Analysis and background information on Land Use/Rezoning including terms and concepts
Ian Bruce Eichner is founder of The Continuum Company, LLC., the lead development company behind the 960 Franklin Avenue Project (aka The Monster). The following are examples of his prior business dealings: History of problematic development deals – Eichner could not procure funds for a residential development project in Harlem Read more…
ULURP — What It Is, How It Might Affect You, Why You Should Care
The Reality of the Luxury/Affordable Dream! The main thrust of Eric Adams and Community Board 9 for this development is the luxury plus affordable component. We are currently seeing the results of this great plan: Getting the middle, moderate and low income people to pay for the building of luxury Read more…
Thanks for joining our first Virtual Town Hall! Our focus was on educating the community about the proposed 960 Franklin Avenue project (known as ‘The Monster’) who’s application is heading towards certification. With just a few days notice, we had over 130 attendees! For those unable to join us, here Read more…
This is a slightly different version of a letter that was sent to Department of City Planning, who is the “lead agency” on the rezoning application. It is in reference to the environmental consequences of the proposed development that allows comments and suggestions to be given to the city. It Read more…
MTOPP retained Scalar Architect to perform an independent shadow study analysis for the Franklin Avenue project. Their findings found that the buildings would cast over three hours of shadows on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and five hours of shadows on the Jackie Robinson Playground. Given the potentially adverse affects of Read more…
The Mandatory Inclusionary Text Amendment was voted in by the City Council in the Spring of 2016, despite 52 out of 59 community boards voting it down. Most boards felt this was simply a massive give away to developers. The way the Mayor got the City Council to vote against Read more…
Zoning Loopholes There are always ways to get around zoning laws and the most common is called a variance. This is an action where an owner will approach the city and say hey, I need to do this… but the law says I can’t, but if I can’t do this….. I Read more…
What the Developers want for Empire Blvd. At this moment, Community Board 9 members, City Planning and Borough President Eric Adams are wanting the change from commercial to mix-residential and commercial on Empire Blvd., with the idea of wanting affordable housing. At the City Planning meetings, the suggestion was Read more…
Definition One of the major avenues created to redesign neighborhoods all throughout America is based upon transit. In some communities these transit lines are created and in others they already exist. This has become known as Transit Oriented Development “TOD”. Definition of TOD, mixed -use, higher density development oriented towards Read more…