Important case coming before Board of Standards & Appeals
Out-of-scale dorm development in our neighborhoods is made possible by a zoning provision which allows dorms to be built much larger than residential buildings in many areas. As a result, dorms are often hugely out-of-scale with their surroundings, and tend to concentrate in areas where the dorm bonus is especially large, such as around Third Avenue in the East Village. Worse, developers increasingly seem to be looking to this provision as a means to build extra-large buildings without necessarily even including the required dormitory use. Recent court decisions which threaten the modest City rules intended to prevent such abuse combined with the recent specter of educational institutions possibly helping to perpetrate such frauds compound this problem and make the likelihood of abuse of the dorm zoning bonus even greater. In response, GVSHP is renewing the call for the City to eliminate the zoning bonus which allows dorms to be built larger than residential buildings.
HOW TO HELP:
Write to the City urging they eliminate the zoning bonues for dorms right away — Click here for a sample letter you can use.
Next: 03/26/08
Previous: 08/11/05
|
