Sorry, wrote Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron in siding with protesters over developers, the law isn’t really the law.
If his ruling is upheld upon appeal, what would have been three tall towers on the Manhattan waterfront with thousands of units of housing, including 690 affordable apartments, will have to go through the City Council’s land-use review process and may well get scotched entirely.
What awful precedent.
We know: The three Two Bridges towers on the Lower East Side are drastically taller than what was initially planned under the special redevelopment district planned way back in 1972, and last amended in 2013.
But that plan never happened, and developers came along looking to erect skinnier towers that reach higher, along with $15 million for parks, and $12.5 million for the nearby NYCHA development in the bargain. The special redevelopment district allows developers flexibility that wouldn’t require zoning changes — which is why City Planning officials judged taller towers a “minor modification” under the code, meaning something that doesn’t need Council permission.
Too bad, said the judge. Just feels too tall.
New York is growing rapidly. New, high-density developments are necessary to meet the demand for housing. Until we build it, small wonder we keep seeing residential housing prices scrape the sky.
![In a narrow vote this week, the Federal Trade Commission approved a rule that will ban the vast majority of noncompete clauses by U.S. employers, which have long prevented workers from switching jobs or setting out on their own. In doing so, the agency did its duty to protect American economic dynamism and opportunity, nothing less, nothing more. We hope that’s the clear conclusion of the courts that will now rule on a lawsuit being brought by the Chamber of Commerce, which has strenuously supported this anticompetitive practice. Of the arguments that the business group and other opponents have rolled […]](https://www.nydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-1820955015.jpg?w=490 "In a narrow vote this week, the Federal Trade Commission approved a rule that will ban the vast majority of noncompete clauses by U.S. employers, which have long prevented workers from switching jobs or setting out on their own. In doing so, the agency did its duty to protect American economic dynamism and opportunity, nothing less, nothing more. We hope that’s the clear conclusion of the courts that will now rule on a lawsuit being brought by the Chamber of Commerce, which has strenuously supported this anticompetitive practice. Of the arguments that the business group and other opponents have rolled […]")
