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Transportation & Environment
Petition by 220 5th Realty, LLC, for revocable consent by the Department of Transportation for a sidewalk lighting installation along the perimeter of 220 Fifth Avenue.
At the regularly scheduled monthly Community Board Five meeting on Thursday, October 14, 2021, the following resolution passed with a vote of 36 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining:
WHEREAS, 220 Fifth Avenue is a commercial building on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 26th Street, also known as the Croisic Building, and was completed in 1912; and
WHEREAS, 220 5th Realty LLC (“the Applicant”) has applied for a new revocable consent from the New York City Department of Transportation (“DOT”) for a sidewalk installation on both the Fifth Avenue and 26th Street sides of the building; and
WHEREAS, The Applicant seeks to install electrical sockets and conduit to power a lighting installation that would accent the lower floors of the building’s exterior walls; and
WHEREAS, This installation would be made below and flush with the surface level of the sidewalk and not be raised above the sidewalk surface; and
WHEREAS, 14 lights would be installed along the perimeter of the building—9 on Fifth Avenue, 5 on West 26th Street—each approximately 5 inches in diameter and sitting approximately 10 inches from the building; and
WHEREAS, Installation of the electrical sockets and conduit would require approximately 3 feet of sidewalk be blocked from pedestrian traffic for approximately one week; and
WHEREAS, The building is regarded for its neo-Gothic architecture and is part of the Madison Square North Historic District; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five does not object to the narrow question of the physical installation of the electrical sockets and conduit themselves; and
WHEREAS, The environmental impacts of light installations on neighboring buildings can be significant and Community Board Five believes they should be examined in any consideration of revocable consent applications related to lighting, particularly when they may impact landmarked spaces; and
WHEREAS, At this time the Landmarks Preservation Commission does not review sidewalk lighting applications and therefore no venue currently exists for the examination of lighting schemes that impact landmarked spaces; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five believes that the Landmarks Preservation Commission should review such lighting applications going forward so that the complete impact of such proposals on landmarked spaces can be properly assessed and not be narrowly confined to only the physical installation of the requisite infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, While Community Board Five would prefer that this specific application also be reviewed by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, no such mechanism currently exists and so acknowledges that the Applicant has satisfied all currently available application review requirements; therefore be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends approval of the revocable consent by the DOT for 220 5th Realty, LLC, to install and maintain the lighting installation along the perimeter of 220 Fifth Avenue noted above; and be it further
RESOLVED, Going forward, Community Board Five will require data about light pollution for any review of future revocable consent applications related to lighting, given the potential environmental concerns of neighbors; and be it further
RESOLVED, Community Board Five requests that the Landmarks Preservation Commission resume the review of lighting applications so that the impact of lighting schemes such as this application may be holistically considered in the future.