Contextual rezoning established streetwall and building height limits for an eight-block area below Union Square. On October 27, 2010, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s rezoning of portions of eight blocks in Manhattan’s East Village. The contextual plan rezoned an area bounded by the south side of East 13th Street, the north side of East 9th Street, Third Avenue, and the east side of Fourth Avenue from C6-1 to C6-2A. The blocks are adjacent to the area rezoned in 2008 by the East Village/Lower East Side Rezoning plan. 5 CityLand 165 (Dec. 2008).

The neighborhood is characterized by low- and mid-rise residential and mixed-use buildings with a uniform street wall. A handful of taller and bulkier buildings can be found along Third and Fourth Avenues. The area’s C6-1 zoning, unchanged since 1961, was inconsistent with the built character of the neighborhood and permitted tall and slender tower development, including setback dormitory buildings like those constructed in the neighborhood by New York University and the New School. (more…)

Hotel developer admits its foundation work damaged adjacent building. Developer D.A.B. Group LLC received a foundation permit on September 29, 2008 for its planned 16-story Lower East Side hotel at Rivington and Orchard Streets. Excavation work began one week after the City Planning Commission voted to downzone the area. D.A.B. then obtained a full building permit at 2:21 p.m. on the day that the City Council voted to approve the East Village/Lower East Side rezoning. The new zoning restricted new building heights to 80 ft., making the proposed hotel 111 ft. over the new height limit. Without the full foundation completed, Buildings issued a stop-work order.

Applying to BSA, D.A.B. argued that, despite having only 63 percent of the foundation complete, the work represented the most difficult and time-consuming portion of the construction. This included all 28 H-beams, 100 timber legs and all of the rebar and poured concrete needed to complete the elevator pit floors and walls. (more…)

City Planning’s proposal challenged by issues related to affordable housing and protecting Chinatown. On August 13, 2008, the City Planning Commission heard extensive testimony on a plan to rezone 111 blocks in the East Village and Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Department of City Planning began the public review process for the original proposal in May 2008, 5 CityLand 72 (June 15, 2008), and then later filed modifications after reviewing Community Board 3’s recommendations. The modifications apply the Inclusionary Housing Program to certain proposed R7A areas, replace a portion of a C6-2A zoning district with a C6-3A district along Chrystie Street, and eliminate a text change designed to encourage non-conforming commercial uses in the mid-block areas of proposed R8B districts.

At the hearing, Council Member Rosie Mendez testified that a plan was needed to stem over-development and stop the loss of affordable housing in her district. Mendez believes that the current plan, with some modifications and additions, can achieve the right balance of “development, preservation, and tenant protection.” David McWater, Susan Stetzer, and Dominic Pisciotta, all from Community Board 3, stressed the need to include the anti-harassment and anti-demolition restrictions that govern the Special Clinton District, and also requested that the City commit to ensuring that 30 percent of housing built under the new zoning be permanently affordable to households earning less than 80 percent of the area medium income. (more…)