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CITYDECEMBER 2012 center forLAND new york city law VOLUME 9, NUMBER 9 Table of Contents NYLS STUDENT ARTICLE Signs and Billboards . .141 CITY COUNCIL Sale of City property rejected . .145 QN Cemetery landmarked . .147 BK parking reqs . reduced . .149 Ridley store landmarked . .151 FPO CITY PLANNING COMMISSION Durst project awaits approval . .152 LANDMARKS BK cinema project deliberated . .154 Bank landmark process begins .155 Firehouse conversion delayed . .155 New MN hotel approved . .156 COURT DECISIONS Illustration Courtesy: CityLaw/Jeff Hopkins . Domino project goes forward . .157 ing Resolution, while implicating NYLS STUDENT ARTICLE issues of public health and safety, ADMINISTRATIVE DECISIONS also encompasses aesthetic consid- Adult estab . violated C of O . 158 Signs and Billboards: erations. Restrictions on the size, What’s Legal and What’s Not? height, surface area, and illumina- STAFF COMMENTARY by Andrew Thompson tion of a sign are intended to pro- mote a distinctive look in that zon- Sandy’s impact on ULURP . 152 Sign installation in New York ing district, while striking a balance City triggers regulations govern- between the desires of society and CITYLAND PROFILE ing location, size, illumination, and the rights of property owners. For construction. The New York City Michael Best . 159 example, an illuminated sign that Building Code and the New York may be a desirable tourist attraction City Zoning Resolution are the CHARTS in Times Square, becomes a nui- two main bodies of law governing sance in a residential neighborhood. DCP Pipeline . .C-1 signs in New York City. The Build- The Zoning Resolution’s rules ULURP Pipeline . .C-1 ing Code regulates the construction differ depending on whether a sign BSA Pipeline . .C-2 and maintenance of signs, such as Landmarks Pipeline . .C-3 is accessory to the business at that permissible construction materi- CityAdmin o. rg New Decisions . C-4 location, or is an advertising sign. als, and is primarily concerned with An advertising sign, as defined in public health and safety. The Zon- Zoning Resolution (cont’d on page 143) www.CityLandNYC.org 141 COM M E NTARY Ed Koch: Happy 88th Birthday Ed Koch celebrated his 88th birthday at a party/reunion held at Gracie Mansion on December 12, 2012. He is, as he says, still relevant. Ed Koch broadcasts his current opinions in regular blogs, movie reviews, political broadsides and letters. But if you really want to know Ed Koch, read his first two books, Mayor and Politics. Koch wrote Mayor shortly after losing his 1982 run for Governor against Mario Cuomo. Politics followed one year later. The two books present New York City politics with unforgettable characters, raw and revealing stories of politicians entertainingly told, and an insider’s view of a city experiencing a decline in population, a rise in crime, a city budget in crisis and a political establishment still expecting to whack up the municipal pie. Koch reveled in detailing these demands and, of course, his dominance over them. Law students who were born after 1990 have no personal recollection of the Koch Administration. When they read Mayor and Politics the books reveal unfamiliar territory to them. Everyone they know today favors middle-class values, rides the subways, and brings dates to the Meatpacking District and the Lower East Side. Borough Presidents are figureheads, political bosses are unknown, and Disney has always been the biggest attraction in Times Square. Two features of the books stand out for the students. The first is the humor revealed in the political confronta- tions described by Koch. We who were around know that Ed Koch was the equal of any professional story teller, but that comes as a surprise to students today who see few politicians who can either be revealing or funny about their governmental business. The second surprise is the story of how Koch, without the pedigree of many of his rivals, rose to dominance in politics. The students read carefully the stories of Koch’s early years in Greenwich Village grappling with such issues as noise on MacDougal Street, street corner oratory and club house elections. They come to realize the potential for themselves if they are willing to demonstrate the same drive and ambition that were so evident in the young Ed Koch. We all like to reread the books too. It is like listening to Ed Koch re-tell his wonderful stories over and over. And they are always relevant. Ross Sandler CITYLAND Ross Sandler Randy Kleinman ’12 Jesse Denno Professor of Law and Director, Amber Gonzalez ’12 Staff Writer, Production Asst . The Center expresses appreciation to the Center for New York City Law Fellows Sarah Knowles Brian J. Kaszuba ’04 Lebasi Lashley Administrative Coordinator individuals and foundations supporting the CityLand Editor Art Director Center and its work: The Steven and Sheila Aresty