CITYLAND FEBRUARY 15, 2008 center for new york city law VOLUME 5, NUMBER 1 Highlights CITY COUNCIL Eberhard Faber Hist. Dist. .1 Columbia, CB 9 saga ends . .3 Tuck-it-Away approved . .4 Council takes on MSG . .4 Kaufman Astoria Studios . .5 CITY PLANNING COMMISSION Solow, CB 6 plans modified . .6 Hudson Square rezoning . .7 Hotel in Lincoln Square . .8 Park Slope BID OK'd . .9 Hunts Point Special District . .9 BOARD OF STANDARDS & APPEALS Dyker Heights end-around . .10 Local residents lost a lawsuit seeking to stop the Atlantic Yards project from moving forward. See story Avella challenges variance . .10 on page 16. Image: Forest City Ratner Companies. Faith trumps zoning . .10 LANDMARKS CITY COUNCIL struction of a nine-story addition to, and interior demolition of, 58 Kent DUMBO Hist. Dist. designated . .11 Street. 4 CityLand109 (Aug. 15, 2007). Designation Ladies' Mile glass tower app’d . .12 Notwithstanding the permits, Land- Allerton House public hearing . .13 Greenpoint, Brooklyn marks voted to preserve the Eber- 97-yr.-old synagogue considered .13 Council OKs Eberhard Faber hard Faber buildings as a historic dis- Cobble Hill project rejected . .14 Pencil Hist. Dist. trict in October 2007. 4 CityLand 159 American Bank Note Co. .14 (Oct. 15, 2007). Historic district includes buildings ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORP. At the Subcommittee on Land- from Brooklyn’s bygone industrial marks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses Harlem firehouse for sale, $1 . .15 age. On January 30, 2008, the City hearing on January 22, 2008, Diane COURT DECISIONS Council voted to approve Land- Jackier, Director of External Affairs marks’ designation of the Eberhard for Landmarks, testified in support Atlantic Yards Art. 78 dismissed . .16 Faber Pencil Company Historic Dis- of designation and noted the wide- CITYLAND PROFILE trict, located in the Greenpoint spread support the agency received neighborhood of Brooklyn, between from preservationist groups during CM Melinda Katz . .16 West and Kent Streets along Green- its public hearing. Council Member point Avenue. The factory buildings CHARTS David Yassky, whose district includes serve as an example of the German Greenpoint, supported the designa- DCP Pipeline . .3 Renaissance Revival style, with some tion as well and praised Landmarks ULURP Pipeline . .6 buildings dating as far back as the for working to preserve historic sites BSA Pipeline . .8 1880s. In 2005, the Department of beyond Manhattan. Landmarks Actions . .11 Buildings issued permits for the The subcommittee unani- Landmarks Pipeline . .13 demolition and alteration of some mously approved the designation, Citylaw.org New Decisions . .17-19 buildings within the district. One sending it to the Land Use Commit- such permit was to facilitate the con- tee, which did the (cont’d on page 3) February 15, 2008 Volume 5 CITYLAND 1 COMMENTARY In 1975 Mayor Beame opposed traffic pricing; that was a mistake. On September 2, 1975 the federal government, relying on the federal Clean Air Act, demanded that New York City restrict traffic by, among other strategies, putting tolls on the four East River bridges. Two weeks later, Mayor Abraham Beame, then sinking in the red ink of the fiscal crisis, asked the City’s Corporation Counsel to resist tolls by all legal means possible. City experts, he wrote, had advised him that tolling the bridges would increase air pollution from cars queuing at toll booths and wipe out the marginal increase in air quality. The issue became moot when Congress, in 1977, wrote tolls out of the Clean Air Act. Now, more than three decades later, Mayor Bloomberg, reversing Mayor Beame, advocates pricing to man- age traffic, improve air quality and provide financial support for public transit. The impetus this time does not come from the federal government, but from a profound change in the City’s economic circumstances and a new political consensus. Mayor Beame in 1975 believed that tolls would exacerbate the City’s fiscal crisis, and rather hoped for a bailout from the federal government. Mayor Bloomberg has the opposite view. He argues that traffic pricing would strengthen the City’s economy and be one of several important strategies to reduce energy use. Moreover, Mayor Bloomberg has no hope that the federal government will support public transit at sufficient levels. This leaves local government with the job of supporting transit. The Pataki Administration forced this issue by using fare-backed bonds to support the transit capital plan. Fare payers now contribute a significant propor- tion of the costs of the capital program, but fares will not be enough. Hence the need for Mayor Bloomberg’s pricing plan. It is time for the state legislature to agree that locally based traffic pricing, whether with tolls or without, and, however finally designed, offers the best hope of maintaining and expanding the City’s marvelous and life-giv- ing transit system. As between the different visions of the City, Mayor