June 5, 2018 Testimony of Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer 200 Amsterdam Avenue Board of Standards and Appeals Good morning Vice Chair Chanda and Commissioners. My name is Gale Brewer and I am the Manhattan Borough President. Previously, I served as the City Councilmember for the Upper West Side for twelve years. In March, Councilmember Rosenthal, my office, and hundreds of concerned citizens and advocates testified against the gerrymandering of the zoning lot at 200 Amsterdam Avenue. At that time, I emphasized the importance of DOB’s reversal of their own position, correcting a 40 year mistake in their interpretation of the Zoning Resolution. The kind of community action, legal challenge, and formal review over this project is the exact process by which bad interpretation of laws are changed and public policy mistakes are corrected. I argued that the Board should back up the DOB’s revised position and prohibit the gerrymandering of zoning lots now and in the future, starting with 200 Amsterdam. All of that remains true, and our community and excellent legal team will continue working to ensure that 200 Amsterdam becomes a precedent for good policy rather than a monument to an old mistake. But I also wanted to take time today to talk about the broader implications of gerrymandered zoning lots. Allowing a developer to cobble together portions of different tax lots in order to make up one Page 2 of 2 zoning lot would not only create unwarranted confusion and a general lack of transparency. It would also create loopholes that will have very real consequences for communities far beyond the Upper West Side. One example, as you’ll hear about today, has to do with Section 23-70 of the Zoning Resolution, which sets the minimum spacing requirements between two buildings on the same zoning lot. Gerrymandering would allow developers to strategically carve up the zoning lot into irregular shapes so as to bypass these rules. This could lead to much more haphazard and unpredictable infill development in zoning lots with existing buildings. There are legitimate concerns about this from constituents all over the borough, from East Harlem to Kips Bay to Stuyvesant Town. As the Manhattan Borough President, I have come across a whole suite of loopholes that developers exploit in order to circumvent the purposes of the Zoning Resolution. From excessive floor-to-floor heights to unnecessary mechanical and void spaces that only serve to push up the height of the building for luxury views, these loopholes have led to ever more unpredictable and illogical building forms in our city. The gerrymandering of zoning lots falls into the same category. I am committed to addressing all of these issues. In many of these cases where the Zoning Resolution is bent and twisted to give developers the right to do something they were never intended to be able to do, the only remedy is to attempt to change the Zoning Resolution. However, what is before you today is a case in which there significant agreement that this violates the Zoning Resolution. I ask the Board to prohibit the gerrymandering of zoning lots and revoke the permits for 200 Amsterdam. Thank you for your time and consideration. .