1 2 CITY COUNCIL 3 CITY OF NEW YORK 4 -------------------------------x 5 THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE MINUTES 6 of the 7 SUBCOMMITTEE ON ZONING And 8 FRANCHISES 9 -------------------------------x 10 December 6, 2007 11 Start: 10:02 a.m. Recess: 10:20 a.m. 12 City Hall 13 Committee Room New York, New York 14 15 B E F O R E: 16 TONY AVELLA Chairperson, 17 18 COUNCIL MEMBERS: Joel Rivera Simcha Felder 19 Robert Jackson Melinda Katz 20 21 22 23 24 LEGAL-EASE COURT REPORTING SERVICES, INC. 17 Battery Place - Suite 1308 25 New York, New York 10004 (800) 756-3410 2 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S COUNCIL MEMBERS: 3 4 Michael McMahon Larry Seabrook 5 Helen Sears Kendall Stewart 6 Albert Vann Rosie Mendez 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S (CONTINUED) 3 Vivian Awner 4 Manhattan Office NYC Department of City Planning 5 Howard Zipser 6 Akerman Senterfit Stadmeyer Balkin 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Good morning, 3 everyone. I would like to call this meeting of the 4 Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises to order. 5 Joining me are Committee members and 6 Council members Helen Sears, Joel Rivera, Melinda 7 Katz, Al Vann and Bob Jackson and we also are joined 8 by Council Member Rosie Mendez and Council Member 9 Simcha Felder. 10 We have two items on the agenda. The 11 first item has been withdrawn. I shouldn't say 12 withdrawn but laid over, Land Use No. 628. Bayard's 13 Alehouse, to establish, maintain and operate an 14 enclosed sidewalk cafe located at 533 Hudson Street 15 has been laid over once again. 16 So, we have two items other than 17 that. We'll start with Land Use No. 631, the Special 18 Little Italy Text Amendment, N070515 ZRM. I will ask 19 City Planning to -- sorry, my fault -- to give the 20 presentation. This lies within Council Member Alan 21 Gerson's district. He is in support of the 22 application. 23 MS. AWNER: Good morning, Chair 24 Avella, and members of the Subcommittee. 25 What you have in front of you are 5 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 handouts showing the boundaries of the Special 3 Little Italy District, as well as photographs, some 4 examples of distinctive sidewalks, as they are 5 defined in the zoning resolution, as well as the 6 proposed zoning text. 7 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: If I can 8 interrupt? I think you failed to identify yourself 9 for the record. 10 MS. AWNER: Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Vivian 11 Awner from the Manhattan Office of Department of 12 City Planning. 13 The Special Little Italy District is 14 bounded by Bleecker Street, Canal Street, Lafayette 15 Street, and the boundary, and it was established in 16 1977 and it comprises use and bulk regulations 17 governing the district. 18 When it was created, the objective 19 was to protect and enhance the residential and 20 retail character of the Little Italy community by 21 instituting provisions that were designed to retain 22 the area's most significant and characteristic 23 qualities both in existing buildings and then extend 24 these qualities in new construction. The qualities 25 included the vitality of the street life, the scale 6 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 of the buildings, the mix of uses and the variety of 3 retail stores. Included in the text at the time was 4 the desire to revitalize and strengthen the Mulberry 5 Street area by requiring retail uses on the street 6 level, maintaining the street wall while providing 7 open space and landscape in the rear of the 8 buildings and also specific to the text amendment 9 requiring sidewalk improvements in the form of 10 decorative pavements for any large conversion, 11 alteration or new building on Mulberry Street. And 12 the photographs you have in front of you are 13 examples of some decorative sidewalks, as well as 14 you can see them larger scale over there to my left. 15 And it was believed at the time of 16 the establishment of the Little Italy District that 17 mandating the retail groundfloor uses in the 18 immediate vicinity, as well as the decorative 19 pavements, would reinforce the economic health of 20 the Little Italy neighborhood and the City and the 21 zoning text has two examples of decorative pavers, 22 but those are not decorative pavers necessarily 23 required by the zoning resolution. 24 When we did a site survey of the 25 Little Italy District, we only found six 7 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 installation of decorative pavements, decorative 3 sidewalks, and those are the examples which you see 4 in front of you. Then with regard to the text 5 amendment, as you know, the Art Commission is the 6 City's designed review agency and its review is 7 restricted to art, architecture and landscape 8 architecture proposed for City-owned property, and 9 that includes the review of streetscape elements 10 such as sidewalk pavement plan, and the Art 11 Commission's recent practice has been to reject the 12 proposals for decorative sidewalk in favor of the 13 City standard paving plan. And the Art Commission 14 has stated that the provisions of a Special Little 15 Italy District pertaining to the decorative 16 sidewalks are not enforceable by the Department of 17 City Planning, since applications for decorative 18 sidewalks are still required to come before the Art 19 Commission for review and they are not in favor of 20 paving plans that differ from the City's standard. 21 And the Art Commission has respectfully requested 22 that the Department of City Planning wave the 23 requirement for decorative sidewalks for all future 24 applications in favor of the City standard, and 25 therefore the Department has proposed a text 8 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 amendment which would simply eliminate the 3 requirement for decorative sidewalks since the 4 requirement restricts the Art Commission's purview 5 on City-owned property. 