On Wednesday, Village Preservation and our members and supporters turned out in force at the NYC City Planning Commission public hearing to oppose the application for an air rights transfer at 3 St. Mark’s Place that would allow a planned office building to grow 20% larger than zoning allows (read our testimony here). From the beginning of this process, we have opposed this application, which would only accelerate the inappropriate transformation of this area into an extension of ‘Midtown South’ and Silicon Alley, which recent actions by the Mayor and City Council have encouraged. 

We were pleased to be joined in our opposition by Borough President Gale Brewer, State Senator Brad Hoylman, and Assemblymember Deborah Glick, who had previously opposed the application, and by City Councilmember Carlina Rivera, who for the first time stated her opposition to the application (read the joint testimony here).

Councilmember Rivera’s testimony is particularly significant because the next and final stop for this application is the City Council, where opposition by her would more or less doom the application. We are cautiously optimistic that her public opposition at the City Planning Commission means she will vote this down at the City Council, and urge her colleagues to follow her lead (City Councilmembers traditionally defer to the local Councilmember on local land use items such as these).  Read coverage in Gothamist, The Village Sun, AMNY/The Villager, and EVGrieve. 

TO HELP:

The City Planning Commission will vote on this application in the next few weeks; as it is controlled by the Mayor, we expected the Commission to approve it. The application will then go to the City Council for public hearings and a vote; we will let you know when those have been scheduled. For more info, see gvshp.org/3stmarks.