Council Members questioned the developers on the project’s affordability and use of union labor. On October 20, 2014 the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on the proposed Astoria Cove development project. The project, which would create a new mixed-use development of 1,700 apartments, commercial space, a school, a supermarket, and parks, was approved by the City Planning Commission over opposition by both Queens Community Board 1 and Queens Borough … <Read More>
Search Results for: Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
Council Member Works to Combat Illegal Home Conversions
Pending legislation would make it easier to impose civil penalties for illegal conversions. In recent months, City Council Member Vincent Gentile has introduced two bills to address the issue of illegal home conversions in New York City. According to Ann Falutico, Zoning Committee Chair for Brooklyn Community Board 10, a study of 311 statistics show that since 2010, over 1,000 complaints for illegal home conversions came from communities within the Council Member’s district, Bay … <Read More>
HDC Defends NYC Landmark Preservation
Last week CityLand published a Guest Commentary from Steven Spinola, President of REBNY. Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council submitted this commentary in response.
In his recent editorial in CityLand, Steven Spinola, the longtime President of the Real Estate Board of New York, suggested a number of ways which the Landmarks Law needs to be reformed to adhere to its “spirit.” This is a curious statement that warrants further examination. … <Read More>
Council Approved Rheingold Development with a 30 Percent Affordable Housing Requirement
Controversial Bushwick development project questioned on affordable housing goals in public hearings. On December 10, 2013, the full City Council voted 48-1 to rezone six blocks in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in order to allow the development of ten mixed-use developments. The rezoning area is bounded by Bushwick Avenue, Flushing Avenue, Melrose Street, Stanwix Street, and Forrest Street. Council’s Committee on Land Use voted 18-1 and Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises unanimously voted 10-0 … <Read More>
Proposed Reforms to Improve the Landmarks Preservation Commission
The Landmarks Law, enacted in 1965 to preserve the city’s architectural, historical and cultural resources, contains few standards about what merits designation and few rules governing the process. This has resulted in broad brush designations that are of questionable significance and that are impeding the City’s larger planning, economic development, and housing efforts. It is time to amend the Landmarks Law to bring designations more in line with other city policies, provide more timely information … <Read More>
City Planning Sends Greenpoint Waterfront Developments Proposals to the Council
Large Greenpoint Developments, if approved, would produce over 1,400 housing units. On October 30, 2013, the City Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve two major mixed-use developments in Greenpoint, Brooklyn: Greenpoint Landing and 77 Commercial Street. Both projects would allow the City to fulfill commitments to affordable housing and public open space that it made during the 2005 Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning. The 2005 Rezoning of nearly 200 blocks authorized the transformation of Greenpoint’s low-density manufacturing … <Read More>