Curb cuts and parking amendments approved

Text amendment would introduce curb cut prohibitions and limit front yard parking spaces in certain residential districts. On February 24, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved, with modifications, the Department of City Planning’s Residential Streetscape Preservation text amendment. Planning proposed the City-wide amendment in response to community concerns about inappropriate curb cuts and front yard parking spaces in residential districts. Planning seeks to clarify parking requirements and preserve and enhance residential streetscapes.

The proposed amendment … <Read More>


East Side transfer station clears judicial hurdle

Sanitation proposed to reopen marine waste transfer station near Asphalt Green and Bobby Wagner Walk. After the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island closed in 2001, the Department of Sanitation contracted with privately-owned transfer stations, landfills, and waste-to-energy facilities to dispose of residential waste. Sanitation now delivers a large percentage of waste to transfer stations within the City, where tractor- trailers pick up the waste and drive it to landfills in other states.

In 2004, … <Read More>


High Court voids variance

Court of Appeals ruled BSA abused discretion in granting variance. GAC Catering Inc. purchased a single-family home at the intersection of Otis Avenue and Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island across the street from its catering business. GAC demolished the house and applied to the BSA for a use variance to build a two-story commercial photography studio to be used in conjunction with GAC’s catering hall. GAC claimed that commercial uses predominated the area, and that … <Read More>


Variance denied: owner sought commercial use

Owner sought to develop a one-story building on a corner lot formerly occupied by two-story single-family home. The owner of a vacant lot at the corner of Midland Avenue and Freeborn Street in Staten Island applied for a use variance to construct a one-story commercial building. A two-story single-family home formerly occupied the 60 x 87 foot site, which consisted of two separate lots that were merged in 2008.

The owner claimed that the lot’s … <Read More>


Horton’s Row flats designated

Only four of the 12 original Horton’s Row flats remain intact. On September 15, 2009, Landmarks voted to designate four attached three-family flats, known as Horton’s Row, as individual City landmarks. Originally comprised of 12 attached buildings and located on Westervelt Avenue in Staten Island’s Tompkinsville neighborhood, only four of Horton’s Row’s original flats remain intact. At an August 11 hearing, residents and preservation groups endorsed designating the flats. 6 CityLand 126 (Sept. 15, 2009).… <Read More>


Owner can sue for damages

City failed to make advance payment to owner after taking property, but continued to charge interest on tax liens. The City acquired title to property through eminent domain for the New Creek Bluebelt project in Staten Island. Because the City did not issue an advance payment to the owner at the time of the taking, it began to pay out six percent interest on the advance payment. The City, meanwhile, continued to charge the owner … <Read More>