Modified Coney Island Plan Approved

Council increases affordable housing component and removes Wonder Wheel from new parkland. The City Council approved the City’s controversial rezoning and revitalization plan for Coney Island at its July 29, 2009 meeting. In addition to rezoning 19 blocks running from West 8th to West 20th Streets between Mermaid Avenue and the Riegelmann Boardwalk, the City will also create a 27-acre amusement and entertainment district. The City will map new streets, including Wonder Wheel Way east … <Read More>


New Midtown rail station approved for ARC Project

Nation’s largest mass transit project will double NJ Transit’s commuter rail capacity into Manhattan. The City Council approved the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s applications related to the $8.7 billion Access to Region’s Core (ARC) passenger rail project. Jointly sponsored by the Port Authority and New Jersey Transit, the project’s goal is to double the capacity of NJ Transit’s commuter rail service into Manhattan by building a rail tunnel under the Hudson … <Read More>


BSA grandfathers 16-story Lower East Side hotel

Hotel developer admits its foundation work damaged adjacent building. Developer D.A.B. Group LLC received a foundation permit on September 29, 2008 for its planned 16-story Lower East Side hotel at Rivington and Orchard Streets. Excavation work began one week after the City Planning Commission voted to downzone the area. D.A.B. then obtained a full building permit at 2:21 p.m. on the day that the City Council voted to approve the East Village/Lower East Side rezoning. … <Read More>


Modified Coney Island Master Plan Moves to Council

Modifications include increasing ground floor amusement requirements and easing bulk restrictions. On June 17, 2009, the City Planning Commission approved the seven linked applications comprising the City’s extensive redevelopment plan for Coney Island. The approval included demapping of streets and parkland, creation of new streets and parkland, and a 19-block rezoning, running from West 8th to West 20th Streets between Mermaid Avenue and the Riegelmann Boardwalk.

The product of over 300 public meetings dating back … <Read More>


Lower Concourse plan OK’d

 

Lower Concourse, Adopted Rezoning Map used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Plan envisions public walkway along Harlem River waterfront. The Department of City Planning’s sweeping rezoning proposal for a 30-block area of the South Bronx, bordering the Harlem River, obtained City Council approval on June 30, 2009. The plan impacts the underused and primarily industrial-zoned area along the Harlem River, bounded by East 149th Street … <Read More>


Council approves Two Trees project adjacent to bridge

Speaker Quinn announced support prior to Council vote. On June 10, 2009, the City Council approved Two Trees Management Company’s mixed-use development project adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO, Brooklyn. The project will provide the neighborhood with a 45,000 sq.ft. middle school and approximately 300 new housing units, 20 percent of which will be permanently affordable.

Residents, neighborhood associations, and community groups opposed the project. In response, the City Planning Commission reduced the project’s … <Read More>