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Land Use, Housing & Zoning
145 West 47th Street, Application (N 200116 ZCM), submitted by Clarity 47 LLC for a certification pursuant to Section 13-432 of the Zoning Resolution seeking parking facility exemption
At the regularly scheduled monthly Community Board Five meeting on Thursday, January 14, 2021, the following resolution passed with a vote of 39 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining:
WHEREAS, Clarity 47 LLC (the “Applicant”) filed an application for a certification by the Chairperson of the City Planning Commission (the “Chairperson”) that floor space used for accessory off-street parking in a proposed automated parking facility (the “Garage”), and located above a height of 23 feet above curb level and below a height of 40 feet above curb level, is exempt from the definition of floor area pursuant to Section 13-432 of the New York City Zoning Resolution (the “Zoning Resolution” or “ZR”); and
WHEREAS, Under a separate application filed concurrently herewith, the Applicant and Cort Theatre LLC are jointly seeking (a) a text amendment to ZR Section 81-745 (Floor area bonus for rehabilitation of existing listed theaters); and
WHEREAS, The bonus floor area generated by the special permit would be utilized to increase the permitted floor area of the hotel development by approximately 119,298 square feet and the certification that is the subject of this application would allow approximately 27,216.40 square feet of floor space to be exempt from the definition of floor area; and
WHEREAS, The Applicant represented that an attended parking facility would provide an identical capacity; and
WHEREAS, The proposed building is not efficiently using cellar and sub-cellar levels that would be ideal parking areas that would eliminate the need to above ground parking stacks; and
WHEREAS, The building is already receiving a very generous increase, using zoning and bulk mechanisms that are not in full compliance with the zoning code, but that CB5 supported because they benefit the Cort Theater, a cultural institution that has suffered tremendous economic consequences during the Covid pandemic; and
WHEREAS, The FAR exemption sought through the certification seems to be a strategy to increase the height and bulk of the building; therefore be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends denial for a certification by the Chairperson of the City Planning Commission that floor space used for accessory off-street parking in a proposed automated parking facility, and located above a height of 23 feet above curb level and below a height of 40 feet above curb level, is exempt from the definition of floor area at 145 West 47th Street.