CITYNOVEMBER 2012 center forLAND new york city law VOLUME 9, NUMBER 9 Table of Contents CITY COUNCIL Chelsea Market expansion modified . .127 Seward Park plan approved . .129 Changes for West Harlem Rezoning . .131 BOARD OF STANDARDSFPO & APPEALS East Village tenement additions OK’d . .132 The City Council is set to vote on Jamestown Properties’ revised Chelsea Market expansion plan. Credit: Chelsea Market . LANDMARKS media office use, as well as provide New design for Seaport’s Pier 17 . .133 CITY COUNCIL financial and practical benefits to Seaport Residential the High Line. Rezoning/Text Amendment Building OK’d . 134 The proposed expansion plan New East Village/LES HD . .135 Chelsea, Manhattan includes a 240,000-square-foot of- Revised Cobble Hill Planning Approves Modified fice space enlargement for 85 Tenth rowhouse plan . .136 Avenue and a 90,000-square-foot NoHo project commended . 137 Chelsea Market Expansion Plan, Sends Back to Council enlargement at 75 Ninth Avenue Harlem rowhouse for hotel use. The plan also extends addition rejected . .138 for Full Vote the Special West Chelsea District to Affordable housing contribution include the entire Chelsea Market COURT DECISIONS would be used by nearby Fulton block. The Special West Chelsea Dis- Houses if floor area bonus utilized . trict was created in 2005. 2 CityLand Mott Haven campus environmental review ordered . .139 On October 25, 2012, the City Coun- 83 (July 15, 2005). The inclusion BSA rooftop grant upheld . .140 cil’s Land Use Committee approved would facilitate the proposed expan- Jamestown Properties’ modified sion by retaining the block’s M1-5 expansion plan for Chelsea Mar- zoning designation, and by allowing CHARTS ket at 75 Ninth Avenue in Manhat- an increase in the maximum floor DCP Pipeline . .C-1 tan. The Market is a complex of 18 area ratio on the site from 5.0 to 7.5 ULURP Pipeline . .C-1 different buildings occupying the FAR upon Jamestown making a fi- BSA Pipeline . .C-2 entire block bounded by West 14th nancial contribution to the High Line Landmarks Pipeline . .C-2 and West 15th Streets and Ninth Improvement Fund. Jamestown also CityAdmin o. rg New Decisions . C-4 and Tenth Avenues. A section of promised to provide the High Line the High Line Park cuts through the with amenities such as public rest- Market along Tenth Avenue. The ex- rooms and a freight elevator. pansion would facilitate the growth Both Manhattan Borough of Chelsea Market’s creative and President Scott (cont’d on page 129) www.CityLandNYC.org 127 COM M E NTARY Con Edison Meets Hurricane Sandy’s Challenge Every four hours around the clock, beginning Tuesday, October 30, 2012, workers from every part of Consoli- dated Edison’s territory reported to senior management on the status, needs and plans to restore service to Con Edison customers. The reports came in to Con Edison’s Emergency Response Center set up in the nineteenth floor auditorium at Con Edison’s headquarters at 4 Irving Place. The first reports were sketchy assessments: what was happening and where. As the storm receded, the terrible numbers started to come in. Midland Beach in Staten Island and Gerritsen Beach in Brooklyn were devastated. Storm surge knocked out the East River steam plant, caused an explosion at Manhattan’s 13th Street transmission station, and flooded office towers on Water Street. Trees and downed wires all over Westchester County, blocking roads and preventing crews from getting through. Brighten Beach was flooded. Con Edison’s Manhattan workout locations were under water, but Con Edison’s vehicles were safe; Con Edison had removed them to the high ground of Union Square 24 hours before the storm hit. There was steady, intense professionalism in the Emergency Response Center as the reports kept arriving. A Con Edison worker returning home from a twelve hour shift was robbed at gun point. A mutual aid crew working on a 13,000 volt overhead line failed to follow safety rules; they were sent home to North Carolina. Site safety became a concern, so Con Edison sent trained office workers to downed wire sites in the field. A gasoline shortage threatened to prevent workers from getting to work sites; tankers of gasoline were ordered. A work camp sleeping mutual aid crews was set up at Citi Field in Queens. A hush came over the Response Center when a dog was reported to have been electrocuted by a downed wire. Eleven days after the storm the video display in the Response Center charted a constant increase in