City Planning proposes plan for Sunnyside Gardens

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>


Commission approves 529-space parking facility

Garage to be part of as-of-right development two blocks from Penn Station. J.D. Carlisle Development Corporation sought Planning Commission approval for a 529-space attended public parking garage to be built as part of a 46-story as-of-right development at 839 Sixth Avenue between West 29th and West 30th Streets. The garage, to be located in the cellar and portions of the ground floor, would be accessible from curb cuts on West 30th and West 29th Streets. … <Read More>


City Planning increases CEQR,ULURP fees

New fees to take effect in June 2007. City Planning’s fee increase for private applications made pursuant to the City Environmental Quality Review process and the City’s land use review procedure, ULURP, will take effect on June 29, 2007. Under the new rule, CEQR fees will typically rise 15 percent, and ULURP fees will go up by 40 percent in most cases. 4 CityLand 40 (April 15, 2007). The CEQR fee increase will also apply … <Read More>


Commission approves 369-space parking facility

Garage to be part of significant asof- right Battery Park City development. Sheldrake Organization, developer of a 31-story mixed-use development in Battery Park City, sought Planning Commission approval for a 369-space parking garage with 316 public parking spaces. The garage would be accessible from Murray Street and located within Sheldrake’s 499,720- square-foot development, currently under construction, on a lot bounded by Murray Street, River Terrace, North End Avenue and Vesey Place. The project, called the … <Read More>


Sale of former firehouse approved by Commission

Sale limited to community-use buyer. On March 14, 2007, the Planning Commission approved DCAS’ application to sell the lot at 269 Henry Street in Manhattan containing a four-story firehouse used by FDNY Engine Company No. 15 until 2001 when it moved to Pitt and Delancey Streets.

In the land use review process, Community Board 3 and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer opposed an open-ended sale. Stringer requested a restriction on the sale requiring the new … <Read More>


City Planning’s General Counsel Talks of Emerging Planning Issues by Just Explaining What’s on His Desk

When asked to discuss current trends coming out of City Planning, David Karnovsky, General Counsel since 1999, offered to start the conversation with the matters sitting on his desk. From Broadway’s first air rights sale, to a new community board planning tool, to implementation of City Planning’s complex rezoning plans, the conversation revealed developing trends. Karnovsky, a Harvard Law School graduate, joined City Planning after serving as Special Counsel to the Deputy Mayor of Operations … <Read More>