Preservationists, RE players gear up for Landmarks fight

Preservation groups and real estate interests are gearing up for a fight over City Council legislation that would impose a time limit on Landmarks Preservation Commission designations.

The proposed bill would give the commission one year to decide on landmark status for an individual property and two years for a neighborhood or district.

Council members David Greenfield and Peter Koo introduced the legislation in April after it emerged that more than 100 proposed designations had been languishing in the commission’s backlog for decades.

Opponents of the bill, including the Historic Districts Council and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, blasted out an email Monday criticizing the bill, according to Crain’s.

But real estate, union and affordable housing interests – as well as the Archdiocese of New York and the Manhattan and Brooklyn chambers of commerce – are amassing support of their own and are expected to testify in favor of the proposal.

“Nearly every important city process like this has a timeline,” a spokesperson for the Real Estate Board of New York told Crain’s. “Property owners should know what they are getting into.” [Crain’s] – Rey Mashayekhi