The City Council Subcommittee will vote on it Monday. That means we have until tomorrow morning (Friday) to get through to the City Planning Commission. Without CPC consent, it won't happen.
Please send a quick email (text below) to:
aburden@planning.nyc.gov,avell
RE: FUCA to rezone the east side of the Bowery
Dear Chair Burden:
I write to request that, in conjunction with the current East Village/ Lower East Side Rezoning, a Follow-up Corrective Action (FUCA) be initiated immediately by the City Planning Commission to extend the Special Little Italy District (SLID) from the west side of the Bowery to the east side of the Bowery.
At the November 12, 2008 Subcommittee Hearing on Zoning and Franchises, Chair Tony Avella, Council Member Alan Gerson, and Council Member Rosie Mendez all stated their support for an immediate protective rezoning of the Bowery. In addition, we have the support of Community Board 3, the Greenwich Village Society For Historic Preservation, the Historic Districts Council, the Society for the Architecture of the City, the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, and the Coalition To Save The East Village.
Although the Bowery has always had a unique place in the history of the City of New York, in recent years we have watched large, out-of -scale development going up on the east side of the Bowery, the result of which has been the destruction of the context, historic character and diversity of the community.
The City has recognized the historic significance of the Bowery by protecting the west side of the Bowery in the Special Little Italy District, and the NOHO Historic District. The East Village/ Lower East Side Rezoning will protect the area just east of the Bowery. However, the east side of the Bowery itself has been left out of all these rezonings.
The east side of the Bowery must be rezoned today to ensure that it is in context with the rest of the community -- the Special Little Italy District, the NOHO Historic District, and East Village/ Lower East Side. If a Follow-Up Corrective Action is not initiated as part of this current East Village/ Lower East Side rezoning the historic Bowery will be replaced with a wall of towers.
I represent a group of residents on the WEst side of the bowery who will be negatively influenced if the East Side of the Bowery gets FUCA'd.
ReplyDeletePlease we need a FUCA'd for the West side of the Bowery
The west side of the Bowery is protected by the NoHo Historic District and the Special Little Italy District. We are asking that the Special Little Italy District be extended over to the east side of the Bowery.
ReplyDeleteWe're asking only for the protection you already have.
What you need over on the west side is to extend the Historic District south of Houston. Right now, the Special District limits heights to 85 feet, which greatly limits development, but doesn't eliminate it. The whole area needs designation as a historic district, just like the NoHo Historic District which includes most of the west Bowery north of Houston.
We are working on a landmarking evaluation of both sides of the Bowery. We've finished an architectural survey of the west side and will be completing the east side soon.