Image Credit: City Planning Commission
NYC Engage announced with ULURP restart. On July 15, 2020, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the City Planning Commission will start holding remote hearings, beginning with an August 3, 2020 Review Session and a public meeting on August 5, 2020. The Mayor also announced the launch of “NYC Engage,” a new online portal intended to facilitate public engagement during the remote public hearings. The last time that the City Planning Commissioned convened was during a March 2, 2020 review session.
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Zoning Application Portal Search Features Image Credit: City Planning
City Planning continues to improve online platforms to involve and inform community. On December 17, 2019, the Department of City Planning announced two updates to the Zoning Application Portal (“ZAP”). The first update will allow Community Boards, Borough Presidents and Borough Boards to digitally calendar public hearings for land use items. The second update permits Community Boards and Borough Presidents to instantaneously upload their recommendations to the online portal. These two features are intended to “smooth out” and “speed up” the process of calendaring hearings and filing recommendations by centralizing the information on a single website.
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NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer. Image credit: Office of the New York City Comptroller
Comptroller’s office analyzes other sources of data, concluding retail vacancy is citywide problem. On September 25, 2019, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer released a report regarding New York City’s retail vacancy crisis. Comptroller Stringer’s report is intended to fill a void in unexplored data from City Planning’s August 8, 2019, analysis of the same topic.
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Rending of Edgemere Commons Image Credit: City Planning
Edgemere Commons receives mixed reaction from the Rockaway community. On September 25, 2019, City Planning unanimously approved the Rockaway Limited Partnership’s application to redevelop an existing superblock in the Edgemere neighborhood of Far Rockaway, Queens. The site, which formerly housed Peninsula Hospital, is a paved over, impermeable surface lot located north of Rockaway Beach Boulevard, south of Beach Channel Drive east of Beach 53rd Street and west of Beach 50th Street. The development is currently referred to as “Edgemere Commons.”
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Protestors opposed to the borough-based jails project attended the special hearing. Image Credit: City Planning Commission
Borough based jail proposal moves to City Council. On September 3, 2019, the City Planning Commission approved the Department of Corrections, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ application for a special permit to create a borough-based jail system with modifications. The application passed by a 9-3 vote with Commissioners Alfred C. Cerullo III, Orlando Marin and Raj Ramphershad voting against the proposal.
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Illustrative Rendering of the envisioned street view. Image Credit: DCP.
Before reaching the City Council, the project received mixed support over concerns that the area was ill-equipped for the increased density. On June 26, 2019, City Council voted to approve with modifications an application that would help implement a major City-initiated plan to redevelop Staten Island’s Bay Street Corridor, which connects the St. George, Tompkinsville, and Stapleton neighborhoods. The comprehensive plan will redevelop the Bay Street Corridor into a walkable, transit-oriented community that provides housing, jobs, and local businesses. The plan had been in the making for over four years and is the result of a coordinated effort among various City agencies and the community. The development is projected to bring 1,000 new jobs, 1,300 new affordable homes, investments in parks, schools and sewers, and a new recreation center. To help implement the plan, the Department of City Planning, the Department of Administrative Services, and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development brought several actions subject to the public review process, ULURP. To read CityLand’s coverage on the earlier stages of the public review process, click here. (read more…)