restorations of power. Con Edison crews had restored electricity to 1,012,316 of the 1,054,972 customers blacked out by Sandy and the following Northeaster. The extraordinary professionalism, preparation and dedication shown by Con Edison’s executives and by the 14,000 workers in the field were reflected in the successful restoration work. Later there will be investigations and reviews of performance as there should be. In the meantime, as this is written, the hard, house by house restoration work continues in the field. Ross Sandler CITYLAND Ross Sandler Brian J. Kaszuba ’04 Jesse Denno Professor of Law and Director, CityLand Editor Staff Writer, Production Asst . The Center expresses appreciation to the Center for New York City Law Randy Kleinman ’12 Sarah Knowles Peter Schikler ’08 Amber Gonzalez ’12 Administrative Coordinator individuals and foundations supporting the Associate Director Fellows Center and its work: The Steven and Sheila Aresty Managing Editor Lebasi Lashley Foundation, Fund for the City of New York, CityLand Editor Art Director Petting Zoo Design 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 Rose Luttan Rubin org © Center for New York City Law, 2012. All Arthur N. Abbey ’59 William F. Kuntz II Frederick P. Schaffer rights reserved. Printed on recycled paper. Maps Sheila Aresty ’94 presented in CITYLAND are from Map-PLUTO Eric Lane Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr. Harold Baer, Jr. copyrighted by the New York City Department of Randy M. Mastro O. Peter Sherwood David R. Baker City Planning. City Landmarks and Historic Dis- Robert J. McGuire Michael A. Cardozo Edward Wallace tricts printed with permission of New York City Francis McArdle Anthony Coles Richard M. Weinberg Landmarks Preservation Commission. Paul A. Crotty John D. McMahon ’76 Peter L. Zimroth Richard J. Davis Thomas L. McMahon ’83 James D. Zirin 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 • November 2012 www.CityLandNYC.org 128 M. Stringer and Manhattan Com- sq.ft. of bonus floor area. The total members of the community who munity Board 4 disapproved of the contribution to the affordable hous- felt the expansion was out of char- planned expansion, especially ob- ing fund would be approximately acter for the Chelsea Market and jecting to the additional heights. $4.7 million for about 30% of the would lead to traffic congestion. They also both requested that available floor area bonus. The re- Council Members James Sanders, Jr. Jamestown be required to provide maining floor area bonus contribu- and Rosie Mendez abstained from funding to the West Chelsea Af- tions would be made to the High the vote. fordable Housing Fund. Addition- Line fund. The overall total contri- City Planning heard the modifi- ally, the Community Board wanted bution associated with the entire cations during its review session on hotel uses to be prohibited on site, project would be approximately November 5, 2012 and determined and the Borough President want- $17.5 million. that the modifications were within ed to eliminate the Tenth Avenue The City Council’s Zoning & the scope of the original action. The addition entirely. Franchises Subcommittee held a full Council is expected to vote on At the City Planning Commis- hearing on October 23, 2012. Com- the rezoning at its stated meeting on sion’s July 25, 2012 hearing, the munity Board 4 District Manager, November 14, 2012. Community Board and the Borough Robert J. Benfatto, testified that CPC: Chelsea Market (N 120142 ZRM President testified they would still Jamestown had made a number of – text amendment); (C 120143 ZMM – oppose the proposal unless afford- agreements with the Community rezoning) (October 25, 2012) (Architect: able housing funding was required Board since the process began, but Studios Architecture). and the height modifications were that there were still many issues met. Other community opponents, concerning the application of the such as the Greenwich Village Soci- affordable housing contribution. CITY COUNCIL ety for Historic Preservation and the Local Assembly Member Deborah group Save Chelsea, opposed the Glick opposed the expansion based Rezoning/Special Permits proposal outright, citing concerns on the Market’s historic character, Lower East Side, Manhattan about increased traffic and the ex- the size of the expansion, and the City Council Tweaks pansion’s impact on Chelsea Mar- reliability of Jamestown’s commit- Six-Acre Seward Park Rede- ket’s aesthetic character.