Richard Bearak on the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office

Richard Bearak, Director of Land Use for Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, had originally intended to be an architect. But as an undergrad at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), Bearak unexpectedly developed an interest in city planning. After receiving a degree in Architectural Technology, Bearak was admitted to Hunter College’s urban planning graduate program in 1981.

Upon finishing school, Bearak worked in the private sector designing subdivisions and clustered developments in southwestern Connecticut. … <Read More>


Energy-efficient project in Brooklyn approved

Image courtesy of ridgewood-bushwick-senior-citizens-council.org

Architect claimed that residential building would be first in the United States to conform to strict “Passive House” design standards. On March 24, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to allow the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council to build a six-story affordable housing project on a vacant City-owned site at 803 Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The 28,390 sq.ft. project, known as Knickerbocker … <Read More>


Full-block West Side mixed-use project approved

HPD-sponsored multi-building, mixed-use project that Gotham Organization Inc. will develop in Clinton, Manhattan. Image: Courtesy of SLCE Architects/RSpline.

HPD-sponsored project will create 600 permanently affordable housing units, convert P.S. 51 into residential housing,and build a new school on the project site. On March 3, 2010, the City Council approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to allow the Gotham Organization Inc. to develop a 1.15 million sq.ft. mixed-use project that will occupy most … <Read More>


Judge enjoins Brooklyn’s Broadway Triangle plan

State court judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking the plan the day after full Council approval. On December 21, 2009, the City Council approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s rezoning plan for the Broadway Triangle Urban Renewal Area in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The plan includes rezoning nine blocks, primarily zoned for manufacturing, to R6A and R7A districts in order to facilitate the development of 1,851 residential units, 844 of which will be marketed … <Read More>


Split vote favors Brooklyn Broadway Triangle plan

Community groups opposed to rezoning proposal expressed concerns about HPD’s opaque planning process. On December 7, 2009, the City Council’s Land Use Committee modified and approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to redevelop the seventeen-block Broadway Triangle Urban Renewal Area in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The City created the Broadway Triangle URA in 1989, and HPD’s proposal included redrawing the boundaries of the urban renewal area and rezoning nine blocks in order to … <Read More>


Commission adopts modified bicycle parking text

Amount of bicycle parking spaces required for affordable housing developments could be waived or reduced. On March 4, 2009, the City Planning Commission approved, with several modifications, the Department of City Planning’s proposed bicycle parking text amendment. The amendment would require developers to provide secure, enclosed bicycle parking facilities in new buildings, enlargements of buildings of 50 percent or more, and conversions to residential use.

Although the Commission expressed support for the proposal, it believed … <Read More>