The City Council’s Land Use Committee approved three projects in Brooklyn with varying forms and degrees of affordable housing. On April 20, 2017, the Land Use Committee voted to approve three new projects with some dissent registered. During the meeting, Council Member Jumaane Williams remarked that as a body the City Council was presenting two faces. One face to the public in discussing homelessness and affordable housing, and another face when voting on projects “that … <Read More>
City Council
City Council Approves the Creation of New Dorp BID
City Council votes to create the City’s latest Business Improvement District on Staten Island. On April 5, 2017, the City Council voted 50-0 to approve the Department of Small Business Services’ application to create the New Dorp Business Improvement District for Staten Island’s New Dorp neighborhood. The BID will consist of properties along New Dorp Lane and adjacent commercial streets between Hylan Boulevard and Richmond Road. The proposed BID contains 146 properties and 180 businesses, … <Read More>
Tenant Harassment Bills Package to be Considered by Committee
City Council Committee to hear testimony on a package of bills intended to strengthen protections for tenants subject to harassment by landlords. Since the mid-2000s and largely due to the housing bubble, predatory equity has become a metastasis on the New York City housing market. The expulsion of both rent stabilized and market-rate tenants is accomplished through means both legal, by abusing technical loopholes in State law, and illegal, by dangerous living conditions and intimidation.
Initiative to Clear Landmarks’ Backlog Concludes; Council Overturns One Designation
Due to objection to landmarking by local council member Steven Matteo, the designation of a Dutch Colonial farmhouse on Staten Island was overturned. On March 28, 2017, the Council Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting, and Maritime Uses convened to vote on the final batch of items designated as part of Landmarks’ Backlog Initiative. At the meeting the Subcommittee voted on three items it had held over from its hearing on February 7, 2017… <Read More>
Zoning Committee Hears Testimony on New 22-Story Building in West Chelsea
City Council’s Zoning Committee discusses proposed construction of a 22-story building next to U-Haul depot on West 23rd Street. On March 28, 2017, the City Council’s Zoning Subcommittee heard testimony on an application to modify bulk regulations within the Special West Chelsea District in lower west Manhattan. The applicant, 23rd and 11th Associates LLC, sought a zoning text amendment to permit the distribution of floor area across different commercial zoning districts and subarea boundaries for … <Read More>
City Council Considering 251 Affordable Units to be Built on Top of the Flatbush Caton Market
Approval would allow the construction of 251 Affordable Units above a local vendor market and community facility. On March 28, 2017, the City Council’s Zoning Subcommittee will consider an application from the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to dispose of city-owned property, transferring the property to BRP Caton Flats LLC. The subject lot is located at 794 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn’s Flatbush-Ditmas Park neighborhood. The development application also requires a zoning map amendment to change … <Read More>