CB3 votes against special hotel permits plan
BY GABE HERMAN
For the second time in November,
a community board rejected the
city’s proposed plan to require
special permits for hotel development
just below Union Square.
Community Board 3 passed a resolution
against the plan at its Nov. 26
meeting, after the plan was poorly received
and voted against at a CB2 meeting
earlier in the month.
The plan would require special permits
for new hotels to be approved by
City Planning, which proposed the
plan, and the City Council, for most
of the area between East Ninth to East
14th Streets, and Third Avenue to Fifth
Avenue.
Part of the CB3 resolution read, “the
city’s refusal thus far to recognize the
historic signifi cance of the current, albeit
humble historic building stock that
could be demolished as result of this
action is disturbing.”
The board took issue with the city’s
Environmental Assessment Statement
(EAS).
“The EAS fails to correctly identify a
broad range of historic resources in the
area,” the resolution reads, “including
landmarked buildings, buildings that
are listed on the State and National
Registers of Historic Places, buildings,
which the LPC itself previously identifi
ed as historic resources in past EASes,
and buildings of clear architectural and
historical signifi cance…”
One building cited as an example
was 88 East 10 St. “CB3 strongly disagrees
with the DCP’s analysis that
The building at 88 E. 10 St.
there would be no adverse impact on
neighborhood character if 88 East 10th
Street built in 1845 by Peter Stuyvesant
were demolished,” the resolution
reads.
Village Preservation also cited that
VILLAGE PRESERVATION
building in a recent letter to the city,
which said the EAS was missing much
of the area’s historic signifi cance. The
letter by executive director Andrew
Berman, said that not only was the
Greek Revival house built by Peter
Stuyvesant, but in the 20th century, it
was a home and studio for artist Willem
de Kooning.
The CB3 resolution concluded, “CB 3
is not opposed to additional restrictions
or special permit requirements for any
new hotel development or expansion
in this area, as long as the fi ndings are
more restrictive and clearly defi ned.”
At the City Planning presentation of
the plan earlier this month at CB2, City
Planner Matthew Pietrus said there is
little vacancy in the area, and said, “we
don’t think there would be an undue increase
in commercial development.”
The CB3 resolution’s recommendations
included revising the EAS to recognize
historic buildings in the area,
and introducing “contextual downzoning”
for the area between Third and
Fourth Aves. and 9th to 14th Streets,
which is an idea that CB3 voted for in a
2017 resolution.
After the CB3 resolution vote, Berman
released a statement which read
in part, “Our community boards are
in total agreement with us and residents
that this hotel special permit
plan provides none of the protections
Greenwich Village and the East Village
fought for, were promised, or need. We
want real landmark and zoning protections,
as new development in this area
— spurred in part by the City’s Tech
Hub plan — is turning it into an extension
of Midtown South and Silicon Alley.”
The next steps for the city’s plan
include going to Manhattan Borough
President Gale Brewer, then City Planning
and lastly to the City Council.
Composting for a greener city, Tribeca-style
BY TEQUILA MINSKY
It’s Saturday morning at the northern
end of the Greenmarket in Tribeca
— Greenwich near Duane Street
— as a steady trickle of neighbors carrying
paper or plastic bags dump their
kitchen refuse. Bin after bin provided
by GrowNYC and NYC Sanitation are
fi lling up. This a city Compost Collection
drop-off site — one of 16 attached
to a Greenmarket in Manhattan. Additionally,
there are nine Compost On-
The-Go drop-off sites from 96th Street
north, which are part of the network.
Thanksgiving, family, lots of eating,
means lots of organic scraps … all those
coffee grounds, peelings, egg shells,
worn-out fl owers, and so much more.
“We’re anticipating more organic
waste this weekend and will be bringing
in additional bins,” said the GrowNYC
staff member while directing the offerings
from one Tribeca neighbor. Compost
is accepted here until 1 p.m.
What’s accepted? Fruit and vegetable
Before shopping at the Tribeca Greenmarket on a Saturday, out goes
compostable kitchen refuse.
scraps, rinds, coffee grounds,
fi lters, and paper tea bags, bread and
grains, eggshells, nutshells, corncobs,
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
food-soiled paper towels and napkins,
shredded newspaper sawdust and wood
shavings from untreated wood, stale
beans, fl our, and spices cut or dried
fl owers, houseplants and potting soil,
feathers. Weekly, people save organic
refuse in the fridge or freezer to avoid
any smells.
There’s a list of items NOT accepted
including meats and fi sh scraps, plastics,
oil, kitty litter, bones, greasy food
scraps, and diseased plants, to name a
few.
The Tribeca Greenmarket stretches
parallel to Washington Market Park
on the Greenwich Street sidewalk. Its
hours are 8 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturdays yearround,
(and now selling, selling breads
and pastries, fowl and meats, cheeses,
and winter greens and root vegetables)
with Compost Collection from 8 a.m. –
1 p.m.
The Tribeca Wednesday Greenmarket
has fewer purveyors and operates
June through November, however,
Wednesday’s Compost Collection (as
well as a clothing collection) runs year
round, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. For other locations
check grownyc.org/compost/locations.
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/locations