New standards and guidelines intended to improve public use. The City Council approved City Planning’s proposal to update, improve, and consolidate rules for privately owned public spaces.
Under the old zoning, a developer in parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens can generate a floor area bonus of up to 20 percent if it builds an adjacent publicly-accessible open space, such as a plaza, arcade, or galleria. In practice, however, many of these privately owned public … <Read More>
Opponents challenged 60-foot height. On September 17, 2007, the Planning Commission approved the special permit application of Two Trees Management Co. LLC, facilitating its controversial plan to build a six-story, 60-foot tall building adjacent to the South Brooklyn Savings Bank, a 1922 building located at Atlantic Avenue and Court Street within the Cobble Hill Historic District. Overall, the development would include 31,512 sq.ft. … <Read More>
Two new zoning districts created under plan can be applied citywide. The Planning Commission voted unanimously on September 5, 2007 to approve the 206-block rezoning plan for Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, sending it to the City Council.
Initiated by local residents, the plan crafts contextual zoning districts for low-density row house blocks, and higher density mixed-use districts for commercial corridors on Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street. On a majority of the 206- block area, the rezoning would … <Read More>
Inclusionary housing bonus proposed for Broadway above West 97th. Alarmed by the construction of two apartment buildings exceeding 30 stories on Broadway between West 99th and West 100th Streets, Upper West Side residents asked the City to consider rezoning the area and setting stricter height limits. This started a two-year collaborative planning effort by City Planning, HPD, Landmarks, the Manhattan Borough President’s office and local residents. The efforts focused on a 51-block rezoning plan for … <Read More>
Under proposal, Landmarks would be solely responsible for all permits to alter Sunnyside Gardens’ buildings. On August 20, 2007, the Planning Commission sent a proposal to Queens Community Board 2 and Borough President Helen Marshall that would make Landmarks solely responsible for all permits to alter buildings in Sunnyside Gardens, a planned community of single-family homes and apartments built in the 1920s.
Landmarks had voted in June 2007 to designate a 600-building historic district covering … <Read More>
City to lease portion of East River pier that had housed an OEM facility. The Department of Small Business Services proposed to lease to Basketball City, LLC a 64,000- square-foot portion of the one-story shed building located on Pier 36 along the East River, at the base of Montgomery and South Streets. In 2006, plans for the Hudson River Park forced Basketball City to vacate its former location on Pier 63 along the Hudson River … <Read More>