Credit: Google maps

City will convey waterfront property to Kristal Auto Mall and an existing Toys ‘R’ Us retail store on Flatbush Avenue. On May 15, 2012, the City Council approved the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to facilitate the relocation of Kristal Auto Mall to a site on Flatbush Avenue abutting Mill Basin in Brooklyn. The City-owned project site is occupied by a 45,000-square-foot Toys ‘R’ Us store and a 400-space accessory parking lot used by surrounding businesses. To the south of the site is another City-owned parcel consisting of 400,000 sq.ft. of undeveloped land abutting Four Sparrow Marsh. The proposal called for, among other things, disposing of nearly 240,000 sq.ft. of City-owned property, demapping an unimproved strip of Flatbush Avenue, and rezoning the project site from C3 to C8-1.

Under the plan, Kristal Auto Mall will purchase a 110,000-square-foot portion of the parking lot in order to move from its current location at 5200 Kings Highway. Kristal plans to redevelop the property with a 114,000-square-foot facility housing a showroom, offices, and a service facility. A second 4,000-square-foot building will be used for used-car sales.

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Cambria Heights community expressed concern about impact of proposed one-story commercial building on adjacent community garden. Prior to a public hearing before the City Council’s Zoning & Franchises Subcommittee, Ryan Pedram withdrew his rezoning proposal to extend a C1-3 commercial overlay to an existing R3-2 district at the northeast corner of Linden Boulevard between 226th and 227th Streets in Cambria Heights, Queens. Pedram had requested the rezoning in order to develop a one-story, 8,100 sq.ft. commercial building on a vacant lot adjacent to a community garden owned by the Trust for Public Land.

Linden Boulevard is the main commercial corridor in Cambria Heights and is characterized by low-rise commercial, mixed-use, and residential buildings. In 2005 the City approved a contextual rezoning of Cambria Heights. 2 CityLand 100 (Aug. 15, 2005). Pedram’s property was residentially developed at the time and its R3-2 zoning was left unchanged. East of Pedram’s property, Linden Boulevard is zoned R3-2 with a C2-3 commercial overlay. To the west, Linden Boulevard is zoned R3-2 with C1-3 commercial overlay. Pedram initially proposed extending the C1-3 overlay 90 feet east to include his lot and ten feet of the community garden. (more…)

Separate public and private proposals impacted eight lots left out of the Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street rezoning. On April 28, 2011, the City Council approved independent proposals by the Department of City Planning and a private developer, Marshall Sohne, to rezone portions of Carroll Street between Columbia and Van Brunt Streets in Brooklyn’s Columbia Street Waterfront District. The two proposals impacted portions of the north and south side of Carroll Street that were not included in the Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street Rezoning plan approved by the City in 2009. 6 CityLand 153 (Nov. 15, 2009).

Planning’s proposal covered six lots on the south side of Carroll Street. Five of the lots are developed with late nineteenth century rowhouses, while the sixth lot was once occupied by a similar residential building. The five rowhouses were the subject of a broader 2007 private rezoning that would have replaced the M1-1 zoning with an R6 district. Due to a technical omission, however, Planning requested that the City Council remove the lots from the plan. The current rezoning extended an adjacent R6B district to the six lots to reflect the neighborhood’s residential character. (more…)

Adult businesses challenged constitutionality of 2001  amendments to City’s  zoning resolution. A Department of City Planning study concluded in 1994 that the  City’s adult entertainment businesses caused certain negative secondary effects, such as increased crime and decreased property values. In response to this study, the City amended the zoning resolution in 1995 to bar “adult establishments” from all residential zones and most commercial and manufacturing districts. Adult establishments were defined as commercial businesses whereby a substantial portion (40 percent or more of accessible floor area) included adult uses. Thereafter, adult businesses altered their character to ensure they would not qualify as adult establishments. Believing the altered businesses were in sham compliance with the amendment, the City amended the zoning resolution again in 2001 to clarify “non- adult” material for purposes of the 40 percent calculation.

Various adult businesses challenged the First Amendment constitutionality of the 2001 amendments, and the case eventually reached the Court of Appeals. The Court ruled that the City was not required to produce empirical studies connecting altered 60/40 businesses to negative secondary effects.  The Court, however, ordered a trial to determine whether the 60/40 businesses had changed so much in character that their  main, ongoing focus was no longer sexually explicit material. If their  focus had not changed, the City would be constitutionally justified in strengthening the 1995 ordinance with the 2001 amendments. (more…)

Plan brings three separate commercial corridors into conformance with zoning regulations. On January 18, 2011, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s proposal to apply commercial overlays to three commercial corridors comprising 28 total blocks in Staten Island: Richmond Avenue from Victory Boulevard to Travis Avenue; Hylan Boulevard between Naughton and Seaver Avenues; and Hylan Boulevard between Richmond Avenue and Goodall Street. The rezoning was reviewed and approved concurrently with Planning’s broader modification to the Lower Density Growth Management Area (LDGMA) regulations.

Although zoned residential, the three corridors are predominantly developed with commercial uses that existed prior to the adoption of the 1961 zoning resolution or were built with BSA approval. Because these areas are not located in commercial zones, the LDGMA commercial regulations did not apply to these businesses. By applying C1-2 and C2-2 commercial overlays to these corridors, Planning brings the majority of the businesses into conformance with the underlying zoning and ensures that LDGMA commercial regulations will apply to future development. (more…)