CITYLAND OCTOBER 15, 2004 center for new york city law VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1 Site of approved 29-story mixed use Highlights building at 200 Chambers Street, Tribeca. DUANE STR EET CITY COUNCIL 200 Chambers Street . .1 Brookville Queens rezoning . .3 Bronx down-zonings . .4 Community Facilities . .4 WASHINGTON READE STR REET CHAMBERS ST MARKET PARK EET EET CITY PLANNING COMMISSION REET WEST ST PROJECT SCHOOL Red Hook Ikea . .5 SITE YARD Randall’s Island water park . .6 DOG GREENWICH STR DUMBO tower approved . .7 RUN PS 234 Enrique Norten’s hotel design . .8 CHAMBERS STR BOARD OF STANDARDS WARREN EET AND APPEALS STREET Domestic Abuse Shelter allowed . .9 Greater Allen Cathedral housing . .9 CITY COUNCIL 300 ft., eliminated an urban plaza, Sephardic Community Center . .10 committed 10,000 sq.ft. of a 40,000 sq.ft. community facility space to Comedy club at 14th & Hudson . .10 Special Permit/Disposition the adjacent P.S. 234, and reduced Lower Manhattan the project’s size. LANDMARKS 300 foot tower approved for The proposed development Grant’s Tomb Pavilion . .11 Chambers and West Street raised concerns because of the site’s history, the potential shadows on L.I. New York Telephone Co. .12 Developer reduced tower by 60 Tribeca’s Washington Market Park 240 Central Park South Apts. .12 feet and increased community facil- and the impact of new residents on 34 West 74th Street . .12 ities. The Council approved without the already overcrowded P.S. 234. additional change the Planning The site, part of an expired Urban Commission’s resolutions adopted COURT DECISIONS Renewal Area Plan, had a history of on July 28, 2004, allowing construc- failed development proposals, leav- Art to stay at 599 Broadway . .13 tion of a 29-story mixed-use build- ing it one of only two remaining Hudson Yards Draft EIS . .13 ing at 200 Chambers Street. The undeveloped sites. Council’s action completes the des- The site currently contains sur- ignation of the site as an Urban face parking, a dog run and a school CHARTS Development Action Area, allows yard for P.S. 234. The developer pro- City Planning Applications . .6 the transfer of City-owned land to posed construction on the 34,257 ULURP Certifications . .6 the EDC, and approves a special sq.ft. surface parking portion only, permit to modify height and set- but counted the square footage of the Landmarks’ September Hearings . .11 back. In the course of the ULURP dog run and the yard to meet a 40,000 citylaw.org New Decisions . .14 process, the developer reduced the sq.ft. lot size requirement for the City height of the tower from 360 ft. to Planning special per- (cont’d on page 3) October 15, 2004 Volume 1 CITYLAND 1 COMMENTARY Welcome to CityLand,Your New Source for Land Use Information The Center for New York City Law proudly launches its most ambitious project, CITYLAN D , a monthly newsletter reporting decisions by the primary New York City land use agencies. Our intent in publishing comprehensive, timely information on land use decisions is to promote broader public participation and understanding of the City’s land use decision processes, while at the same time meeting the needs of governmental and professional participants. Land use decisions carry profound implications for the livability and prosperity of New York City, yet the City’s land use processes have traditionally been regarded as arcane, manipulated by a relatively few professional and governmental insiders, and invisible to the general public except for the few controversies that reach the media. Each land use agency keeps its own records, and the records exist in many different formats from only hard copy stored in metal file cabinets to partial Internet accessibility. In the distant past the Board of Estimate’s printed cal- endar was a source of public information, and some agencies regularly printed bulletins reporting their decisions, but charter revision and budget cutting have ended these activities. Individual agency Web sites are not search- able. The result is that the public lacks an easy way to follow and research land use decisions. CITYLAN D fills this gap. It will be comprehensive and include lists of information not otherwise available such as the list of new applications filed at the Planning Commission. Complementing CITYLAN D , the Center’s expand- ed Web site, www.citylaw.org, makes available in full text the decisions issued by land use agencies, all in search- able format. The Center, by combining a timely newsletter with free Internet access to decisions, has created a powerful new information resource. There are many people who helped make CITYLAN D possible. We were greatly encouraged by the profession- al staffs at the City land use agencies who helped us gain a better understanding of the range of land use decisions. Members of our CITYLAN D Advisory Board offered