FRESH program would create incentives to encourage developing full-line grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods. On October 26, 2009, the City Council’s Zoning & Franchises Subcommittee heard testimony on the City’s proposed Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) program. The program would provide zoning and financial incentives to encourage grocerystores in neighborhoods identified in a 2008 study as being underserved by stores offering a full range of fresh food. These neighborhoods are located primarily … <Read More>
Search Results for: Certification
New MoMA tower, reduced by 200 feet, approved
Commission expressed doubts about whether Jean Nouvel-designed tower should equal Empire State Building. On September 9, 2009, the City Planning Commission approved a modified version of Hines Interests’ proposal to build an 85-story, 1,250-foot tall mixed-used building, which would reach the Empire State Building’s height below its antenna, adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art complex at 53 West 53rd Street in Midtown, Manhattan. The 19,615 sq.ft. through-block site is located in the Special Midtown … <Read More>
Document loss defeats NOV
Buildings cited 1974 building plan but could not produce it. Buildings issued a notice of violation to the owner of a building for engaging in work that did not conform to an approved building plan. Buildings stated that the owner extended the building beyond the size specified in a 1974 plan. At a hearing, Buildings stated that it could not locate the 1974 plan and relied instead on a copy of a 1959 plan and … <Read More>
Ross Moskowitz Talks About His Career and Current Land Use Issues
Ross Moskowitz’s legal career, focused on land use and real estate development, has provided him with the chance to work on both sides of the public/private partnerships used to promote the City’s economic development. This experience has served him well in leading the Real Estate Group at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.
When asked how he became interested in land use and development, Moskowitz explained that after graduating from New York Law School he … <Read More>
Engineer overturns ban
Engineer filed falsified documents for two addresses. The Department of Buildings filed charges against engineer Leon St. Clair Nation after discovering that he submitted a false application to alter the second floor of a building that did not have a second floor, and that he also submitted plans with altered photographs for two separate properties. Buildings specifically charged St. Clair with violating the City rules by knowingly or negligently submitting false or misleading documents to … <Read More>
Architect will be supervised
Architect self-certified applications with incorrect zoning. Architect David Nagan was hired in 2004 to prepare a zoning analysis for two adjacent lots in Queens. Nagan determined the lots were in an R3 district, which allowed for the construction of two, two-family semidetached homes with a common wall along the lot line. In April of 2005, the City Council rezoned the lots to R3X, a zoning district that prohibited semi-detached homes. About six months after the … <Read More>