Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School was permitted to expand its campus to provide a middle school. Image credit: Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School

Columbia Grammar and Preparatory permitted to establish new building for a middle-school program over community opposition. On October 7, 2014 the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to grant a variance to Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School for the enlargement of an existing school building. The building is located at 5 West 93rd Street in Manhattan’s Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District, between Central Park West to the west and Columbus Avenue to the east. Columbia Prep serves students from pre-kindergarten through the twelfth grade grouped in two schools, Pre-K through six, and seven through twelve.

(read more…)

Street view of 118-27 Farmers Boulevard. Image Credit: Google Maps

Board granted the variances despite divided community support. On September 23, 2014, the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to grant five variances to St. Albans Presbyterian Church for the construction of a five-story mixed-use facility at 118-27 Farmers Boulevard. The development site is located in St. Albans, Queens, and bounded by Farmers Boulevard to the west, 119th Avenue to the south, 189th Street to the east, and 118th Avenue to the north. The facility will feature two floors in the cellar for community space and five stories for residential space containing sixty-seven units of affordable housing, as well as seventeen parking spaces, and a thirty-five-foot perimeter wall.

(read more…)

Illustration: Jeff Hopkins.

Over 72 million Americans are considered clinically obese. With the increased emphasis on diet and exercise, gyms are turning up everywhere throughout New York City. Owning and operating a gym is not a simple process. Gym owners face zoning restrictions, permit requirements, and potential tort liability. (read more…)

Puglia By the Sea was damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Image Credit: silive.com

BSA granted a use variance to demolish previous restaurant damaged by Hurricane Sandy and permit construction of a one-story restaurant and additional parking spaces. On June 24, 2014, the Board of Standards and Appeals granted a use variance to Puglia by the Sea, a restaurant, located at 750 Barclay Avenue in the Annadale section of Staten Island. BSA approved the application for Puglia to demolish the original restaurant, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy, and construct a new one-story restaurant with additional parking spaces. (read more…)

Naming Carl Weisbrod CPC Chair was only one of many major land-use appointments by Mayor De Blasio. Image Credit: Mayor’s Office.

Mayor de Blasio has re-structured the City’s land use administrative hierarchy to further his affordable housing agenda. On July 22, 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio nominated Margery Perlmutter to serve as Chair of the Board of Standards and Appeals. This was the Mayor’s latest appointment  to City land-use positions, all of which will bear heavily on the Mayor’s expansive affordable housing agenda, a ten-year plan designed to preserve some 200,000 units of affordable housing. (read more…)

Eagle claimed huge sign visible from Queensboro Bridge was not an accessory sign.  The Eagle Electric Manufacturing Company, in 1936, constructed a 1,950 square foot sign on the rooftop of its plant located at 23-10 Queens Plaza South, Queens. The plant is located in the M1-9/R9 Special Long Island City Mixed Use zoning district and within 200 feet of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. Eagle ceased operations in 2000; the plant where the sign is located is currently vacant. In 1999, the sign was leased to Atlantic Outdoor Advertising, Inc. and has since been used to advertise different products. (read more…)