South Park Slope Community Group

On Tuesday Sept. 12, in its last decision stemming from the South Park Slope/Greenwood Heights 2005 rezoning, the Board of Standards and Appeals unanimously voted to NOT GRANT the BZY vesting application of the developer of 614 7th Avenue, Brooklyn, aka “The Minerva Building.”

After two re-openings of this case and four hearings over seven months, our community is relieved at its conclusion and thankful at its final outcome.

Applicant attorneys Peter Geis and Howard Hornstein of Cozen O’Connor are expected to file an appeal with the NY State Supreme Court, as they have with developer Isaac Katan’s site at 182 15th St., which was denied vesting rights by the BSA on July 25.

Should the Court uphold the ruling of the BSA, 614 property owner/developer Chaim Nussenscweig will have to build under new R6B zoning, which mandates a maximum base height of 40 ft. at street wall, a 10 ft. setback from street wall for a final floor, a 50 ft. maximum building height and a Floor Area Ratio of 2.0. Architect Robert Scarano’s now-obsolete plans for the 100 x 100 ft. corner lot called for a 38-unit, 70 ft. high building with bulkheads that topped over 90 ft., a ground-floor “community facility,” and a ringing total of 29,803 sq. ft of floor area, not including three levels of Scarano’s signature “mezzanines.”

The most recent 11/15/05 plans for the building also did not satisfactorily resolve the issue of whether or not the building would block the historic view from the statue of Minerva on Green-Wood’s Battle Hill to the Statue of Liberty in NY Harbor.

Seven properties appealed after our zoning was changed last November; two were denied vesting thanks in large part to our community telling our electeds and the BSA that we would not stand for continued irresponsible development. We thank the Chair and Commissioners of the BSA for listening to us and, as one of our group phrased it, “setting some standards for appeals.”

Tuesday, 09.12.06, 10:00 am
Board of Standards and Appeals
40 Rector Street, 6th floor, NYC
(you must bring photo ID to enter)

Tomorrow is the final decision on 614 7th Ave’s (“Minerva Building”) vesting application.

Final controversy is over the applicant’s attorneys’ submission of the supposedly revised “mystery 09.01.05 plans.” The DOB has stated there that there is only one set of approved self certified plans on file, dated 08.30.05. Work permits were issued 08.31.05 based on these original plans and were the plans DOB audited in October 2005.

The applicant’s attorneys claim the “wrong set of plans” were audited by the DOB, contrary to anything legitimately filed with the DOB to date. The issue of the “dueling set of plans” was a huge contention as the DOB has recommended the BSA negate ALL work done at 617 7th Ave between 08.31.05 (under the improper self certified plans from 08.30.05) and the approval of revised plans on 11.15.05, 1 day before our rezoning.

The Commissioners all agreed this morning that the applicant’s attorneys HAD NOT SUPPLIED CONVINCING EVIDENCE of the existence of these “mystery” set of plans.

We feel strongly that today’s comments, combined with the lackluster and excuse-ridden final submission by the applicant’s attorneys on 09.05.06 (that had no concrete evidence with regs to the validity of the 09.01.06 plans), are a strong indication that the BSA WILL NOT VEST 614 7th Ave tomorrow.