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CEQR: Other
Four proposals, eight yes votes, zero against. The Zoning and Franchises subcommittee, chaired by Councilmember Farrell Lewis, moved a clean slate to the full Land Use Committee on March 25, and the morning belonged to a single warehouse on the north side of Williamsburg.
The headline action was 20 Berry Street, LUs 38, 39, and 40, in Councilmember Ressler's district. The owner, a man named Hadi, has held the warehouse at that site since before Ressler was born, back when the north side of Williamsburg looked nothing like it does now. The plan rezones the lot from an M1-1 to an M1-2 manufacturing district and layers on three actions: a zoning map amendment, a text amendment mapping an Industrial Business Incentive Area, and a 74-94 special permit that trades extra density for reserved industrial space. Ressler leaned into the story, calling it misleading to label Hadi a developer at all. He is a longtime property owner and neighbor, Ressler said, who plans to break the new commercial floors into small 3,000 to 5,000 square foot spaces for local entrepreneurs and has agreed to help redesign Berry Street from North 12th to North 14th for safety. The IBIA model itself came from his predecessor, Councilmember Levin. Howard Goldman represented the owner.
The other three were quieter but real. At 1325 Avenue of the Americas, in Councilmember Maloney's district, a restaurant won a text amendment letting it run an outdoor cafe inside a through-block galleria along the covered passage known as six-and-a-half avenue, between 53rd and 54th streets, where it had already placed tables that technically were not allowed. Down on the Lower East Side, in Councilmember Marte's district, the Parks Department got the green light to demap the Allen Street median between Delancey and Riverton, turning that stretch of the Allen Street Mall into parkland so it can run a concession stand and reopen a long-shuttered public bathroom.
The fourth item carried the one visible compromise. Le Dive, a Lower East Side restaurant in Marte's district, asked for a sidewalk cafe with nine tables and eighteen chairs. To answer noise complaints from the surrounding residential block, the subcommittee approved it cut down to six tables and twelve chairs. The vote opened at seven affirmative and closed at eight once Councilmember Salam arrived, and all four head to the full committee next.
joined by Councilmembers Farias, Schulman, and Canason, and Minority Leader David Carr
Welcome to the New York City Council vote for the subcommittee on zoning and franchise
a public passageway known as six and a half avenues between fifty third and fifty fourth street
to call him a developer might be misleading. He's a longtime property owner and neighbor
Approved. The 20 Berry Street rezoning shifts the Williamsburg lot from M1-1 to M1-2 for a mixed-use light manufacturing and office building, the centerpiece of the morning.
Approved. A text amendment to the special midtown district lets the restaurant at 1325 Avenue of the Americas run an outdoor cafe inside its through-block galleria.
Approved with modifications. Le Dive's Lower East Side sidewalk cafe was cut from nine tables and eighteen chairs to six tables and twelve chairs to answer noise concerns from the residential neighbors.
Approved. The Parks Department demaps the Allen Street median between Delancey and Riverton to map it as parkland, clearing the way for a concession stand and the reopening of a long-closed public bathroom on the Lower East Side.
+5 more procedural steps
Farrell Lewis
Every parcel, owner, and applicant in this meeting, cross-referenced against Zonable’s NYC ownership, enforcement & legislative graph — the record behind the record.
Owner portfolios, open OATH/ECB violations, 311 & DOB permits across every parcel discussed, developer track records, and an “ask this meeting” chat. For this meeting: 590 oath/ecb hearings across the 3 sites discussed.
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