A disarmingly simple plan for rezoning Manhattan’s office district running from Grand Central Terminal north to about 58th Street has been approved by the Planning Commission and will come to a Council vote around the time of the November election.
It has three key components: 1) The City almost doubles the allowable floor area for new buildings on large sites along the major thoroughfares; 2) it sells to the landowner the right to build the … <Read More>
City Council approved Crown Heights rezoning despite calls for mandatory inclusionary housing and anti-harassment legislation. On September 16, 2013, the Brooklyn Borough Office of the Department of City Planning testified before the City Council’s Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises in support of its proposal to rezone 55 blocks in the western portion of Crown Heights (Crown Heights West). Crown Heights West is bounded by Atlantic Avenue, Pacific, Dean and Bergen streets to the … <Read More>
(Economic) Heart Trouble
More than 30 years after its last major zoning change, the economic heart of New York City merits a checkup. According to City planners, the prognosis for East Midtown is not good: an aging office stock, a congested pedestrian network, global competition, and the lack of new office development threaten to undermine the economic competitiveness of the City. The cure, proposed by the Bloomberg Administration, is a rezoning of 78 blocks of … <Read More>
Zoning Therapy
For 34 years the City has required a special permit for physical culture or health establishments. This requirement burdens owners and operators of health clubs, gyms, spas and studios, even where such uses would otherwise be permitted as-of-right. With the elimination of the now-unlawful adult physical culture establishments, the purpose and usefulness of the remaining regulations place an unnecessary burden on legitimate small businesses and should be modified or eliminated entirely.
During the … <Read More>
Commercial and residential rezoning of entire block favored by half of block’s property owners in area zoned for manufacturing. Five property owners came together to apply for the rezoning of a block in Flushing, Queens. The block is bounded by Avery Avenue to the north, College Point Boulevard to the east, Fowler Avenue to the south and 131st Street to the west. The application requests a rezoning from M1-1 and M1-2 to C2-6A to facilitate … <Read More>
See below for update.
Council Member Jackson obtains compromise between City’s proposal and community concerns. On October 25, 2012, the City Council’s Land Use Committee approved a modified version of the Department of City Planning’s West Harlem Rezoning proposal. The proposal would impact 90 blocks generally bounded by West 155th Street to the north, West 126th Street to the south, Bradhurst Avenue to the east, and Riverside Drive to the west. The rezoning would … <Read More>