A Curb Cut on Landmarked St. Marks Avenue? Really?
See this beautiful brownstone front yard at 97 St. Marks Avenue? Better enjoy it while you can, because the owner is getting ready to demolish it to create a driveway and garage despite the recent landmarking of Prospect Heights, according to a tipster and DOB filings. How could this happen? We’re not quite sure, but…
See this beautiful brownstone front yard at 97 St. Marks Avenue? Better enjoy it while you can, because the owner is getting ready to demolish it to create a driveway and garage despite the recent landmarking of Prospect Heights, according to a tipster and DOB filings. How could this happen? We’re not quite sure, but here’s the initial permit where it mentions converting a portion of the ground floor into a garage and here’s an amendment for the curb cut. The whole thing is eerily reminiscent of what happened at 174 Clinton Avenue a couple of years ago. The icing on the cake, according to a Forum post yesterday, is that the owner’s kicking out the old lady who sold him the house but continued to live in the garden apartment in order to do it. We’ll get back to you with what Landmarks has to say. Let’s hope this is all a big misunderstanding! Update: LPC confirms that they have no record of any applications for Landmark approval at this address. GMAP
Can you grandfather in a permit? I thought you can only grandfather in existing conditions. Anyone know?
As others have noted, LPC calendaring should trigger a review. However, as I understand it, LPC approval is not REQUIRED until the designation is actually approved by the City Council. Prior to Council approval, LPC has 40 days to weigh in on an application. In other words, calendaring cannot hold up an application indefinitely. Usually, if LPC doesn’t like a proposal they will meet with the owner and try to negotiate something, or, if they want to play hardball, push the designation forward (which is not feasible for a large district designation like PH).
What is interesting about this case is that the 40 day review is listed as a required item for the Alt-1 application (for the garage, etc.) but it was waived – was it waived by DOB or by LPC? BIS doesn’t say.
Also of interest, LPC review is NOT listed as one of the required items for the curb cut. So LPC never got a bite at that apple, and may not have gotten a bite at the Alt-1 either.
The 40-day rule also explains why LPC doesn’t have an application – prior to designation, there is not an application process. It is possible that LPC knew about this Alt-1 application and didn’t do anything; it is also possible that LPC never knew about it. But either way there would not be an LPC “application” on file.
Also, when did City Council approve the designation? I have seen that they were expected to approve on 9/17 and that the actual approval was 9/21. That timing makes a difference for the curb cut. If designation was approved on 9/17, LPC can have DOB pull the curb cut permit (but not the Alt-1). Which would leave the owner with a grandfathered garage but no driveway.
Wasder — If there is actual malfeasance at DOB (as opposed to stupidity or reckless indifference to the zoning laws), that usually requires someone on the outside making it happen. That is going to be either an expediter (who may have done so with the express or tacit approval of the owner) or the filer themselves.
To the posters more familiar with LPC issues — what does it mean for LPC having to “review” changes after it is calendared? Not to be overly semantic, but that’s not the same as “approve” changes.
IMHO, regardless of whether you’re in the pro-curb cut or anti-curb cut camp, the pitchforks and torches are uncalled for. At this point, the owner will have to enter Witness Protection.
How much did she shell out to the architects for the curb cut & garage plans when they didn’t know the zoning issues????
With the filing, it listed the architects and the engineers. I believe we should be taking it out on them in addition to the DOB.
Perhaps they sold the owner a bill of goods. They certainly seemed to have misadvised her, knowingly or not but it is their job to know.
If DOB made an error then we should be taking our ire out on them not on the owner who filed.
PHer, terrific catch! for those who didn’t open the PDF, it’s the lpc’s overview of the prospect heights historic district, which cites this property as the “best preserved example” of one of the neighborhood’s architectural styles. the whole purpose of landmarking was to prevent a building like this from being mangled.
Thanks Colonel for the date.
I also thought that once a block is calendared, you’d have to go through LPC.
This will be interesting to see how this plays out, and not on this blog.