Rezoning battle set for UWS
The Department of City Planning is proposing the first comprehensive rezoning of the Upper West Side in almost 50 years. The battle has been partly touched off by the Ariel Condominiums — two 30-plus-story towers currently rising on Broadway between 99th and 100th streets — which have led to some neighborhood opposition because of their height. The rezoning calls for height limits on new construction that would see most future developments rise less than half the height of the Ariel towers, the New York Sun reported.
Manhattan Avenue historic district created
Also on the Upper West Side, the Landmarks Preservation Commission last month created a historic district comprised of 40 buildings on Manhattan Avenue between 104th and 106th streets. The designation means property owners need to get commission approval for changes to building exteriors.
Pols push for foreclosure aid
Democratic leaders in the State Senate have proposed legislation that seeks to help the approximately 28,000 New York State homeowners who will face foreclosures this year, the New York Daily News reported. The number marks a dramatic rise in foreclosure filings and is linked to fallout in the subprime mortgage market. The bill would give the state’s mortgage agency, Sony Mae, the power to provide refinancing for some troubled loans, earmark millions of dollars for community groups to counsel homeowners facing foreclosure, and call for lenders to halt new foreclosures for a six-month period.
REBNY floats LIC housing plan
Real Estate Board of New York chairman Stephen Ross has been in “secret talks” with the Bloomberg administration about a plan that would result in the city handing over a 24-acre Long Island City parcel to REBNY, the New York Times reported. REBNY would form a nonprofit corporation to build 5,000 units of middle-class housing on the site. The city has already said it plans to build moderate-income housing on the Queens waterfront land. Some community members have been critical of the talks, saying they are being kept out of what was supposed to be an open planning process and that the private developers represented by REBNY would not necessarily be acting in the best interests of the community.
Spitzer to announce housing bills
Governor Eliot Spitzer is expected soon to announce a number of bills aimed at preserving and expanding affordable housing, the Sun reported. One of the bills calls for raising the rent-stabilization deregulation threshold from $2,000 a month to $2,800. Republicans said raising the rent-stabilization ceiling would not get past the State Senate, and the laws governing stabilization will not expire until 2011. “It’s not one of our priorities,” said John McArdle, a spokesman for majority leader Joseph Bruno.
Hudson Yards guidelines released
At a public forum last month, the Hudson Yards Development Corporation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority presented design guidelines for developing Hudson Yards that they say address community concerns while achieving maximum possible revenue for the MTA. The guidelines call for 20 percent of rental housing built on the site to be affordable, and for the future developer to build additional affordable housing offsite. The MTA-owned Hudson Yards will go up for auction this month.
Rockaways-to-Manhattan ferry plan
Mayor Bloomberg last month proposed establishing a year-round ferry service between the Rockaways and Lower Manhattan that would, at minimum, run Monday through Friday during rush hour, NY1 reported. The Rockaways have long been underserved by public transportation. “We want to be treated like the rest of the boroughs in the city,” said one resident. “We are sort of the stepchild in New York City when it comes to transportation.”