The New York City Department of City Planning (“DCP”) has introduced a new rezoning plan for the upper-west side of Manhattan intended to preserve the multi-store character of the neighborhood.  By limiting allowable retail store frontage, the City seeks to maintain and promote a diverse retail environment by ensuring that block-fronts along certain avenues continue to offer multiple retail venues, and that block-fronts are not dominated by banks, and large chain stores and pharmacies like CVS or Duane Reade.

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Christopher B. Leinberger, Visiting Fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program at The Brookings Institution, Professor of Practice and Director of the graduate Real Estate Program at The University of Michigan, and Founding Partner of the Arcadia Land Company, recently authored an analysis of the impact of the housing collapse and the rapidly changing demographics of America’s population on the future of suburbia.  His analysis was explained in an article published in the New York Times in November 2011, titled, “The Death of the Fringe Suburb.”

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The NYC Zoning Resolution turned 50 years old last year.  In conjunction with this anniversary, the NYC Department of City Planning (“DCP”) is releasing historical documents relating to the 1961 Zoning Resolution, including the 1916 Zoning Resolution, the original 1961 Zoning Resolution, as well as minutes from public hearings held by the City Planning Commission in connection with the 1961 Zoning Resolution, the Commission’s report outlining the need for new zoning regulations, and reports obtained from consultants throughout the 1950’s in preparation for the 1961 zoning resolution overhaul.  The intent is that DCP will continue to catalog years of historical planning documents and release them so that they can be researchable by the public.   Click on the following link for more information:  http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/history_project/index.shtml

In the first group of decisions to be issued in the New Year, the Second Department begins with a lesson in constitutional law.  In ATM One, LLC v. Incorporated Vil. of Hempstead, 2012 NY Slip. Op. 00173 (2d Dept. 2012), the Court held that a provision of the Village Code of the Village of Hempstead was unconstitutional on its face.  The Code provision in question conditioned the issuance of residential rental permits on a mandatory inspection of the rental unit by the Village Building Department.  The Court found that the Village could not use the issuance of a rental permit to coerce a property owner to submit to a warrantless inspection in violations of the rights guaranteed to him or her under the Constitution.  Read the rest of this entry »

The Appellate Division, Second Department re-affirmed the well established standard that the statute of limitations for a zoning board’s determination under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) must be commenced within  thirty days of the filing of such decision in the office of the town clerk pursuant to Town Law § 267-c[1].  Matter of 92 MM Motel, Inc. v Zoning Bd. of Appeals of Town of Newburgh, 2011 NY Slip Op 08945 (December 6, 2011).  However, of particular interest in this case was that the Court held that the thirty day statutory period began to run upon the date of the filing of the minutes of the public hearing at which the board rendered a verbal decision, not at the later date upon which the formal written decision of the board was filed in the office of the town clerk.  This distinction is of great importance, as in many instances a zoning boards will grant or deny an application at a public hearing and then follow up on their verbal decision with a formal written decision that contains findings of fact in support of the decision. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, in Sunrise Check Cashing & Payroll Servs., Inc. v Town of Hempstead, 2011 NY Slip Op 08745 (Decided Nov. 29, 2011), the Appellate Division, Second Department, issued an opinion on whether a section of the Town of Hempstead Zoning Code enacted to regulate the location of Check Cashing establishments was preempted by New York State Banking Law and, therefore, invalid and unenforceable.  The Town of Hempstead Code provision at issue was Section 302(K) of Article XXXI of the Building Zone Ordinance.  Section 302(K) prohibited check-cashing establishments within the Town in any zoning districts other than industrial and light manufacturing districts.  Further, Section 302(K) provided a five year amortization period, requiring that any check cashing establishments located outside the permitted districts must close or relocate to a permitted location within such time.  The Court held, that based on the doctrine of conflict preemption, the Town Ordinance at issue was preempted by New York State Banking Law, and therefore, invalid.  Read the rest of this entry »

In Kinderhook Development, LLC v. City of Gloversville Planning Board, case no. 511289 (3d Dept. October 27, 2011), the Appellate Division, Third Department, affirmed the Schenectady County Supreme Court’s granting of the Article 78 Petition of Kinderhook Development, LLC (“Petitioner”) to reverse and annul the decision of City of Gloversville Planning Board (the “Board”), which denied the Petitioner’s application for a special use permit for a proposed multifamily housing project.  The Court found that the Board could not base its denial on the issue of storm water runoff, when the Board’s own expert study found that storm water runoff would not create a negative impact on the surrounding area, and the Board issued a negative declaration under SEQRA on that issue.

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Last month the Land Use Planning and Zoning Committee of the New  York City Bar released a discussion paper entitled, “Further Utilizing the Zoning Resolution to Create a More Sustainable New York City, Better Prepared to Adapt to Climate Change.”  This discussion paper was “designed to advance the dialogue of how the Zoning Resolution can be amended to shape a more sustainable New York City, better prepared to adapt to climate change.” Read the rest of this entry »

More often than not, the Judiciary in New York has taken a “hands off” approach in proceedings commenced under CPLR Article 78 to challenge a zoning board’s determination.  In many cases, this has been the court’s position even when it appears that the zoning board’s determination is incorrect.  Recently, however, the Appellate Division, Second Department, overturned a zoning board’s denial of six area variances required for a property owner to maintain its two-family home, finding that the board’s determination was irrational based on the record before it.  See Matter of Cacsire v. City of White Plains Zoning Bd. of Appeals, 2011 NY Slip Op 06838 (2d Dept. 2011).  Could this be a step by the Judiciary towards providing greater protections to New York property owners?

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Last month, the ULURP application for the redevelopment of the old St. Vincent’s Hospital campus was filed with the New York City Planning Commission.  The Rudin family has proposed to redevelop the old campus, situated along Seventh Avenue between 11^th Street and 13^th Street, with a large mixed-use development.  This project is one of the largest in Manhattan, and would be transformative for the Greenwich Village area; an area that has been principally dominated by community facility development and expansion by New York University.  The project requires a number of zoning map and text amendments, as well as various special permits from the City Planning Commission.  The ULURP filing is a significant step forward. Read the rest of this entry »