Search Results for: Staten Island

Council disparages DOB

Zoning text loopholes closed; Council Members blame DOB for problems. Following the City’s 2004 enactment of lower density restrictions in Staten Island, three loopholes surfaced in the zoning text that continued to allow residential development inconsistent with the down-zoning’s goals.

The three problems stemmed from requirements for minimum lot area, lot width and open space. A minimum lot area is required for residential development of a lot; however, once the minimum lot area is met, … <Read More>

Commission votes to end commercial option

Twenty-one areas to lose commercial zoning overlay. In 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg formed the Staten Island Growth Management Task Force to examine over-development in the borough. The Task Force’s recommendations resulted in new zoning controls adopted in 2004 restricting the size and density of Staten Island residential development. A loophole remained for lots within residential zones that were also subject to commercial district overlays. Along with allowing commercial uses on these lots, the commercial overlays … <Read More>

Homeowners win damages over C of O delay

Builder still had not produced a C of O after seven years. Two families separately contracted with Giovanni Culotta to build semi-attached homes at 243 and 245 Elm Street in Staten Island. In May 1998, both families closed and received temporary certificates of occupancy with an understanding that Culotta would later provide a final certificate. Buildings’ records indicate the last temporary certificates of occupancy expired in 1999. Subsequently, Buildings issued violations to the families for … <Read More>

145-ft. phone tower sited at Seaview Hospital

Tower moved to new location to diminish impact. The Health and Hospitals Corporation sought Landmarks approval to construct a 132- foot telecommunications tower and an equipment building on the northeastern grounds of Seaview Hospital in Staten Island. The Seaview Hospital complex was, at the time of its 1905-38 construction, the largest and most costly tuberculosis hospital in rowthe country. It was sensitively designed to preserve the rural landscape along a 230-acre portion of Todt Hill … <Read More>

Two residences allowed on one lot

BSA accepts Buildings’ zoning interpretation of minimum lot area requirement. The Staten Island Borough Commissioner rescinded a stop-work order and approved construction of two, two-story single-family homes on one zoning lot in the Prince’s Bay section of the borough. A civic association in opposition appealed the approval to BSA.

At the BSA hearings, the civic association argued that the project did not meet the 3,800-square-foot minimum lot area requirement set in the City’s zoning code. … <Read More>

Seaman Cottage re-calendared

House moved to new site in Staten Island. On July 12, 2005, Landmarks re-calendared for designation the Seaman Cottage in Staten Island. Seaman Cottage, constructed in 1836, is a two-story house in the Greek Revival Style featuring clapboard siding and complimentary window and door surrounds. Landmarks had originally calendared the item for designation on October 12, 2004 and held a public hearing on October 26, 2004, but Seaman Cottage has since been moved from its … <Read More>