Court finds record insufficient to allow commercial use on a Staten Island residential street. After purchasing a single-family house at the intersection of Otis Avenue and Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island, GAC Catering Inc. demolished the house and applied to BSA for a variance to construct a two-story photography and video studio to serve couples having weddings at its nearby catering hall. Despite the lot’s residential zoning, GAC claimed that commercial uses predominated the area … <Read More>
Search Results for: Variance
Variance denied to homeowner in legal trouble
Queens homeowner sought to legalize lot split to allow sale to proceed. Pei Yu Zhong proposed to split her 11,475-square-foot lot, containing a one-family house, garage and swimming pool, into two developable lots and construct a new home to replace the pool and garage. After receiving a preliminarytax lot from the Department of Finance and a subdivision approval from Buildings, Zhong applied for a new building permit in January 2003. While Buildings was completing its … <Read More>
Aeronautics school gets variance for new dorm
New dormitory next to LaGuardia to house 200 students. The Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology operates a school on a sevenacre site at 90th Street and Ditmars Boulevard opposite LaGuardia Airport in Queens. Vaughn applied to BSA for a variance to build its first dormitory on an undeveloped portion of its lot. The three-story, 200- bed dorm would exceed height limits and yard requirements.
Vaughn argued that the proposed dorm was necessary to attract … <Read More>
Whitney Museum gets variance for addition
Whitney Museum’s programmatic needs warrant variances for height, floor area, and retail space. On July 25, 2006, BSA granted variances to the Whitney Museum of American Art in the Upper East Side Historic District, Manhattan. The additions, including a nine-story, 178-foot Renzo Piano-designed tower required variances for height, setback, floor area, and frontage.
On May 24, 2005, Landmarks approved the museum enlargement and issued a permit on January 5, 2006. 2 CityLand 73 (June 15, … <Read More>
BSA grants variance for Harlem church project
Church sought approval for 35 market- rate residential units in East Harlem. BSA granted a variance to the Church of the Resurrection, permitting an eight-story residential building at 325 East 101st Street, in East Harlem, Manhattan. The new 47,984-square-foot building will be located on an 8,629-square-foot lot that currently contains a two-story church, which will be demolished. The new building will contain a church and elementary school on the first and second floors, and 35,552 … <Read More>
Variance for Red Hook condos sent back to BSA
BSA’s reliance on a single-use feasibility study deemed insufficient. In 2003, BSA granted a variance to 160 Imlay Street Real Estate LLC to convert a vacant, 220,000-square-foot Red Hook industrial building into 150 luxury residential condominiums with ground floor retail. When members of the Red Hook- Gowanus Chamber of Commerce filed an article 78 petition challenging the variance, the City asked the court to dismiss the proceeding since the Chamber failed to add Imlay as … <Read More>