good ideas on how to manage the information, and the sever- al Foundations which provided funds permitted the Center to produce the prototype released last June. Lastly, New York Law School’s supportive environment has allowed us to experiment with projects like CITYLAN D . We are grateful to all. Now, with pleasure, we present to the civic life of New York City the inaugural issue of CITYLAN D . –Ross Sandler CITYLAND Ross Sandler Robert Merola Research Assistants: The Center expresses appreciation to the individ- Executive Editor and Director, Design Director Joseph P. Cardillo ‘05 Center for New York City Law Angelina Martinez-Rubio ‘04 Maren Mahoney ‘05 uals and foundations supporting the Center and Melanie Cash ‘02 David Steingard ‘04 Jordana Marcus ‘06 its work: Jerry Gottesman, Fund for the City of Associate Director, Center John Tatulli ‘04 New York, the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, Editor, CityLaw Fellows in New York City Law Kevin Schultz ‘05 Molly Brennan Jeffrey Ocasio Jason Weeks ‘06 The Marc Haas Foundations, The Horace W. Gold- Editor, CityLand Web Master smith Foundation, The Murray Goodgold Founda- tion, The New York Community Trust, The Prospect CITYLAND ADVISORY BOARD Hill Foundation and The Revson Foundation. Kent Barwick Andrew Berman Albert K. Butzel CITYLAN D (ISSN 1551-711X) is published Frank Munger Paul D. Selver Howard Goldman monthly by the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School, 57 Worth St., New York City, CENTER FOR NEW YORK CITY LAW ADVISORY COUNCIL New York 10013, tel. (212) 431-2115, fax (212) 941- 4735, e-mail: [email protected], website: www.citylaw.org © Center for New York City Law, Stanley S. Shuman, Michael D. Hess Steven M. Polan 2004. All rights reserved. Printed on recycled paper. Chair Lawrence S. Huntington ’64 Norman Redlich Arthur N. Abbey ’59 Maps presented in CITYLAN D are from Map- William F. Kuntz II Joseph B. Rose Harold Baer, Jr. PLUTO copyrighted by the New York City Depart- Eric Lane Rose Luttan Rubin David R. Baker Nathan Leventhal ment of City Planning. City Landmarks and His- Frederick P. Schaffer Edward N. Costikyan Randy M. Mastro toric Districts printed with permission of New York Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr. Paul A. Crotty Richard Matasar, City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Richard J. Davis President & Dean O. Peter Sherwood Fernando Ferrer Robert J. McGuire Edward Wallace POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Michael B. Gerrard CITYLAN D Francis McArdle Richard M. Weinberg , 57 Worth Street, New York, New York Judah Gribetz John D. McMahon ’76 Peter L. Zimroth 10013-2960. Periodicals postage paid at New York, Kathleen Grimm ’80 Thomas L. McMahon ’83 James D. Zirin New York. 2 Volume 1 CITYLAND October 15, 2004 200 Chambers (cont’d from page 1) overall size and increased the com- hensive down-zoning proposal of 88 mit. The developer originally sought munity facilities space to over blocks in Brookville, north of JFK approval of a 35-story tower along 40,000 sq.ft. P.S. 234 will have use of International in Queens. The Coun- West Side Highway and a shorter 7- 10,000 sq.ft. of the community cil’s vote completes a four-year-long story component along Chambers facilities space. A community initiative, which started with a com- Street, producing a 402,883-square group, Manhattan Youth, will be munity letter to the Queens Borough foot building with 456 rental units, allotted the remainder. On July 28, President in 2000 and led to the cre- retail space, and only 18,023 sq.ft. of 2004, the Commission unanimous- ation of a joint Community Board, community facilities space. ly approved the revised proposal. Borough President and City Plan- ning Department Task Force. At the Council meeting, Coun- Council Res. Nos. 573, 574 (September 9, The Brookville residents, point- cil Member Alan Gerson stated that, 2004); CPC Cal. No. 40 and 42, C with regard to the proposed devel- 040255HAM (UDAAP/disposition of ing to a rising number of out-of- opment, the past year could be sum- land), C 040257 (A)ZSM (special permit) character developments in the area, marized as one of “heated discus- (July 28, 2004) (200 Chambers St.: asked that steps be taken to prohibit sions with the administration.” He Michael T. Sillerman, Esq., Kramer Levin large developments. Concern arose Naftalis & Frankel LLP, for West-Cham- urged the Council to vote yes, com- from construction of several as-of- bers Associates, LLC; Hardy Adasko, for menting that an agreement with the right 12-unit apartment buildings EDC; Architect: David West, Costas and one 25-unit apartment building developer had just been signed that Kondylis & Partners LLP). CITYADMIN morning. The Council approved the directly adjacent to Brookville Park application by a vote of 47 in the at 145-33 and 145-37 232nd Street.