Petting Zoo Design Foundation, Fund for the City of New York, The Durst Foundation, The Charina Endowment Fund, The Murray Goodgold Foundation, CITYLAND ADVISORY BOARD Jerry Gottesman, The Marc Haas Foundation and Kent Barwick Howard Goldman Frank Munger The Prospect Hill Foundation. Andrew Berman Jerry Gottesman Carol E. Rosenthal Molly Brennan David Karnovsky Michael T. Sillerman (ISSN 1551-711X) is published by the Albert K. Butzel Ross Moskowitz ’84 Paul D. Selver CITYLAND Center for New York City Law at New York Law School, 185 West Broadway, New York City, New CENTER FOR NEW YORK CITY LAW ADVISORY COUNCIL York 10013, tel. (212) 431-2115, fax (212) 941-4735, Stanley S. Shuman, Michael D. Hess Ernst H. Rosenberger ’58 e-mail: [email protected], website: www.citylaw. Chair Lawrence S. Huntington ’64 Frederick P. Schaffer org © Center for New York City Law, 2012. All Arthur N. Abbey ’59 William F. Kuntz II Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr. rights reserved. Printed on recycled paper. Maps Sheila Aresty ’94 presented in CITYLAND are from Map-PLUTO Eric Lane O. Peter Sherwood Harold Baer, Jr. copyrighted by the New York City Department of Randy M. Mastro Edward Wallace David R. Baker City Planning. City Landmarks and Historic Dis- Robert J. McGuire Michael A. Cardozo Richard M. Weinberg tricts printed with permission of New York City Francis McArdle Anthony Coles Peter L. Zimroth Landmarks Preservation Commission. Paul A. Crotty John D. McMahon ’76 James D. Zirin Richard J. Davis Thomas L. McMahon ’83 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Michael B. Gerrard Gary P. Naftalis CITYLAND, 185 West Broadway, New York, New Judah Gribetz Steven M. Polan York 10013-2921. Periodicals postage paid at New York, New York. Kathleen Grimm ’80 Gail S. Port ’76 Eric Hatzimemos ’92 Joseph B. Rose CITYLAND Volume 9 • December 2012 www.CityLandNYC.org 142 Article 1, Chapter 2, Section 12-10, thorized for hospitals and other plicated in commercial districts. Ac- directs attention to a business or health-related facilities. These signs, cessory signs in commercial districts product sold elsewhere that is not however, are not allowed to flash are limited by how high the sign accessory to a use located on the and must be limited to the lesser of may be affixed to a building, by how zoning lot. In order to be classified 25 square feet per street frontage or much it may project from the build- as an accessory sign, the sign’s con- 15 percent of such street frontage in ing, by how big it may be in relation tent must meet the standard of “ac- feet. The Commissioner of Build- to the lot’s street frontage, and by cessory use” as defined in Section ings must also make a determina- illumination restrictions. Generally, 12-10 of the Zoning Resolution. Sec- tion that the hospital’s illuminated the greater a building’s street front- tion 12-10 has three requirements sign is oriented in a way that mini- age, the larger an accessory sign that for accessory use: (1) the use must mizes the amount of light projected will be allowed. be conducted on the same zoning onto nearby residences. Addition- Advertising signs, on the other lot as the principal use to which it is ally, illuminated hospital signs must hand, are allowed only in C6-5, C6- related, except accessory docks and also conform to the same general 7, C7, and C8 commercial districts off-street parking or loading; (2) the regulations as any other sign in a and not allowed at all in the other use must be clearly incidental to, residential district. For example, no commercial districts. Since both and customarily found in connec- sign in a residential district is per- accessory and advertising signs are tion with the principal use; and (3) mitted to extend beyond the street permitted in these four commercial the use must be in the same owner- line by more than twelve inches or districts, the distinction between ship as the principal use or be oper- rise above the ceiling of the ground the two signs is less important than ated and maintained on the same floor, or 20 feet above the curb level, in C1 through C6 commercial dis- zoning lot substantially for the ben- whichever is lower. tricts where advertising signs are efit or convenience of the owners, For buildings containing resi- prohibited. In C1 through C6 com- occupants, employees, customers, dences, the Zoning Resolution al- mercial districts, a legally conform- or visitors of the principal use. If any lows one nameplate measuring one ing sign could be rendered illegal of these three elements are missing, square foot or less per dwelling or simply by changing the content of the sign will be considered an adver- room unit to identify the name and the sign from advertising one’s own tising sign. If a sign does not fit into address of the occupant or permit- business to advertising the business either the definition of advertising ted occupation.