City Council’s Zoning Committee discusses proposed construction of a 22-story building next to U-Haul depot on West 23rd Street. On March 28, 2017, the City Council’s Zoning Subcommittee heard testimony on an application to modify bulk regulations within the Special West Chelsea District in lower west Manhattan. The applicant, 23rd and 11th Associates LLC, sought a zoning text amendment to permit the distribution of floor area across different commercial zoning districts and subarea boundaries for … <Read More>
Search Results for: Rent Regulation
Basement apartment ruled legal; Condo’s “peace” sign ruled illegal
Buildings charged that owner unlawfully converted basement into additional rental apartment. In 2013 the Department of Buildings charged the owner of 345 W 70th Street, a multiple dwelling, with creating an illegal apartment in the basement. At the administrative hearing, Buildings submitted three I-cards for the building from 1916, 1938 and 1945. Before 1938, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development used I-cards to record the occupancy and arrangement of the buildings HPD had inspected. … <Read More>
Landmarks Leaves Only One Backlog Item Remaining After Last Meeting of 2016
Ten of thirteen items brought to a final disposition were designated by Landmarks and will proceed to City Council for ratification. On December 13, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission made its final dispositive votes on items prioritized for designation in the commission’s Backlog Initiative, with one exception. The initiative, began in 2015, sought to address the backlog of designation items that had been added to the commission’s calendar before 2001 but never brought to … <Read More>
Civil Rights Laws in New York: Strength in a Time of Change
Following the Presidential election and reports of increased discriminatory harassment, many Americans have expressed concerns that the federal government may weaken its enforcement of civil rights laws. For those of us who live, work or attend school in New York, it is important to know and to enforce the strong civil rights protections that exist under New York City and New York State law.
Both New York State and New York City have enacted Human … <Read More>
City Council Members Berate Applicant for Withdrawing MIH Commitment; Deny Application
The proposal would allow for the construction of a new ten-unit, four-story residential development on a vacant Brooklyn lot. On December 12, 2016, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises heard testimony on an application for the rezoning of three lots at 14–18 Carroll Street, in the Columbia Street Waterfront District neighborhood in Brooklyn Community District 6. The developer proposed the construction a ten-unit residential building on three vacant lots, totaling 6,229 square feet … <Read More>
The Impact of the 2016 Amendments to the Ethics Laws
On August 24, 2016, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Chapter 286 of the Laws of 2016 which amends the State’s ethics laws. The legislation is not a transformational game changer in the ethics arena, but does make significant changes in the State’s laws. The new law vests the Attorney General with authority to disclose sources of funding for various not-for-profit entities, expands the disclosure of all sources of funding by those engaging in lobbying, and codifies … <Read More>