City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden sent the proposal for a new zoning designation, to be used first for part of the old Fur District in an effort to encourage growth of the area’s Class B and C office space, for public review. Edison Properties wants to use the designation to develop the area bounded by West 28th and 30th streets and Seventh and Eighth avenues. The neighborhood has affordable office space that could attract new media, architectural firms, creative arts and other emerging businesses but lacks retail and residencies necessary for a thriving, mixed-use 24/7 neighborhood, according to Burden. TRD Comments

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The city has launched its public review process for a preservationist-friendly rezoning of a 31-block swath of Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill that would discourage out-of-scale building and prevent commercial development from intruding onto residential blocks in the neighborhood, City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden announced today. The proposal covers the mostly rowhouse-filled blocks bounded by Atlantic Avenue to the north, Fourth Avenue to the east, Warren and Wyckoff streets to the south and Court Street to the west, Burden said. TRD [more]

A proposal to rezone a 130-block swath of Queens’ Sunnyside and Woodside neighborhoods — what would be the first rezoning of the area since 1974 — has entered its public review period, City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden announced today. The proposed zoning changes would target Queens Boulevard’s main corridor for “moderate new development” by setting height limits on other, mostly-residential blocks and would provide incentives for affordable housing through the city’s Inclusionary Housing Program. In Sunnyside, the rezoning would allow for small sidewalk cafes on Queens Boulevard in order to liven up the neighborhood. TRD [more]

A rendering of Columbia’s proposed Steven Holl-designed athletic facility at Baker Field

Columbia University got the OK from the Department of City Planning yesterday on a zoning variance that will allow it to build a new, Steven Holl-designed athletic facility at its waterfront Baker Field sports complex in Inwood, according to DNAinfo. Normally, property owners would have to exchange 15 percent of their land for public waterfront access to build, but the plan approved yesterday allows Columbia to give up only 1.5 percent for that use. Columbia sought an exception to the rule because it said it doesn’t currently own enough waterfront land at the Broadway and 218th Street site to meet the city’s requirement, and instead wants to develop some of the city’s adjacent waterfront land as an addition to Inwood Hill Park. [more]

A new handbook coming out Monday seeks to “demystify” the zoning rules in New York City, a project organized by Amanda Burden, the commissioner of the Department of City Planning, the New York Times reported. Prior to the creation of the new handbook, zoning rules could only be found in the zoning resolution, a 1,500-page book that was virtually incomprehensible to laypeople and even to city officials, the Times said. Since the resolution is “impossible to understand,” Burden said, it took the tool of zoning out of the hands of the public. With her new handbook, she hopes to change that. [more]

A gritty stretch of 80 blocks along Webster Avenue in the North Bronx could be reborn, according to the Wall Street Journal, as city officials consider a plan to rezone the industrial area. After holding a hearing yesterday, the Department of City Planning said it may revise old zoning regulations for the area, known as a haven for car-repair shops. Under the department’s proposal, the area would be rezoned to promote affordable residential development, as well as retail shops and hotels. Fernando Tirado, the district manager for the local community board, said that the proposal would be a welcome change. [more]

Jeffrey Baker, Susan Pollock and a rendering of the Domino Sugar site

Opponents of the $1.5 billion mixed-use redevelopment of the crumbling Domino Sugar site in Williamsburg sued last week to overturn the waterfront plan that won approval over the summer from the City Council. A group calling itself Williamsburg Community Preservation Coalition, which includes a handful of long-time critics of the project, claims several entities including the City Council, the Department of City Planning and the developer CPC Resources, violated a state law governing environmental review of such projects. The suit was filed in New York State Supreme Court last Wednesday. “The community thinks it is oversized and inappropriate for the area,” the organization’s attorney Jeffrey Baker, a partner at Young, Sommer, Ward, Ritzenberg, Baker & Moore, told The Real Deal. [more]

The public review process for the South Jamaica rezoning in Queens is underway, City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden announced today. The proposed 530-block rezoning — bound by Liberty Avenue, 108th Avenue and South Road to the north, Merrick and Springfield Boulevards to the east, North Conduit Avenue to the south and the Van Wyck Expressway to the west — would protect the lower-density character of the area while also providing opportunities for new housing and businesses. TRD [more]

Extell’s Riverside Center sailed through the City Planning Commission yesterday as commissioners voted 12-1 to approve the mixed-use development spanning from West 59th Street to West 61st Street, between West End Avenue and Riverside Boulevard. In several public hearings prior to the vote, the project had faced significant criticism from some Upper West Side residents who argued that the flashy new buildings would serve only the rich do little for the neighborhood. But at yesterday’s vote, Amanda Burden, chair of the City Planning Commission, said the proposed complex is “a unique opportunity to re-envision and reshape a bleak eight-acre parking lot and former rail yard as an exciting addition and major amenity to this thriving West Side neighborhood.” The next and final stop for the project – slated to include five residential towers, retail space, a below-grade parking garage and an auto showroom — will be a vote by the City Council in approximately two months. [DNAinfo]

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From left: Andrew Berman of GVSHP, City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden, Landmarks Preservation Commissioner
Robert Tierney and a rendering of NYU’s proposed tower

In response to New York University’s recently filed application to the city for approval of a 400-foot-tall tower in the I.M. Pei-designed Silver Towers complex, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has sent a letter to city officials stating the “unequivocal opposition of a broad range of community groups to this plan,” according to Andrew Berman, executive director of GVSHP. The letter — which was sent today to City Planning Commission Chair Amanda Burden, Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Robert Tierney and a host of other government officials — urges the leaders not to support any requests for the tower, which, if approved, would be the tallest building ever erected in the village. A spokesperson for LPC said she could not comment on NYU’s application since it hadn’t been reviewed yet. GVSHP and other community are holding a rally and press conference Nov. 7 at the site of the planned tower, at Bleecker Street east of LaGuardia Place. Community Board 2′s Landmarks Committee will be voting on NYU’s application Nov. 8. TRD

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