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Land Use, Housing & Zoning
Review of Intro 1701 introduced by Council Member Kallos to amend the administrative code of the City of New York, in relation to community notification requirements for transfers of development rights.
At the regularly scheduled monthly Community Board Five meeting on Thursday, October 10, 2019, the following resolution passed with a vote of 33 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining:
WHEREAS, Introduction 1701 of 2019 by Council Member Kallos would require that anytime a transfer of development rights is recorded with the city that a copy be provided within 5 days to the relevant Community Board, Council Member, and Borough President along with the Speaker of the City Council; and
WHEREAS, Developers have relied on transfer of development rights to stack up unused air rights onto small lots to create excessively high density on very small footprint to build as-of-right supertall towers; and
WHEREAS, Currently, transfers of air rights transactions are discreet transactions that do not require any disclosure or specific notification; and
WHEREAS, Often, communities and elected officials become aware of massive transfer of development rights long after the transactions are finalized and when construction permits are filed; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five has advocated for more transparency in the land use and development process to avoid out-of-character buildings; and
WHEREAS, There are already six supertall towers along the 57th street corridor in Community Board Five and as many as ten more are proposed in the district; and
WHEREAS, The proposed bill would provide extremely valuable information to our community board to better plan for our district; therefore be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five supports the legislation by Council Member Ben Kallos to require that anytime a transfer of development rights is recorded with the city that a copy be provided within 5 days to the relevant Community Board, Council Member, Borough President and the Speaker of the City Council and urges the City Council to bring it to a vote promptly and make it into law.