Yesterday, MAS testified at the City Planning Commission hearing regarding the Willets Point rezoning plan. First and foremost, MAS stressed that the plan, which includes an urban renewal action that will allow for the use of eminent domain, must reflect the results of an inclusive planning and monitoring process. In regards to the rezoning – from manufacturing into a mixed-used residential and commercial district – MAS suggested the City conduct a thorough examination of the plan’s implication for long-term, industrial and manufacturing job growth, including a justified strategy deployment of public resources tied to agreed upon community benefits. Finally, MAS raised concerns over the purported high standards of sustainable neighborhood planning Willets Point aims to achieve. The full testimony is after the jump. Continue Reading>>

The buildings in Harlem are brick and stone, And the streets are long and wide, But Harlem’s much more than these alone, Harlem is what’s inside.
– from The Heart of Harlem, By Langston Hughes

On April 1st 2008, the Municipal Art Society testified at the Land-use and Franchise subcommittee hearing regarding the 125th Street rezoning plan. City Planning has been working for Continue Reading>>

The MAS Planning Center is holding a series of forums this spring on the future of community-based planning in New York City. The opening program is titled Elected Officials Respond to Communities That Plan for Themselves, and will be held on Monday, March 24. Click here for more details.

An article in today’s Brownstoner reports that a new law seeking to extend the influence of 197-a plans to give them actual legislative weight is likely to be introduced before the City Council this summer. According to Brownstoner, the legislation, to be introduced by Queens Council Member Tony Avella, is a direct by-product of the long-standing MAS Campaign for Community-Based Planning.

MAS Planning Center Director Eve Baron said, “This is our vision for the future of the neighborhood based on need and aspiration.” Council Member Avella agreed saying, “This’ll be a way to have planning happen from the bottom up, rather than the top down.”

To read the article in full, click here.

MAS is pleased to announce that New York City Council Land Use Committee voted this morning to approve a proposed plan for the former Con Ed Site on the East River between 38th and 41st streets on the East River. The plan provides an easement that would enable the realignment of the FDR Drive and the construction of a deck over the highway which will facilitate the creation of a waterfront park on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan that MAS has been advocating for. Continue Reading>>

On October 3, the City Planning Commission held a hearing on two plans for the expansion of Columbia University into Manhattanville. One was the university’s plan, the other was Manhattan Community District 9’s 197-a plan — a community-based plan for the same area. The challenge is that the plans contain, in some part, contradictory visions.

In the 19th century, the village of Manhattanville, situated around 125th Street and the Hudson River, grew to be a center of manufacturing and industry with a concentration of milk pasteurization and bottling companies, and later, auto showrooms and meat-packing. Continue Reading>>

Over the course of the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) for the Hudson Yards proposal, several of the city’s leading civic groups, including the Municipal Art Society, have recognized many of the same opportunities for improving redevelopment plan.

The 33rd/32nd Street corridor west of Penn Station should be the focus of commercial density, both the American Planning Association (APA) and the MAS say. The Hell’s Kitchen community also expresses this view. Continue Reading>>

On June 21, the City Planning Commission certified the zoning text for the Hudson Yards Development Program, formally beginning the public review period for a proposed 40 million square feet of development west of 8th Avenue. Continue Reading>>

Downloading Instructions:

To download or print selected sections of Making it in New York: The Manufacturing Land Use and Zoning Initiative click on the desired section(s) in the table of contents below.  Please note, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to download or print this report.  If you do not, go to www.adobe.com to download it for free. Continue Reading>>

On November 1st and 2nd, the Planning Center and Hunter College Urban Affairs and Planning organized Planning into Practice: A Conference for Community-Based Groups, Planners & Professionals. The conference was well-attended by close to 400 participants including city agencies, elected officials, community-based planning organizations and planning professionals. Continue Reading>>