City Leaves Mechanical Void Loophole for Supertalls Wide Open, So State May Act
Village Preservation’s Harry Bubbins speaking at the City Hall press conference yesterday
Yesterday the City Council voted to amend and approve Mayor de Blasio’s legislation regarding the use mechanical voids to get around zoning rules to inflate the size and height of buildings, especially “supertalls.” Unfortunately, the legislation does virtually nothing to address the problem of developers including vast amounts of empty spaces within their building to increase the height by falsely labeling it as “mechanical space” which is exempted from zoning restrictions and enshrines in law some of the worst abuses.
An Illustration of how one ‘Supertall’ on 57th Street got so tall with the assistance of phony and unnecessary ‘mechanical voids.’
But the Mayor gave the City Council, and the people of New York, the choice of this legislation or nothing (unlike other types of legislation, the City Council is very limited in what it can do regarding zoning). Village Preservation joined advocates from across the city yesterday on the steps of City Hall to call out the Mayor’s lack of action and demand more be done.
