Landmarks Preservation Commission. Credit: LPC.
Items originally proposed for designation in recent years often faced significant opposition. The Landmarks Preservation Commission will begin the process of addressing the 95 items calendared for potential designation before 2010, but that have never been brought before the Commission for a final vote. Landmarks will hold public hearings on groupings of the items at special Thursday meetings on October 8, October 22, November 5, and November 12 of 2015. The groups, which will consist of up to 12 items each, will be clustered by borough and community board. An initial plan to eliminate the backlog by de-calendaring the items without holding public hearings was withdrawn after the idea drew heavy opposition from preservationists and elected officials. The existence of the backlog has drawn attention to Landmarks’ procedures, and is part of the impetus for potential legislation that would impose ULURP-like timelines on Landmarks’ designation process. (read more…)
Avella criticizes DCA for sloppy review of questionable application. Council Member Tony Avella faulted the Department of Consumer Affairs and argued for action against the architect who filed inaccurate plans in Qdoba Mexican Grill’s application for an unenclosed sidewalk cafe at 216 Eighth Avenue in Chelsea. Qdoba had previously filed a petition to withdraw its application due to Council’s concerns.
Avella explained, at the August 12th hearing before the Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning & Franchises, that when Council’s staff inspected Qdoba’s Chelsea restaurant, they found that the plans so greatly misrepresented what was actually at the site that staff called it “the worst application they had seen in 18 years.”
Avella asked Council Speaker Christine Quinn to file a complaint with the State against Qdoba’s architect since the site was in her district. He also added that the architect had “put their license on the line” by signing and stamping inaccurate plans. Avella concluded that it should not be Council’s responsibility to review the accuracy of applications; rather, the onus should be on the reviewing agency, the Department of Consumer Affairs, who in Avella’s view, did not sufficiently review the application. (read more…)
In the first months of 2006, Council Member Tony Avella, Chair of the Subcommittee on Zoning & Franchises, introduced proposed legislation to change the make up of BSA, require NYPD arrests for any illegal demolition, and curb the illegal construction that residents say is driven by a rush to beat a down-zoning. CityLand asked Avella about his proposed land use initiatives and his career.
Public Service. When asked about land use issues within his 20-year career in politics, Avella quickly corrects the question, substituting “public service” for “politics.” After graduating from Hunter College CUNY in Manhattan, Avella started jobs in government, serving as aides to Council Speaker Peter Vallone, Sr. and Mayor Koch, and chief of staff for State Senators Toby and Leonard Stavinsky. Avella credits his volunteer work on community organizations and as Chair of Queens Community Board 7’s Land Use and Transportation Committees as providing a “unique perspective” to his current role. Explaining that he worked on the Koch administration’s Zoning Resolution revisions; Avella added that he recognized early on that abuses to the zoning code had a significant impact on quality of life issues. (read more…)