6 So, that is the first of the two very 7 targeted text amendments. 8 The second text amendment has to do 9 with another provision of the Special Little Italy 10 District which requires artwork or planting for 11 proportions of the front walls of developments 12 throughout most of the area of the Special Little 13 Italy District, and it requires, the zoning text 14 currently requires Commission -- approval, rather, 15 by the Art Commission prior to the issuance of a 16 building permit. And that is both on public 17 buildings, as well as private buildings, and that 18 requirement therefore extends the jurisdiction of 19 the Art Commission to include private property. 20 And the second of the two very 21 targeted text amendments would simply eliminate the 22 requirement that the mandated planting or artwork 23 receive approval by the Art Commission prior to the 24 issuance of a building permit. So, there will still 25 be the requirement for art, just that there would 9 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 not be a requirement that there be approval by the 3 Art Commission prior to the issuance of a building 4 permit. 5 And this text amendment has gone 6 before the local community board, the community 7 board voted unanimously in favor and it is before 8 you at the present time. 9 Any questions? 10 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Usually I ask 11 that. 12 Any questions from Committee members? 13 Seeing none, thank you. I do not see 14 anybody signed up to speak on this public hearing; 15 is that correct? Okay, I will close the public 16 hearing on this matter, and we will move to the last 17 item, which is Land Use No. 629 and 630, commonly 18 referred to as the 122 East 32nd Street Project, C 19 060372 ZMM; and C 060373 ZSM. Application to amend 20 the zoning map changing from a C4-5A district to a 21 C6-2A district, property bounded by East 32nd Street 22 and other streets, and a special permit regarding an 23 attendant public parking garage. 24 MR. ZIPSER: Mr. Chairman, members of 25 the Committee, my name is Howard Zipser. I'm here 10 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 with my architect Ed Carroll of SRA Architects and 3 Engineers, and my associate Neil Weisbard. We are 4 the law firm of Akerman Senterfit Stadmeyer Balkin, 5 and we appear here this morning on behalf of 126 6 East 32nd Street, LLC, as applicants for an 7 amendment to the zoning map and a special permit for 8 a public parking garage at the property located at 9 122 East 32nd Street, Block 887 Lots 84 and 87. The 10 property is located, as you can see here, from the 11 south side of East 32nd Street, between Park Avenue 12 South and Lexington Avenue. 13 The proposed amendment to the zoning 14 map would change an existing C4-5A District to a 15 C6-2A zoning district by extending the existing 16 C6-2A District on Lexington Avenue, to cover the 17 mid-block area of the south side of East 32nd 18 Street. 19 Doing so would allow our client to 20 develop a 12-story residential building, which you 21 previously saw and which is outlined in your fact 22 sheet, with a one-story, with a residential building 23 with one store and parking in the basement, or 24 bottom two floors. 25 Under the current zoning. A building 11 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 of 80 feet or eight stories is permitted with an FAR 3 of four. Under the proposed district, a building of 4 a maximum height of 120 feet or 12 stories could be 5 built. 6 The applicant's property consists of 7 a 65 vacant -- 65 foot wide vacant parking, public 8 parking lot, which presently has 44 spaces and a 20 9 foot wide portion of our site which contains a 10 three-story mezzanine building, which is presently 11 used as a drop-in center and leased to the City on a 12 long-term basis. This building will remain. We are 13 only building on the vacant site so there is no 14 displacement. 15 The applicant believes the amendment 16 to the zoning map is appropriate planning and 17 zoning. As our application clearly indicates and as 18 the Borough President report states, there is a 19 substantial difference in character between the two 20 sides of the block bounded by East 32nd Street and 21 East 31st Street between Park Avenue South and 22 Lexington Avenue. 23 The lots and buildings on the north 24 side of the block facing East 32nd Street relate in 25 terms of lot size, building height and FAR to the 12 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 blocks further north up until East 36th Street, 3 which are much greater in size, building height and 4 Floor Area Ratio. 5 However, the lot sizes and building 6 heights and FARs south side of the subject block 7 facing on East 31st Street relate much more closely 8 to the blocks further south and are smaller. 9 As the Borough President report 10 notes, existing structures on the northern side have 11 existing FARs of 20.85, 15.6, 3.8 and 17.1. 12 Meanwhile, those on the southern side of the block 13 are mostly 2.6 and 6.4 with two other buildings of 14 12.7 and 7.3. 15 Existing structures clearly show that 16 our building, which will be 12 stories is minimal in 17 comparison to the other buildings that already exist 18 on the site, on the block, rather. 19 Given these differences in the 20 development patterns, we believe, as does the 21 Borough President and the City Planning Commission, 22 that it is appropriate to allow development of this 23 property at a size and form consistent with the 24 existent patterns on the street and to the blocks to 25 the north. 13 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 While the proposed zoning district 3 will permit -- not permit buildings near the scale 4 of the existing buildings, it will narrow the 5 differential somewhat as is appropriate. 6 Lastly, the second application 7 requested is a special permit pursuant to Section 8 7452 to allow a 44 space public parking garage. 9 Currently the site contains a public parking lot 10 with the same capacity of 44 spaces. 