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    GUEST COMMENTARY: The City of Yes – NYC is Taking Leadership on Energy Storage System Siting

    City of Yes  •  Citywide

     

    by Caroline G. Harris, Esq. Goldman Harris LLC and Eric Vath, Esq. Goldman Harris LLC

    A slide from the presentation of the City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality at the City Planning Commission featuring an ESS on the Barclays Center. The application was certified on April 24, 2023. Click to enlarge. Image Credit: DCP

    To meet the climate goals of the 2016 Paris Agreement, New York State and New York City have adopted aggressive energy efficiency goals.  The Mayor’s 2022 City of Yes program announced numerous initiatives to make the city sustainable, resilient and equitable.  One of them, the City of Yes: Carbon Neutrality, aims to reduce our reliance on carbon-based fuels by modernizing the zoning rules to make our homes, businesses, electric power grid and waste stream much cleaner.  A key element of the Carbon Neutrality initiative is to support an increase in the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. To be successful, the program will require changes in the City’s zoning resolution. (read more…)

    Tags : City of Yes Zoning Text Amendments, green energy, guest commentary, Zoning for Carbon Neutrality
    Date:05/01/2023
    Category : Commentary
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    GUEST COMMENTARY: City Turns Back on Rational Zoning

    Rezoning  •  Citywide

    Rendering of the proposed new building at 250 Water Street, which will replace a parking lot. Image Credit: NYC LPC

    Zoning is under attack in New York City. Not here or there, in this location or that, but the concept itself. This has been the long game of the city’s real estate interests, and after a decade of raids those interests have launched a full assault on several fronts. The historic city should expect no quarter. (read more…)

    Tags : guest commentary, Rezoning, Spot zoning
    Date:08/10/2021
    Category : Commentary
    (4) Comment

    GUEST COMMENTARY: Hudson Yards – Setting the Record Straight (or Don’t Doubt its Success)

    Hudson Yards  •  Hudson Yards, Manhattan

    Sandy Hornick. Image Credit: Sandy Hornick/Hornick Consulting, Inc.

    I was motivated to respond to an article by Robert Kuttner on The American Prospect website that in general argued that a tax-subsidized project was facing impending collapse which could provide an opportunity for affordable housing. I have no problem with the author disliking Hudson Yards and he wouldn’t be the first or only one to do so. I believe, however, that the American Prospect piece contains misinformation on the Hudson Yards project. This article is an attempt to put Hudson Yards into context and explain how this public/private venture is currently working. (read more…)

    Tags : guest commentary, Hudson Yards
    Date:08/02/2021
    Category : Commentary
    (7) Comment

    Commentary: City Club of New York Opposes LPC Approval of New South Street Seaport Tower

    Certificates of Appropriateness  •  South Street Seaport Historic District

    Rendering of the proposed new building at 250 Water Street, which will replace a parking lot. Landmarks approved the certificate of appropriateness for the project on May 4th. Image Credit: NYC LPC

    On Tuesday, May 4, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approved by a 6-2 vote an application for a new residential tower at 250 Water Street in the South Street Seaport Historic District. This was the third time the Howard Hughes Corporation had presented the project, and this time, after the architects at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill made a few tweaks to the design, the LPC determined that the building was appropriate. (read more…)

    Tags : certificate of appropriateness, Commentary, guest commentary, Landmarks Preservation Commission
    Date:05/13/2021
    Category : Commentary
    (2) Comment

    Comment on Peyton v. NYC BSA

    Court Decisions  •  Upper West Side, Manhattan

    Part of Park West Village. Image Credit: Google Maps

    On December 17, 2020, by a 4-3 decision and over a strong dissent, the Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the Appellate Division in Peyton v. NYC Board of Standards and Appeals, 2020 N.Y. Slip Op. 07662.  The decision is an unseemly show of deference to the Board of Standards and Appeals, a body that is widely viewed as captive to the real estate industry, on a pure question of law as to which no deference is owed.  The City Council should follow the lead of the U.S. Congress, which, in the Dodd-Frank Act, legislated a less deferential standard of review for certain actions of an agency widely deemed captive to the industry it is supposed to regulate. (read more…)

    Tags : Board of Standards and Appeals, Court Decisions, guest commentary
    Date:01/11/2021
    Category : Commentary
    (4) Comment

    GUEST COMMENTARY: Response to Jeffrey Kroessler’s Op-Ed

    Brendan J. Sexton

    The Roosevelt Memorial Sculpture outside the American Museum of Natural History. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons/MacLachlan

    Jeffrey Kroessler’s view on the Teddy Roosevelt statue at the entrance to the Natural History Museum is clear and provocative, even if I have no certain answer to the questions it raises. (read more…)

    Tags : American Museum of Natural History, Brendan Sexton, guest commentary, statues
    Date:08/28/2020
    Category : Commentary
    (1) Comment
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