Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 99, no. 2563: Articles]: April 28, 1917

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REAL ESTATE AND (Copyright, 1917, by Tho Record and Guide Co.) NEW YORK, APRIL 23, 1917 AMENDMENTS TO THE ZONING RESOLUTION MADE BY THE BOARD OF ESTIMATE By GEORGE B. FORD ■ I ' HE New York Zoning Resolution was enacted by the •'• July 25, 1916, to go into effect immediately. Subsequ to July 27. The Board was granted the power to enact ments 242-A and 242-B, passed by them on April 20, 1914. May 10, 1916, by adding the provisions whereby the Board law from time to time. On February, 1912, as the result of a steadily increas then President of the Borough of Manhattan, the Board of Arrangement of Buildings. This Commission was asked and suggest a concrete solution of the problem. This sett as chairman, and George B. Ford as secretary, handed ence forthwith. The report included the text for a propo more especially it showed the necessity for creating distri the city, not only as regards to the height of buildings, amendments above referred to were also presented in the information upon the subject, including its history in other On June 26. 1914, about two months after the passage appointed a new bodv called the Commission on Buildings, hers, with Edward M. Bassett, as chairman, and Roliert sented tentative zoning maps and a draft of the law. Then the law and maps were amended to the form, as passed Board of Estimate and Apportionment of New York on ently, however, the date of going into effect was extended such a law by the State Legislature in the charter amend- This was subsequently amended by the Legislature on of Estimate and Apportionment may make changes in the ng demand, and upon the request of George McAneny, Estimate appointed a Commission on the Height, Size and to study the question of limiting the heights of buildings, Commission of nineteen members, with Edward M. Bas¬ in its report on December 21, 1913, and went out of exist- sed law to limit the maximum height of all buildings, but cts or zones with d fferent restrictions in different parts of but also as regard to their area and use. The two Charter report. The report, which contained also much general cities, is now out of print. of the two Charter amendments, the Board of Estimate Districts and Restrictions. It consisted of seventeen mem- H. Whitten as secretary. On March 10, 1916. they pre- as a result of a vast number of conferences and hearings, July 25, 1916. ■"P HE Zoning Law was framed to ^ stabilize and conserve property values, to relieve the rapidly increasing congestion in the streets and in the tran¬ sit lines, to provide greater safety in buildings and in the streets, to provide for a reasonable amount of light and air in buildings and in the streets, and in general to make the business of the city more effic'ent and the life of the city more healthful, convenient and agree¬ able. It was realized that private re¬ strictions bring these results only in small degree, at best. It was obvious that the good of tlie whole city should be taken into consideration in imposing official restrictions. In view of the enormous size of the city and the number of properties af¬ fected, any law which would force the city to pay damages, where damages could be shown, would become so com¬ plicated and costly in its administration as to be impracticalile. On considera¬ tion, it became evident that no law was worth enacting, which could not be en¬ forced under the police power of the State, without any compensation what¬ soever to any property owner. The police power, as interpreted by the courts, permits the city to control the use of private property, wherever such control can be shown to be de¬ sirable, in the interest of the community as a whole, from the standpoint of health, safety or general welfare. Every detail of the law and of the maps was drawn with this in view. Nothing was framed in the law or shown on the maps that the Commission d'd not fee! would probably be interpreted by the courts as a proper exercise of the police power, without compensation to property owners. Realizing that all future developments and conditions could not be foreseen and that it was onlv reasonable that the law or maps should be amended in some in¬ stances to meet these changing condi¬ tions, the enabling act provides the ma¬ chinery whereby the law may be amend¬ ed from time to time. However, the methods of changing the law is made purposely difficult so that stability in real estate, which the law is intended to bring about, may be preserved and changes made only wherever it is obvi¬ ous to all that they should be made. The Resolution or the maps can be changed only by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. The Board of Ap¬ peals can merely make exemptions from the law in individual cases, all within limits closely defined by the Resolution. The Board of Estimate does not make exemptions for individual cases. The changes which it has made are general rather than particular and not intended for the sole advantage of the appellant. During the first six months of the operation of the Resolution, nine peti¬ tions for amendment to the Zone Maps have been decided by the Board of Esti¬ mate under the authority granted them by the amendment to the enabline act on May 10, 1916. The four petitions which were denied were recommended for refusal to the Board by its Commit¬ tee on the City Plan which found so much objection to them that it did not consider a signed petition aeainst them necessary. In none of the five adopted cases was there an objection on the part of twenty per cent, of the property own¬ ers affected. The "denied" petitions are as follows: Petition of Abraham C. Quackenbush to change from a business to an unre¬ stricted district the southwest corner of Park avenue and 12.^d street. Petition denied October 27. 1916. Petition of Frederick G. Potter to change property on 206th street and 207th street. Ninth and Tenth avenues, to an unrestricted district. Petition de¬ nied Tanuary 12, 1917. Petition of owners of Lots 61 and 62. located in the south side of West 152d street, 12S feet east of Amsterdam ave¬ nue, to place said propertv in an unre¬ stricted district to permit the erection of a parage. Petition denied December IS, 1916. Petition of Walters Piano Company to permit the erection of a garace on prop¬ erty at 226 East 63d street. Petition de¬ nied January 19. 1917. The "adopted" petitions are as follows: Petition of Beniamin C. Hitchlnes, Inc.. and William S. Ross to amend Use District Map Section 23 so as to include within the unrestricted district all of the area not now ■^n included within the area bounded by Brooklvn avenue. Ave¬ nue H and the Long Island Railroad, and so as to include within the unre¬ stricted district the 100-foot square area at the northeast corner of Avenue H and East 40th street, and so as to include in the business district the 100-foot square area at the northwest corner of Avenue H and East 40th street. Map change adopted October 13, 1916. Petition of Solomon N. Kleier to amend Use District Map Section No. 13 so as to include within the unrestricted district all of the area not now so in¬ cluded bounded by Van Dam street, Nassau avenue. Varick street and Meek¬ er avenue, and by including in the un¬ restricted district all of the area not now so included in the block bounded by Meeker avenue. Porter avenue. Cherry street and Vandervoort avenue. Map change adopted October 13, 1916. Petition of property owners to change the area for 100 feet back on both sides of Twelfth avenue from the west side of 44th street to the east side of 48t_h street from a business district to a resi¬ dence district. Map change adopted March 2. 1917. Petition of property owners to amend Area District Map, Section No. 22. so as to change the area 100 feet back from both sides of Albemarle road from the east side of East Second street to the west side of East Fifth street from a D district to an E district. Map change adopted March 2. 1917. Petition of William C. Card and the Cord Mever Company to amend Use District Map, Section No. 9. so as to change from a business district to an unrestricted district all of the area bounded by Lurting street. Card place and Corona avenue, that is not already in an unrestricted district. Map change adopted February 9, 1917. -As the value of the Resolution depends largely on its stability and permanency, the policy of the Board has been to al¬ low changes only where the desirability of making a change was obvious and the advantage general. It will be noted that two out of the five changes adopted are the result of petitions to make the resolution and maps more restrictive. The other three merely round out cer¬ tain unrestricted districts in a manner which would probablv have been done by the framers of the maps if they could have had all of the facts before them. . . The procedure with regard to petitions for amendments i-s_^s_follows: Tlie