Rendering of Queens Far Rockaway Branch Public Library by Snøhetta. Image credit: NYC EDC

City Council approved a 22-block rezoning of Downtown Far Rockaway, Queens. On September 7, 2017, the City Council approved a large-scale rezoning and development plan for Downtown Far Rockaway by a vote of 46-0. The resolutions will create a Special Downtown Far Rockaway district, a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing area, and an Urban Renewal Area. $288 million has been secured to grant amenities this community has been requesting for over 40 years. (read more…)

Jumaane Williams, with a strong background as a community organizer, was elected to the City Council in 2009 to represent the 45th Council District which covers the Flatbush, East Flatbush, Flatlands, and parts of Midwood and Canarsie neighborhoods of Brooklyn. In his work prior to and as a City Council Member, Jumaane Williams has displayed a passion for community issues like combating gun violence, youth development, tenant advocacy and affordable housing. He plans to run to replace Melissa Mark-Viverito as Speaker of the City Council at the end of her term, and if successful, he would be the first Council Speaker from Brooklyn since the passage of the 1989 Charter. (read more…)

Rendering of Proposed Development. Image Credit: KPA Architects

City Council rejected the first private application of Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. On August 16, 2016, the City Council rejected a proposal to rezone a large corner lot in order to construct a new mixed-use development located at 4650 Broadway in Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood. Currently a two-story commercial building operating as a parking garage and U-Haul truck rental facility occupies the site. The original proposal from the developer, Acadia Sherman Avenue LLC, was to build a new mixed-use building that would have retail and community space on the bottom two floors, contain 335 residential units and rise 23 stories. The original project would have made permanent 30 percent of the floor area as affordable housing under the new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law.

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Manhattan Borough President Brewer, Public Advocate James, and Council Members Chin and Kallos speaking on the initiative outside of City Hall. Image credit: Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer

Initiatives proposed in the wake of the Rivington House sale would prompt public review process and transparency. On July 19, 2016, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Council Member Margaret Chin wrote a letter to the City Planning Commission in favor of subjecting any changes made to deed restrictions throughout New York City to the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. The letter is the latest development in a series of events sparked by the sale of the Rivington House, a nonprofit nursing home on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, to luxury condominium developers. For CityLand’s previous coverage on the City’s involvement in the Rivington House’s sale, click here.

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Image Credit: NYS Association for Affordable Housing.

Association of developers and contractors of affordable housing claimed that local law on prequalification and disclosure violated their constitutional rights. On September 24, 2012, the City Council passed Local Law 44, which required the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to create a public website disclosing the scope and location of publicly-funded affordable housing projects as well as complaints about developers, contractors and subcontractors involved in the project. The website must also list which developers, contractors and subcontractors were designated “prequalified” or “disqualified” along with the selection criteria for the designation. A participating developer, contractor and subcontractor must provide quarterly salary reports if it has an annual gross revenue of at least $2.5 million or it is a principal owner of another entity and together have an aggregate annual gross revenue of at least $2.5 million. The failure to provide the quarterly reports disqualified the developer, contractor or subcontractor from being designated as prequalified. (read more…)

Image credit: Jeff Hopkins

How small is too small when it comes to trip hazards on New York City sidewalks? New York courts, grappling with this issue for over 125 years, have declined to advance a standard based solely on the size or dimensions of the defect or hazard and instead have opted to evaluate each slip, trip and fall case on the merits under a totality of the circumstances test. The result is that it is difficult for the City and private premises owners to win dismissal on trip and fall cases based on the triviality of the defect.

Under the common law, municipalities generally have the duty to keep their streets and sidewalks in a reasonably safe condition. To prove a breach of this duty, a plaintiff who tripped on a sidewalk trip hazard and was injured must prove that the municipality either caused the defective condition, or that a condition caused by natural occurrences or a third party existed for a sufficient amount of time that the municipality had constructive notice of and could have repaired the condition. Unless actual notice is established, latent defects will not impose liability if the municipality did not cause the defect. In addition, a plaintiff bringing a common law claim must show that the defect was not trivial. What constitutes “notice” and “trivial” in New York, however, has been subject an evolving standard over the past century. (read more…)