Thanks to everyone who packed the room at the July 20, 2016, Community Board 7 meeting!
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Please click here to read LW’s full statement in opposition to Congregation Shearith Israel’s (CSI’s) application for special treatment under the city’s zoning rules.
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Also don’t miss NYS Assemblymember Richard Gottfried’s excellent testimony – please click here.
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And a compelling analysis by architect Charles J. DiSanto, principal at Walter B. Melvin Architects, raising questions about the plausibility of CSI’s building plans.
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Sustained public concern and vigilance – from people like these, and YOU – shows that there is much more than meets the eye to CSI’s application for more time (it’s been 8 years!) to get started on constructing a non-compliant 9-story building (including 5 floors of luxury condos), with what it unconvincingly calls a “minor amendment” to 2008 city-approved plans.
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On July 20, 2016, Community Board 7’s (CB7’s) Land Use Committee took three separate votes, sending mixed signals to the applicant and the public. Acknowledging that CB7 had disapproved key parts of the application in 2007, the Committee voted to disapprove CSI’s request for a “minor amendment,” but then approved CSI’s request for an “extension of time to complete substantial construction” as well as a waiver of rules that would ordinarily compel CSI to remake its now-stale case for zoning variances from the beginning of the process.
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The good news is, CSI and its lobbyist Capalino + Co. had hoped for a slam-dunk, ace-in-the-hole decision. This case is anything but. (Meanwhile, other Capalino developer clients and the city itself are coming under investigation for their attempts to exploit the system.)
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Please click here to read LW’s full statement to CB7’s Land Use Committee, plus testimony from Assembly Member Richard Gottfried and others. And please stay tuned!