Search Results for: Board of Standards

Comedy Club Gets 15-Year Approval

Comedy club to move into converted slaughterhouse. The Board of Standards & Appeals approved a use variance application allowing a comedy club to move into 351 West 14th Street at the intersection of Hudson Street in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Currently, a four-story, 24- unit apartment building with vacant street retail space occupies the site. The comedy club will move into the vacant 7,915-square-foot retail space and increase its mezzanine by 1,345 sq.ft.

The project site, … <Read More>

Sephardic Community Center to Double in Size

Variances will allow full-service early childhood/daycare center, teen lounge, senior adult center, gyms and additional facilities. In 1978, the Board of Standards & Appeals granted variances to the Sephardic Community Center to allow community facility use in an R5 zoning district. The Center operates a 3-story, 42,495-square-foot space where it offers educational, athletic, and counseling services to the Orthodox Jewish Community and area residents. The location, 1901 Ocean Parkway, is in a primarily residential … <Read More>

Variance Approved in Anticipation of Area Rezoning

Project includes affordable housing and commercial development. Greater Allen Cathedral of New York and Allen AME Housing Corporation sought to construct a mixed-use project with affordable housing at 110-42 Merrick Boulevard directly across from the existing Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens. The proposed four-story development would include 54-units of affordable housing, ground floor commercial space, a community facility, and 53 parking spaces on a project site of 11 lots. Eight vacant commercial and residential buildings would … <Read More>

BSA Rebuffs Appeal Over Domestic Abuse Shelter

Group claimed shelter violated use limitations. A community group appealed the City’s Department of Buildings’ issuance of a permit allowing alterations to a Brooklyn building to accommodate a domestic violence shelter. Prior to the appeal and after the issuance of the permit, several parties, including the community group, sought an injunction in state court to prevent the shelter from occupying the building and from performing the permitted work. The court dismissed the complaint, finding that … <Read More>

Outdoor Dining, Open Streets, & Trash Containerization: Where Democratic Mayoral Candidates Stand on Public Space Issues

By Mark Chiusano

With the 2025 New York City mayoral race in full swing, CityLand sent a brief, initial list of questions to major contenders for the Democratic nomination to get an idea of where the candidates stand on several key public space issues that have been the source of policy shifts and public debate over the last several years: outdoor dining, Open Streets, and trash containerization. The next mayor’s stance on these — and … <Read More>

New York May Finally Have an Ethics Commission That’s Here for Good and To Do Good

By Elizabeth Fine & Pei Pei Cheng de Castro

New York State needs a strong ethics system to guide state government officials and hold them accountable. Yet, for the past 100 years, this goal has proven elusive. The State has tried more than 12 different ethics board formulations. None survived the test of time.

It seemed that the State had found a winning formula with the 2022 Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (COELIG), … <Read More>