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    City Council Subcommittee Hears Testimony on the Rezoning of Water Street’s Privately Owned Public Space

    POPS  •  Lower Manhattan
    Proposed rezoning of the Water Street POPS. Image credit: Department of City Planning

    Proposed rezoning of the Water Street POPS. Image credit: Department of City Planning

    Council Members voiced concerns over the proposal’s provisions stripping the City Council of its review over future applications brought pursuant to the proposal. On May 4, 2016, the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on an application submitted by the Alliance for Downtown New York, the NYC Economic Development Corporation, and the Department of City Planning to amend the zoning text controlling the Water Street corridor in lower Manhattan. For CityLand’s previous coverage on the proposed rezoning of the Water Street POPS, click here.

    (read more…)

    Tags : Alliance for Downtown New York, Council Member Daniel Garodnick, Council Member David G. Greenfield, Council Member Donovan Richards, Council Member Margaret Chin, Council Member Ritchie Torres, Jessica Lappin, Manhattan Community Board 1, Manhattan Community District 1, NYCEDC, POPS, Privately Owned Public Space, public plaza, Special Lower Manhattan District, the Department of City Planning, Water Street
    Date:05/27/2016
    Category : City Council
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    Curb cuts and parking amendments approved

    Text Amendment  •  Citywide

    Text amendment would introduce curb cut prohibitions and limit front yard parking spaces in certain residential districts. On February 24, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved, with modifications, the Department of City Planning’s Residential Streetscape Preservation text amendment. Planning proposed the City-wide amendment in response to community concerns about inappropriate curb cuts and front yard parking spaces in residential districts. Planning seeks to clarify parking requirements and preserve and enhance residential streetscapes.

    The proposed amendment includes a host of modifications such as requiring new parking spaces in all single- and two-family districts to be located within a residential building or to the side or rear of a building. This requirement currently applies to R1 and R2 districts and certain districts in Lower Density Growth Management Areas in Staten Island and the Bronx. In order to ensure that required front yard plantings are of sufficient quality, the amendment would close a loophole that allows narrow strips of plantings located in driveways to count towards the required minimum front yard planting requirements. (read more…)

    Tags : curb cuts, front yard parking spaces, Justice Paul G. Feinman, New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, NYCHA, parking study, Residential Streetscape Preservation Text Amendment, residential streetscapes, The Citizens Housing & Planning Council, the Department of City Planning
    Date:03/15/2010
    Category : City Planning Commission
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    Malpractice claim advances

    Dept. of City Planning  •  Citywide

    Lawyer allegedly failed to cite in opinion letter newly proposed zoning law changes. Santo Nostrand LLC contacted an attorney at Cozen O’Connor to advise on whether it could build a Walgreens store and parking lot on a specified parcel of land in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The attorney issued an opinion letter on May 24, 2007, which stated that Santo could construct the store and parking lot in conformity with current zoning laws. The Department of City Planning, however, had given public notice of its proposal to rezone the area on May 7, 2007, 17 days before the date of the opinion letter.

    Allegedly relying on the letter, Santo secured several loans to buy the land and develop the site, but later found that the City Council had approved a rezoning in October 2007 that changed the zoning of the property and prevented Santo from developing the parking lot according to Walgreens’ specifications. Santo sued the attorney and Cozen O’Connor for legal malpractice and breach of contract, claiming that the attorney should have informed Santo of the proposed rezoning in the opinion letter. (read more…)

    Tags : Cozen O’Connor, Justice Eileen Bransten, opinion letter, Santo Nostrand LLC, the Department of City Planning
    Date:08/15/2009
    Category : Court Decisions
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