strategy, the plan also includes the City Waterfront Action Agenda, created by the Economic Development Corporation, to identify high-priority initiatives that could be implemented within the next three years. (more…)

Planning proposed amendment to address community concerns about inappropriate curb cuts and front yard parking spaces in residential areas. On April 14, 2010, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s Residential Streetscape Preservation text amendment. The amendment contains a host of changes, including applying stricter parking regulations in low-density residential districts, and establishing curb cut regulations in medium- and high-density districts that previously had none. It strengthens front yard planting requirements in low-density districts by closing a loophole that allowed narrow planting strips in driveways to count towards the required plantings. To ensure adequate parking is available, the amendment requires that residential enlargements and conversions in R3 and R4 districts provide additional off-street parking for each additional dwelling unit.

The text amendment also addressed a recent court decision ruling that a section of the zoning resolution prohibiting curb cuts in residential “B” districts applied only to new developments and not to existing buildings. The curb cut prohibition will now expressly apply to both existing and new buildings in “B” districts, reinforcing the City Planning Commission’s original intent. (more…)

Daniel R. Garodnick

Council Member Daniel R. Garodnick, the recently re-elected representative for Manhattan’s 4th District and chair of the subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions & Concessions, takes pride in being born and raised in the district he represents. Garodnick grew up in a rent-stabilized apartment in the Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village community and still lives in that neighborhood with his wife. His district also includes parts of the Upper East Side, Midtown, and Murray Hill.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Garodnick worked as a litigator at Paul,Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. He also served as a public member of Manhattan Community Board 6, where he gained a deeper understanding of local issues and their effect on residents. When a City Council vacancy arose in 2005, Garodnick ran as the Democratic Party’s candidate and won 63 percent of the vote in the general election. (more…)