City Planning Commission

Columbia U. and CB 9 offer competing West Side plans

Columbia University proposes extensive re-development; Community Board 9 seeks to protect existing uses. On June 18, 2007, the Planning Commission launched public consideration of two competing future development plans for Manhattanville. The competing plans are sponsored by Columbia University and Manhattan Community Board 9.

Columbia University’s plan calls for rezoning of a 35-acre area with roughly 17 acres proposed for private development by Columbia. The area, roughly bounded by Broadway, Old Broadway, and the Hudson … <Read More>

Solow’s 37-story East Side tower starts public review

Tower site located on York Avenue just north of Queensboro Bridge. On May 27, 2007, Solow Management’s application to construct a new 37- story mixed-use tower on York Avenue between East 60th and East 61st Streets started the City’s land use review process when the Planning Commission certified the applications as complete. As proposed, the 211-unit residential tower would sit adjacent to a 41- story as-of-right development built by Solow in 2002. The buildings would … <Read More>

BID for Sunnyside,Queens approved

Plan encompasses 290 businesses in Sunnyside. On February 7, 2007, the Planning Commission approved an application by the Department of Small Business Services to create the Sunnyside Business Improvement District to cover 92 tax lots and 290 businesses primarily along Queens Boulevard, and Roosevelt and Greenpoint Avenues. The proposed BID will focus on sidewalk and gutter cleaning, graffiti removal and snow removal for bus shelters.

The $300,000 first-year budget will come from assessments on commercial … <Read More>

HPD pushes through 517 affordable housing units

Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn housing projects approved; sent to Council. On March 28 and April 11, 2007, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development obtained Planning Commission approval for eight affordable housing projects, totaling 517 units, to be developed in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Two of the Bronx projects, including the 50-unit Fox Leggett Cooperative Apartments and the 162- unit Grant Avenue Cooperative Apartments, provide ownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income families. Both of … <Read More>

Three Bronx neighborhood rezonings approved

Harding Park/Clason Point Rezoning. Proposed Zoning used with permission of the NYC Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Rezoning encompasses unique residential co-op on Bronx waterfront. Responding to concerns over increasing out-of-scale development, City Planning initiated rezoning studies of Harding Park, Clason Point and Park Stratton in the Bronx, ultimately proposing to rezone 47 blocks.

Under the proposal, 34 blocks of Harding Park and Clason Point, located along the peninsula bounded by the Bronx … <Read More>

Sale of 4 closed FDNY firehouses sparks controversy

Mayor’s Office agrees to create community committees to find new users. On April 9, 2007, the Planning Commission approved four applications by DCAS to sell four closed firehouses in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The plan sparked controversy with residents, community boards, Borough Presidents Scott Stringer and Marty Markowitz, and Council Members Bill de Blasio and David Yassky, who argued that their districts needed increased FDNY services and, if the firehouses remained closed, only a community … <Read More>