Council Member Letitia James opposed vested right claim. On March 4, 2008, BSA allowed construction of a 16-story building at 163 Washington Avenue to move forward despite the fact that the building is out of compliance with the recently adopted Fort Greene- Clinton Hill Rezoning plan. The building will have community facility use on the first floor with residential use in the remainder of the building. It will also have a second- floor terrace, supported … <Read More>
Search Results for: Board of Standards
MAS’s Kent Barwick Reflects on Promoting a More Livable City
Kent Barwick has a stickball bat hiding in the corner of his office. He swears he does not use it, and who can argue with him? His office is in the Villard Houses in Midtown, and its courtyard is too small for a game. But physical boundaries aside, he would never have the time to show off his skills. Mr. Barwick, a graduate of Syracuse University and a Harvard University Loeb Fellow, is the current … <Read More>
City Planning’s General Counsel Talks of Emerging Planning Issues by Just Explaining What’s on His Desk
When asked to discuss current trends coming out of City Planning, David Karnovsky, General Counsel since 1999, offered to start the conversation with the matters sitting on his desk. From Broadway’s first air rights sale, to a new community board planning tool, to implementation of City Planning’s complex rezoning plans, the conversation revealed developing trends. Karnovsky, a Harvard Law School graduate, joined City Planning after serving as Special Counsel to the Deputy Mayor of Operations … <Read More>
Earth Pledge Executive Director Leslie Hoffman Talks About Making the City a Green Place, One Roof at a Time
Manhattan’s first green roof, installed in 1998, sits on top of the 1902 Georgian townhouse at 122 East 38th Street in Murray Hill, the home of Earth Pledge, a New York based nonprofit that promotes green building technologies. Founded by Theodore Kheel to support the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio, Earth Pledge now sponsors the Greening Gotham program, an initiative to get New York City developers, building owners, and government officials behind green … <Read More>
New Willis Ave. bridge over Harlem River approved
Bridge spanning Harlem River to be built adjacent to outdated bridge. DOT sought a City Map amendment to delineate a new bridge easement and bridge corridor facilitating construction of the Willis Avenue Bridge replacement, connecting First Avenue and East 125th Street in Manhattan with Willis Avenue and East 132nd Street in the Bronx. The replacement bridge will be located directly adjacent to and south of the existing bridge and will also require landfill removal along … <Read More>
BSA approves variance at RKO Keith Flushing Theater site
Developer gets variance to build a 200-unit, mixed-use development on site occupied by historic theater. Boymelgreen Developers, owner of two lots located at the intersection of Northern Boulevard and Main Street in Flushing, Queens, totaling 41,880 square feet, sought to construct a 200-unit, seventeen- story, mixed-use building with accessory parking. The building will be constructed on two currently improved lots. The first lot contains a two-story commercial building that will be demolished. The second lot … <Read More>