Williamsburg East River towers advance

Two Williamsburg residential towers near approval after City acts to apply 20 percent inclusionary affordable housing text to development. On June 5, 2006, the Council’s Land Use Committee voted to approve a 591,138-square-foot residential and retail development along the East River waterfront in Williamsburg, outside of the City’s recent rezoning. Along with the development, the Land Use Committee approved a separate zoning amendment application initiated by the Planning Department that would apply the City’s Inclusionary … <Read More>


Manhattan Borough President Stringer Looks to Initiate Land Use Policy and Community Board Reform

Since taking office in January 2006, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has set land use policy and community board reform as priorities.

Stringer hired Anthony Borelli as his Director of Land Use, Planning and Development. Before joining the Borough President’s office, Borelli studied urban planning at Columbia University and worked with the university’s Urban Technical Assistance Project, which provides urban planning consultation to distressed communities. Borelli then served as District Manager of Community Board 4 … <Read More>


TransGas Brooklyn power plant hits hurdle

Electric power plant proposed for site where City seeks to build 28-acre park as part of its Greenpoint- Williamsburg rezoning. On April 12, 2006, the Public Service Commission recommended denial of the second application of TransGas Energy Systems, LLC to construct an eight-acre electric power plant at 1 North 12th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on a site that the City plans to condemn for a new 28-acre waterfront park.

After it spent $1.5 million on … <Read More>


Owner wins right to complete construction

City designated lot to become part of Hudson Boulevard and city park. Affirmation Arts Ltd. received building and demolition permits in 2004 to add an additional story and mezzanine totaling 3,206 sq.ft. to the three-story building at 523 West 37th Street. In January 2005, before Affirmation finished the work, the City approved the Hudson Yards rezoning, its massive land use initiative for Manhattan’s west side.

Under the Hudson Yards rezoning, Affirmation’s lot at West 37th … <Read More>


Residential building OK’ed on narrow Chelsea lot

Opponents asked that owner re-use existing four-story building. Jack Ancona proposed to demolish a four-story, 3,375-square-foot building at 132 West 26th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, replacing it with a twelve-story, 135-foot retail and residential project. Because the lot retained its manufacturing zoning, the proposal required a use variance.

Ancona claimed that his site’s narrow 18-foot, 9-inch width made it unique and rendered manufacturing uses impractical. Ancona provided documents showing only six other lots … <Read More>


Area rezoned to preserve one and two family homes

Residents sought rezoning to halt subdivisions and out-of-character residential development. On March 22, 2006, the Planning Commission unanimously approved a rezoning impacting 82 blocks of the Bayswater and Far Rockaway neighborhoods in Queens. The rezoned areas are predominately residential and border the Far Rockaway commercial district. The rezoning was proposed in response to overdevelopment concerns caused by the subdivision of large lots and replacement of one- and two-family homes with multi-family homes.

Existing R2, R3-2, … <Read More>