City Starts Hudson Square Rezoning Process, Refuses to Consider South Village Landmarking Process
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Area of proposed rezoning; Area ‘A’ would allow 430 ft. tall development, while ‘B’ would only allow 120 ft. tall buildings.
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Yesterday the city’s Planning Commission certified Trinity Realty’s application to rezone Hudson Square, even as the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission again refused to consider landmark designation for the adjacent South Village, or a nearly 200 year old house within it which is threatened with demolition.
Certification of the proposed Hudson Square Rezoning means a 7-month public review and approval process has begun in which the plan can be approved, rejected, or modified. The Community Board and then the Borough President will hold advisory votes, after which the City Planning Commission and then the City Council will hold binding votes; all but the Borough President must hold public hearings before they vote.
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Image on left shows proposed height limits on most major avenues, while on the right are limits for most side streets
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The rezoning would encourage large-scale new residential development in an area where it is currently prohibited; the proposed height limits for buildings in the rezoning area would be 320 feet on most avenues and 185 on most side streets with 430 ft. height limits on one site and 120 ft. height limits on two blocks (read rezoning documents HERE and HERE). While GVSHP and other community groups have long called for a rezoning of this area, following a town hall meeting on this proposal earlier this year GVSHP and allied community groups resolved that these proposed height limits are much too high.
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186 Spring Street, part of the proposed South Village Historic District the City refuses to consider
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The city’s certification of the rezoning application comes just as it has also yet again refused to even consider landmarking the remainder of the proposed South Village Historic District or the imminently endangered nearly 200 year old house at 186 Spring Street, which GVSHP’s research showed played a critical role in the post-Stonewall gay rights movement and in early AIDS activism.
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The proposed South Village Historic District showing landmarked and non-landmarked areas, and historic sites lost, threatened, and altered. |
For nearly a decade, GVSHP and other community groups have been urging the city to hold even a hearing on the entire proposed South Village Historic District, which they have refused to do. 186 Spring Street is one of numerous historically significant sites within the proposed South Village Historic District which the city has allowed to be destroyed during this time.
The proposed South Village Historic District is directly adjacent to the proposed Hudson Square rezoning, which will no doubt increase development pressure upon this endangered historic neighborhood. Environmental review for the proposed rezoning had to consider impacts upon the proposed South Village Historic District because of its proximity to Hudson Square. In the review, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission admitted that the South Village was “landmarks eligible” but has thus far refused to landmark it. GVSHP and other community groups have insisted that the Hudson Square rezoning should NOT move ahead without consideration of landmark designation of the South Village — long promised by the City and ten years in the asking — also moving ahead.
HOW TO HELP:
Click on the following for more information on Hudson Square, the South Village, and 186 Spring Street. To support these and other preservation efforts by GVSHP, click HERE.
Next: 08/22/12
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