Undersized Staten Island lot can be developed if trees replanted. Owners of an undersized, 9,733 sq.ft. Staten Island lot at 380 Lighthouse Avenue sought to construct a single-family home that required variance approvals because of the small lot size and because the proposed home failed to meet rear or side-yard requirements.
The lot fell within the Special Natural Area District, a 1974 zoning control passed by the City to protect existing topography, trees, plantings and … <Read More>
BSA found the requirement to move subway entrances uneconomic. Century 21 sought a variance to allow a 4,583 sq.ft. expansion on the second floor of its lower Manhattan store and a waiver from the requirement, triggered by the expansion, to relocate two subway entrances from the street to the store’s interior.
Century 21 occupies space in three contiguous buildings in lower Manhattan: the former East River Savings Bank located at 26 Cortlandt Street, a 33-story … <Read More>
140 blocks rezoned to stop out-of-character development. The Planning Commission unanimously approved an extensive rezoning of two of Queens oldest residential neighborhoods; Kew Gardens and Richmond Hill, both of which have seen a measurable increase in out-of-character development over the past four years. A lot-by-lot analysis completed by the Planning Department found an inconsistency between the existing building types and the zoning, which was unchanged since the City’s initial adoption of zoning districts in 1961. … <Read More>
DEP to acquire 3.3 acres and three easements to establish stormwater runoff areas in Staten Island. In February the Planning Commission approved two actions associated with stormwater runoff systems in the Arden Heights, Annadale, Eltingville, Woodrow and Prince’s Bay neighborhoods of Staten Island, some of the last remaining areas in the city without established stormwater sewer systems.
DEP sought to acquire three easements, totaling .2 acres, in Prince’s Bay and Woodrow and in the second … <Read More>
129-lot area rezoned to permit residential, live-work and retail. The Planning Commission approved the proposed rezoning of a 129-lot area of Port Morris in the South Bronx that altered the area’s manufacturing zoning to mixed-use, facilitating increased live-work, residential and small commercial business development. The proposed new zoning builds on a 1997 zoning action that established the Port Morris Special Mixed-Use District – the city’s first mixed-use district – within a five-block area of Port … <Read More>
Owner of Skidmore House allowed it to fall into state of disrepair. Skidmore House, a 159-yearold Greek revival residence located at 37 East 4th Street, was designated as an individual landmark in 1970. Since acquiring Skidmore House in 1988, the owner, 10-12 Cooper Square, Inc., neglected to maintain it and ignored several requests by Landmarks to repair it. After the roof collapsed in 2002, Landmarks sued the owner to return the landmark to a state … <Read More>