360 Smith Hearing Leads to More Hearings
Yesterday, the Board of Standards and Appeals heard the objections of Carroll Gardens residents to 360 Smith Street, William Stein’s six-story building (also known as Oliver House) that neighborhood residents feel is out of scale with the three- and four-story brownstones around it, as well as Stein’s appeal to resume work. In July, the City…
Yesterday, the Board of Standards and Appeals heard the objections of Carroll Gardens residents to 360 Smith Street, William Stein’s six-story building (also known as Oliver House) that neighborhood residents feel is out of scale with the three- and four-story brownstones around it, as well as Stein’s appeal to resume work. In July, the City Council approved a zoning text amendment that would limit new construction height and additions on some CG streets, but the question remains about whether that can be applied retroactively to approved permits, which is what the Coalition for Respectful Development (CORD) is hoping for; Oliver House would be 70 feet, and they want it shrunk to 55. Some folks, though, wonder if it’s fair to change zoning in mid-stream. As a commenter on Gowanus Lounge stated, “I don’t love real estate developers, but they must be losing a significant amount of money daily because the city council couldn’t get their sh*t together and deal with this when they should have.” And what did the BSA decide? Here’s the report from CORD: “A decision was not made, therefore a second hearing will take place that is scheduled for October 28th, 2008.” Anybody there and got more to report?
360 Smith, Post-Controversy: Workaday on the Web [Brownstoner]
360 Smith, 2.0 [Brownstoner]
Carroll Gardens Considers a Scarano-less 360 Smith [Brownstoner]
360 Smith Developer Tries to Appease Carroll Gardens [Brownstoner]
Calls for Reining in Development at Carroll Gardens Meeting [Brownstoner] GMAP
360 Smith: Update and Review of New Plans [Brownstoner]
interesting lobbying for oliver house llc…
George Arzt Communications, Inc.
123 William Street, 22nd Floor
New York, NY 10038
(212) 608-0333
George Arzt
Oliver House, LLC.
100 Ring Road West, Suite 101
Garden City, NY 11530
(516) 248-4920
Bob Liff
George Arzt
01/01/2008
12/31/2008
Hide Details
Target: NYC Council Member Bill DeBlasio
Subject: Land use
Compensation Reimbursement
P1 $5,000.00 $0.00
P2
$10,000.00
$0.00
P3
$10,000.00
$0.00
P4
$10,000.00
$0.00
P5
$0.00
$0.00
P6
$0.00
$0.00
Total
$35,000.00
$0.00
btw ..this is not the first time that this has happened on a project handled by the original architect on the job…here is the historic precedent
* 614 7th Avenue (2005-06) – this condominium project in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn drew community opposition to its proposed 70-foot height, which would have blocked a historic sight line between the Statue of Liberty and the statue of Minerva in Green-Wood Cemetery. Neighborhood residents successfully petitioned the city to rezone the neighborhood to prevent tall buildings. The developer, Chaim Nussencweig, argured that the building’s foundations had been laid before the rezoning took effect, giving him the right to complete the structure, and offered to have Scarano “cut out” a portion of the building to preserve the line of sight.[31] The City disagreed; the Department of Buildings alleged zoning and building code violations,[32] and in September 2006 the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals ruled that the building had to comply with the new zoning.[33]
i hope that the developer has to go back to the drawing board and stick to the new 55 foot height limit…i could care less how much money the idiot stein loses…the project is way too big for the neighborhood…god bless CORD
I posted a report here:
http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2008/09/billy-steins-360-smith-defense-takes.html
Where are the CORD people? Shouldn’t they be making their case here in the comments?
agree with itsagas. there may also be constitutional impediments (state or federal) to revoking a permit on such a basis at this stage.
Carroll Gardens residents resisted landmarking for years. Now their chickens are coming home to roost.
Cry me a river. It’s totally unfair to do a re-trade on this developer. He bought the property under a certain set of rules. Are the CORD whiners willing to compensate him for the economic loss of losing two stories of his building? Huh? I didn’t think so.