11 It is our desire to continue to 12 provide the exact same amount of public parking in 13 the cellar and subcellars of this new building as 14 previously described. 15 There will be nine reservoir spaces 16 at the first level, and two 22 parking space levels 17 beneath the cellar. 18 The applicant believes a garage of 19 the same capacity as the existing parking lot will 20 have no different effect on the traffic and the 21 existing parking lot and it will provide 22 availability for midtown patrons that presently use 23 the facility. 24 This was unanimously adopted by the 25 local community board, and the special permit 14 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 application was voted on 23 in favor and ten opposed 3 to our application on the zoning map. 4 The Borough President's report 5 heartily endorsed both applications, the City 6 Planning Commission unanimously approved both 7 applications. 8 We believe this proposal is modest in 9 scope and consistent with good planning. We 10 respectfully request your favorable consideration. 11 Thank you. 12 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: I'd like to call 13 on Council Member Mendez. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER MENDEZ: Thank you, 15 Chair Avella. I am here today because this is within 16 my district and the applicant has met with me and 17 certainly it's something that makes sense, it's 18 within the character of the community. It's actually 19 less height than everything else on that side of the 20 street, on 32nd Street, and it's just extending the 21 zoning from the other side of the street. So, it's 22 certainly something that makes sense and I hope that 23 this Committee votes in favor of it. 24 Thank you. 25 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Thank you. Any 15 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 questions from Committee members? 3 Seeing none, thank you. 4 I do not see anybody signed up on 5 this item; is that correct? Good. I will close the 6 public hearing on that matter, and we'll ask Counsel 7 to call the vote. Chair recommends approval of both 8 items. 9 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Chairman 10 Avella. 11 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Aye. 12 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 13 Rivera. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER RIVERA: I vote aye. 15 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 16 Felder. 17 Council Member Jackson. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Aye on all. 19 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 20 Katz. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER KATZ: Aye. 22 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 23 McMahon. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER McMAHON: Aye. 25 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 16 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 Seabrook. 3 (No response.) 4 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 5 Sears. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: Aye. 7 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 8 Stewart. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER STEWART: Yes. 10 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 11 Vann. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Aye. 13 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: The vote 14 currently stands eight in the affirmative, none in 15 the negative, no abstentions. 16 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: We will wait just 17 a few minutes. 18 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 19 Seabrook. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: Aye. 21 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: The vote now 22 stands nine in the affirmative, none in the 23 negative, no abstentions. 24 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: We will hold the 25 vote open for just a few minutes, because we do have 17 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 Council Member Felder chairing the meeting next 3 door. So, he'll be here in a minute. 4 That concludes this meeting of the 5 Zoning and Franchises Committee. Thank you. 6 (Hearing concluded at 10:20 a.m.) 7 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Okay, I will 8 temporarily reopen the meeting to allow Council 9 Member Felder to cast his vote. 10 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 11 Felder. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER FELDER: I vote yes. 13 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: The vote stands 14 ten in the affirmative, none in the negative, no 15 abstentions. All items are referred to the full Land 16 Use Committee. 17 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Thank you, 18 everyone. This closes this meeting of the 19 Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises. 20 (Hearing concluded at 10:20 a.m.) 21 22 23 24 25 18 1 2 CERTIFICATION 3 4 5 STATE OF NEW YORK ) 6 COUNTY OF NEW YORK ) 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified 10 Shorthand Reporter, do hereby certify that the 11 foregoing is a true and accurate transcript of the 12 within proceeding. 13 I further certify that I am not 14 related to any of the parties to this action by 15 blood or marriage, and that I am in no way 16 interested in the outcome of this matter. 17 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto 18 set my hand this 6th day of December 2007. 19 20 21 22 23 --------------------- 24 CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25 19 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T I O N 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified Shorthand 10 Reporter and a Notary Public in and for the State of 11 New York, do hereby certify the aforesaid to be a 12 true and accurate copy of the transcription of the 13 audio tapes of this hearing. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ----------------------- CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25