Calling on Department of City Planning to Accept GVSHP Proposed Contextual Rezoning Plan

On November 14, I stood with Councilmember Rosie Mendez, Community Board 2 (CB2) Chair Tobi Bergman, the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation (GVSHP), and Greenwich Village community members outside of the old Bowlmor Lanes site at 110 University Place to call on the Department of City Planning (DCP) to accept GVSHP’s proposed contextual rezoning plan for the University Place and Broadway corridors. In January, CB2 unanimously approved the plan, which would impose height limits on new buildings, prevent high-rise tower development, eliminate zoning incentives for dormitory and hotel development, and encourage or require the creation of inclusionary housing. In July, I wrote to DCP with my colleagues Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Borough President Gale Brewer, Councilmember Rosie Mendez, and Assembly Member Deborah Glick, urging them to adopt the plan. Unfortunately, DCP has so far refused to consider the proposal’s many merits. We cannot let the rest of Greenwich Village go the way of 110 University Place, where a 23-story, nearly 300-foot development is now planned. I will continue to pressure the City to take action before it is too late.