Top Image: Council Member Fernando Cabrera/Image Credit: Jeff Reed
Bottom Image: Council Member Ben Kallos/Image Credit: John McCarten

The four proposed bills would provide the community and elected officials with the tools to make informed decisions about developments in their neighborhoods. On September 26, 2019, the City Council’s Land Use and Governmental Operations Committees held a hearing on four proposed bills that will increase transparency regarding new developments in the City, specifically with the transfer of development rights and testimony at the Board of Standards and Appeals. The four bills are a response to the recent development of supertall out-of-context skyscrapers in the City and the lack of information provided to the community during the development process.

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Western Beef Supermarket Rendering Image Credit: City Planning

Council Member Richards makes sure developers keep promises. On October 3, 2019, City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on Rockaway Limited Partnership’s application to redevelop the former Peninsula Hospital site into “Edgemere Commons.” The proposed development is located in Far Rockaway Queens, north of Rockaway Beach Boulevard, south of Beach Channel Drive east of Beach 53rd Street and west of Beach 50th Street.

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Image credit: New York City Council.

City Council bills target lead levels. On May 10, 2018, Speaker Corey Johnson and 19 City Council Members introduced a package of 23 bills to eliminate lead poisoning in the five boroughs. The package of bills, the largest lead laws since 2004, seeks to strengthen, expand, and establish new protections on the city’s lead laws. (more…)

Booth House

Landmarks’ designations of two residential buildings on City Island rejected due to objections of local council member. On March 12, 2018, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses voted against upholding the individual landmark designations of two residential buildings on City Island in the Bronx. The buildings are the Samuel H. and Mary T. Booth House at 30 Centre Street, and the Captain John H. Stafford House, at 95 Pell Place. Both houses were unanimously designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on November 28, 2017. (more…)

The Thomas-Lamb designed Loew’s 175th Street Theater in Washington Heights was prioritized for designation. Image credit: LPC

Some items will be removed from calendar due to political reality that designations will not be ratified by Council; others are found to be adequately protected so as to not require prioritization; others to lack significance that would merit immediate designation. On February 23, 2016, Landmarks made determinations on the disposition of 95 items added to Landmarks’ calendar before 2010, but never subjected to a vote on designation. In 2015 the commission had announced an initiative to clear the calendar of the backlogged items. Landmarks held a series of public hearings to give the public an opportunity to testify on the items, some of which had languished on Landmarks’ calendar for decades. At the meeting on February 23, 2016 commissioners voted to keep 30 items on the calendar for a vote on designation during 2016. The remaining 65 items will be decalendared. Landmarks’ determinations on all 95 items are listed in the associated chart.

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