UPDATE: There's been good progress on our fight for re-zoning - On April 23, Community Board 2 unanimously passed a resolution in support of re-zoning the C6-1 Zone in the Far West Village.

Below is the text from the CB2 letter to Amanda Burden, Chair of the City Planning Commission, requesting that CPC initiate the re-zoning process.

This is great progress, but we need to keep the pressure on, so City Planning knows that Village residents fully support re-zoning.

We want more people to sign the online petition at http://gopetition.com/petitions/preserve-the-far-west-village.html.

We have 323 signatures online as of today - and 317 signatures were collected at the Perry Street Fair on Saturday. We were heartened by the incredible support for our efforts from residents of the Village and all five boroughs as they passed and chatted with us at the table. It took seven hours of effort from Maxine, Alice, and Geoffrey, who all were buoyed by the energy of the signers and had great fun as well. With the online signatures, that's 640 total! Let's make it 1000 by the end of May!

CB2 letter to Amanda Burden, Chair of the City Planning Commission:

April 27, 2009

Amanda Burden, Chair

City Planning Commission

22 Reade Street

New York, New York 10007

Dear Chair Burden:

At its Full Board meeting on April 23, 2009, Community Board #2, Manhattan (CB#2, Man.) adopted the following resolution:

RESOLUTION ON REQUEST BY COMMUNITY BOARD 2, MANHATTAN, TO INITIATE A RE-ZONING OF THE C6-1 ZONE IN THE FAR WEST VILLAGE

Whereas, CB#2, Man. and the NYC Department of City Planning, met on April 1, 2009, with representatives from the local elected officials at City Planning’s suggestion to discuss the zoning for the portion of the Far West Village bounded by West 12th Street to the north, West 10th Street to the south, Washington Street to the west, and Greenwich Street to the east, that is currently zoned C6-1; and

Whereas, worked together, starting in 2005 to implement a re-zoning of portions of the Far West Village in order to ensure that future development in this neighborhood would be appropriate to its historic, low-scale, residential character; and

Whereas, CB#2, Man. thanks the NYC Department of City Planning for their careful and thoughtful approach to planning that honors the history and stability of this community; and

Whereas that re-zoning, regretfully, neglected to include a sliver of properties, roughly bounded by West 12th Street to the north, West 10th Street to the south, Washington Street to the west, and Greenwich Street to the east that are currently zoned C6-1; and

Whereas, C6-1 zoning allows a commercial FAR of 6, a Community Facility bonus to 6.5, and a residential FAR of 3.44; and

Whereas, this imbalance of FAR between commercial and residential uses, encourages out of scale and inappropriate commercial development, such as hotels, dorms and office buildings, in an overwhelmingly quiet residential neighborhood; and

Whereas, CB#2, Man. believes that it is imperative that this C6-1 district be re-zoned to C1-6A, a zoning designation that would allow a commercial FAR of 2, a Community Facility bonus to 4, and a residential FAR of 4, or such other appropriate re-zoning that would preserve the character of the neighborhood and conform with the intentions of the 2005 re-zoning; and

Whereas, such a re-zoning would support the intentions of the 2005 re-zoning, by discouraging inappropriate commercial development and, because it is contextual, define the same height limitations for the street wall and set-backs that are in place for the properties immediately to the west, limits that are in keeping with the character of this historic and stable residential neighborhood; and

Whereas this request has the complete support of the community and CB2 Manhattan; and

Whereas, because of the imbalance in the zoning, an as of right project is coming before CB#2, Man. and the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission that will negatively impact the future of this area, and would negate the intent and benefits of the 2005 re-zoning; and

Whereas, There have been meetings in the community for about a year that demonstrate strong support.

Therefore Be It Resolved, that CB#2, Man., urgently requests that the NYC Department of City Planning to immediately initiate a re-zoning of the area in the Far West Village, roughly bounded by West 12th Street to the north, West 10th Street to the south, Washington Street to the west, and Greenwich Street to the east, from C6-1 to C1-6A, or such other appropriate re-zoning that would preserve the character of the neighborhood and conform with the intentions of the 2005 re-zoning.

Vote: Unanimous, with 40 Board members in favor.

Please advise us of any decision or action taken in response to this resolution.

Sincerely,

Brad Hoylman, Chair David Reck, Chair

Community Board #2, Zoning and Housing Committee Community Board #2, Manhattan

cc: Hon. Jerrold Nadler, Congressman

Hon. Thomas Duane, NY State Senator

Hon. Deborah Glick, Assembly Member

Hon. Scott Stringer, Man. Borough President

Hon. Alan Jay Gerson, Council Member

Hon. Rosie Mendez, Council Member

Hon. Christine Quinn, Council Speaker

Angelica Crane, Community Board Liaison, Man. Borough President

Lolita Jackson, Manhattan Director, CAU

Lorna Edwards, Land Use Review Unit, Dept. of City Planning

Vivian Awner, Community Board Liaison, Dept. of City Planning

Jeff Mulligan, Executive Director, Board of Standards & Appeals

Applicant