Community Board Recommends Zoning Protections For 14th Street Tech Hub Plan

Proposed zoning protections expect to preserve the residential area between Union Square and Astor Place from rapid developments. On February 28, 2018, Manhattan Community Board 3 unanimously voted to include proposed zoning protections for the 3rd/4th Avenue corridors between East 8th and 14th Streets in Manhattan. The corridors are one of the areas between Union Square and Astor Place that will be impacted by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Tech Hub Plan. The protections … <Read More>


CPC Approves Residential Building in Flushing

City Planning approves an application for a nine-story residential building with 27 permanently affordable units in Flushing, Queens. On September 6, 2017, the City Planning Commission issued a favorable report on a modified land use application for rezoning the area containing 135-01 35th Avenue. The land use application by Stemmax Realty Inc. includes zoning map and zoning text amendments. Stemmax Realty Inc. owns the project site, located at the northeast corner of 35th Avenue and … <Read More>


Land Use Committee Hears Testimony on Proposed Capital Commitment Tracking System

The proposed system would keep track of the financial and infrastructure-related promises made by the Mayor’s office to neighborhoods being rezoned.  On June 7, 2016, the City Council Committee on Land Use held a public hearing on a legislative proposal to implement a tracking system, which would monitor the status of promises made to the public by the Administration  during the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure process. The proposed bill, Intro 1132, is sponsored by … <Read More>


Could Sandy have Stopped the ULURP Clock?

On October 25, 2012, the City Council Land Use Committee voted in favor of both the West Harlem rezoning plan and the Chelsea Market expansion plan with modifications. (See CityLand’s past coverage here). The full City Council was originally expected to vote on these plans on October 30, 2012. However, Hurricane Sandy forced this vote to be delayed two full weeks.

Under the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), when City Council review is … <Read More>


City Planning’s Carol Samol on Redevelopment in the Bronx and Reforming the City’s Land Use Review Process

As director of the Department of City Planning’s Bronx Office, Carol Samol uses zoning tools to promote sustainable economic development in the Bronx. She has also participated as a leader in a broader City effort to reform the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure’s pre-certification process.

Journey to the Bronx. Samol grew up in the upper Ohio Valley near Wheeling, West Virginia and studied English at Berea College, a small liberal arts college in Kentucky. … <Read More>