Bloomberg has it right. Ross Sandler CITYLAND Ross Sandler Lebasi Lashley Caitlin Hannon Executive Editor and Director, Design Director Subscription Coordinator Center for New York City Law The Center expresses appreciation to the individu- Melanie Cash ’02 Shlomit Aroubas ’07 Caitlin Walsh ’08 als and foundations supporting the Center and its Associate Director Jonathan Reingold ’07 Clint Daggan ’09 work: The Steven and Sheila Aresty Foundation, Managing Editor William Vidal ’07 Brent Reitter ’10 Fellows in New York City Law Research Assistants The Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, Fund for Sami Y. Naim the City of New York, The Horace W. Goldsmith Editor, CityLand Jesse Denno Foundation, The Murray Goodgold Foundation, Staff Writer Publication Prod. Assistant Jerry Gottesman, The Marc Haas Foundation, CITYLAND ADVISORY BOARD The Prospect Hill Foundation, and The Revson Foundation. Kent Barwick Howard Goldman Carol E. Rosenthal Andrew Berman David Karnovsky Michael T. Sillerman CITYLAN D (ISSN 1551-711X) is published 11 times Molly Brennan Ross Moskowitz ’84 Paul D. Selver a year by the Center for New York City Law at New Albert K. Butzel Frank Munger York Law School, 57 Worth St., New York City, New CENTER FOR NEW YORK CITY LAW ADVISORY COUNCIL York 10013, tel. (212) 431-2115, fax (212) 941-4735, e-mail: [email protected], website: www.city- Stanley S. Shuman, Eric Hatzimemos ’92 Steven M. Polan law.org © Center for New York City Law, 2007. All Chair Michael D. Hess Norman Redlich rights reserved. Printed on recycled paper. Maps CITYLAND Arthur N. Abbey ’59 Lawrence S. Huntington ’64 Joseph B. Rose presented in are from Map-PLUTO Sheila Aresty ’94 William F. Kuntz II Ernst H. Rosenberger ’58 copyrighted by the New York City Department of Harold Baer, Jr. Eric Lane Rose Luttan Rubin City Planning. City Landmarks and Historic Dis- David R. Baker Randy M. Mastro tricts printed with permission of New York City Anthony Coles Frederick P. Schaffer Richard Matasar Landmarks Preservation Commission. Edward N. Costikyan Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr. Paul A. Crotty Robert J. McGuire O. Peter Sherwood POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Richard J. Davis Francis McArdle Edward Wallace CITYLAND , 57 Worth Street, New York, New York Michael B. Gerrard John D. McMahon ’76 Richard M. Weinberg 10013-2960. Periodicals postage paid at New York, Judah Gribetz Thomas L. McMahon ’83 Peter L. Zimroth New York. Kathleen Grimm ’80 Gary P. Naftalis James D. Zirin 2 Volume 5 CITYLAND February 15, 2008 same two days later. The full Coun- CITY PLANNING PIPELINE cil followed suit on January 30, 2008. New Applications Filed with DCP — Dec. - Jan. 31, 2008 Council: Eberhard Faber Pencil Com- APPLICANT PROJECT/ADDRESS DESCRIPTION ULURP # REPRESENTATIVE pany Historic District, Brooklyn (Jan. 30, 2008). ZONING TEXT AND MAP AMENDMENTS HPD 125th St. Special District Map amend.; text amend. 080099(A)ZMM; HPD 080100(A)ZRM CITY COUNCIL HPD Lafayette Manor, SI Rezone (const. 60 units) 080198ZMR HPD DCP Westerleigh Rezoning, SI Rezone (75 blocks to R2) 080202ZMR DCP Rezoning/197-a Plan Bedrock Group 151-45 Sixth Rd., QN Rezone (M1-1 to R3-2); spec. perm. 080203ZMQ; Kramer Levin (mod. height, setback); spec. perm. 080206ZSQ; West Harlem, Manhattan (mod. height, setback, yards); 080207ZSQ; spec. perm. (mod. FAR, open space) 080208ZSQ Columbia University’s and Kirsha Mgmt. 3857 Shore Pkwy, BK Rezone (4 bldgs., 350 units) 080211ZMK Cozen O'Connor CB9’s plans approved DCP Grand Street Rezoning, BK Rezone (R6 to R6B/R6A, R6/C1-3) 080213ZMK DCP Last minute effort to delay vote until HPD W. 127th St., MN Rezone (3 bldgs., 229 units) 080219ZMM HPD HPD New Lots Plaza, BK Rezone (C8-1 to R6A/C2-4); 080228ZMK; HPD disclosure of community benefit UDAAP & Disp. (7-story bldg.) 080229HAK package was defeated. On December HPD 3952 Third Ave., BX Rezone (const. 279 units); amend 080233ZMX; HPD 19, 2007, the City Council voted to Urban Renewal Plan 080232HUX approve Columbia University’s and DCP Special Hunts Point Dist., BX Rezone (70 blocks to M1-2); text 080248ZMX; DCP amend. (est. Spec. Hunts Pt. Dist.) 080247ZRX Manhattan Community Board 9’s DCP Sunnyside Gardens, QN Text amend. (mod. FAR, height, yards) 080253ZRQ DCP development plans for West Harlem after the Planning Commission SPECIAL PERMITS/OTHER ACTIONS modified both plans the month West St. Develop. 50 West St., MN Spec. perm. (mod. public plaza) 070415(A)ZSM Fried Frank before. The approval clears the way Sharome Cares, Inc. 206 Parkville Ave., BK Spec. perm. (4-story asst. living) 080235ZSK Sheldon Lobel, PC for Columbia to move forward with Cooper Sq. Realty 25 E. 21st St., MN Spec. perm. (conv. to loft dwelling) 080245ZSM Fredrick Becker its campus expansion into the tra- HPD 226 Fillmore St., SI UDAAP & Disp. (5-story, 60 units) 080199HAR HPD ditionally industrial neighborhood HPD 2228 Givan Ave., BX UDAAP & Disp. (11-story, 70 units) 080217HAX HPD of Manhattanville.