RSVP Now: Urban Revitalization and East Harlem Rezoning

New Panelist: CIVITAS Advisory Committee Member Matthew Washington

Wednesday, December 4
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Admission is FREE for CIVITAS members. Find out how to become a member.

CIVITAS's discussion series continues this December with an investigation of urban revitalization through the lens of East Harlem rezoning and updated land use policies. This panel of neighborhood leaders and experts will look specifically at projects currently under way in East Harlem, including the renovation of the former P.S. 109 into affordable live-work space for artists, and the transformation of La Marqueta, a marketplace under the Metro North railway tracks between East 111th and East 116th Streets that was once the economic and social center of the neighborhood.

Moderator:
-Karrie Jacobs - Contributing Editor, Metropolis; founding editor-in-chief, Dwell

Panelists:
-Matthew Washington - Chair, Community Board 11, Advisory Member of CIVITAS
-Peggy Shepard - Co-founder and Executive Director, WE ACT for Environmental Justice
-Gus Rosado - Executive Director, El Barrio's Operation Fightback

All discussions in the series will take place at the National Academy
1083 Fifth Avenue at East 89th Street. map

Admission:
CIVITAS members: FREE
General Admission: $15
Seniors and Students: $10

For tickets, visit the National Academy online or call (212) 369-4880 x 201.
CIVITAS members can RSVP by calling the museum at the above number.

Update: CB11 Approves Zoning Recommendations for East Harlem

On Tuesday, Community Board 11 (CB11) approved the rezoning recommendations for East Harlem developed by CIVITAS and CB11’s Zoning Task Force.  The study area for the rezoning includes Madison, Park and Lexington Avenues between 115th and 132nd Streets.   To see the proposed zoning map and recommendations, visit www.civitasnyc.org which will include ongoing updates on the rezoning.

The next step for the rezoning recommendations is the formal review, additional public outreach and adoption by the NYC Department of City Planning.

This is a joint project with CIVITAS and Community Board 11 (CB11), whose zoning task force is led by Lashawn Henry (committee chair) and Diane Collier (vice chair).  The recommendations were developed to encourage the following goals in the community: affordable housing opportunities, economic development and job creation, new buildings that are contextual in scale with their surroundings and the revitalization of Park Avenue.  The area has not been rezoned in its entirety in over 50 years.

The Park Avenue Metro North Viaduct

To gauge the community’s needs, the CIVITAS and CB11 team convened hundreds of East Harlem residents at community meetings and roundtable discussions in 2012 to discuss their visions for the future of this area.  The zoning recommendations have been designed to be fine-grained and site specific (unlike much of the current zoning) and to address needs across a diverse section of East Harlem.   This area includes the neighborhood shopping corridor on 116th Street; lots alongside Park Avenue’s elevated Metro North viaduct: and quiet, low-rise side streets.

Breakout Session at the July 2012 Community Meeting

Throughout the process, the team has met with 

elected officials and government agencies including the Department of City Planning, Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the NYC Economic Development Corporation.  Through fundraising among CIVITAS members and the support of the Greve Foundation and New York Community Trust, CIVITAS and Community Board 11 were able to hire Insight Associates (Ethel Sheffer, principal) and George Janes Associates, professional planners, to develop the zoning recommendations. 

The complete recommendations and zoning maps and ongoing project updates are linked to www.civitasnyc.org/east-harlem.  They include some of the following: R7-D (medium density, contextual) around 116th Street to allow for affordable housing incentives; C4-4L (commercial) to encourage commercial activity and guide urban design along part of Park Avenue; R6-A (medium density, contextual) was selected to protect the historic scale of upper Madison Avenue; an MX district to encourage a mix of light industry and housing along Park Avenue and C6-2 (commercial zoning) near the 125th Street corridor and Metro North rail station.   The study area does not include the 125th Street corridor itself which was rezoned in 2008.

In The News

News reports from December 2012: DNAInfo "East Harlem Community Board Favors Hybrid Zoning Plan."

News reports from October 2012: DNAInfo: "East Harlem Plans for Future With Rezoning Proposals"](http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20121025/east-harlem/east-harlem-plans-for-future-with-rezoning-proposals#ixzz2AQqGizUl) and The Daily News:["New zoning eyed for East Harlem’s desolate 17-block gasoline alley"

Upcoming Meetings

The CB11 Landmarks, Land Use & Planning Committee meets monthly.  Check this calendar for updates: http://www.cb11m.org/event

East River Esplanade: A Gaping Hole in NYC's Waterfront

By Sharon E. Pope

Prepared for the CIVITAS Spring 2011 Newsletter

Photo by Anton Brookes, www.mockturtlemoon.com

New York City’s waterfront is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, heightened by new public and private investment and interest to enhance, repair and improve its vast waterfront. The NYC Department of City Planning has recently released its Comprehensive Waterfront Plan and several waterfront advocacy groups and water-dependent businesses have undertaken renewed efforts to bring attention to the city’s waterfront. With over 500 miles of shoreline, these initiatives comprise a massive effort to redesign the waterfront to accommodate a wide range of recreational and commercial activities; to reconnect it with adjoining upland areas; and to provide direct access to New York’s “Sixth Borough” (i.e., the waters of our bays, inlets, rivers and ocean).

The East River Esplanade on the Upper East Side and in East Harlem stretches from 60th to 125th Street. For these communities it is the portal to the river and their “living room” on the water, providing serene and stunning views of the East River, Roosevelt Island and the Robert F. Kennedy (Triborough) and Hell Gate Bridges. Residents visit the Esplanade to pause and reflect as well as to fish. It also serves as a significant recreational resource used by strollers, joggers, and bicyclists.New York City’s waterfront is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, heightened by new public and private investment and interest to enhance, repair and improve its vast waterfront. The NYC Department of City Planning has recently released its Comprehensive Waterfront Plan and several waterfront advocacy groups and water-dependent businesses have undertaken renewed efforts to bring attention to the city’s waterfront. With over 500 miles of shoreline, these initiatives comprise a massive effort to redesign the waterfront to accommodate a wide range of recreational and commercial activities; to reconnect it with adjoining upland areas; and to provide direct access to New York’s “Sixth Borough” (i.e., the waters of our bays, inlets, rivers and ocean).

The East River Esplanade on the Upper East Side and in East Harlem stretches from 60th to 125th Street. For these communities it is the portal to the river and their “living room” on the water, providing serene and stunning views of the East River, Roosevelt Island and the Robert F. Kennedy (Triborough) and Hell Gate Bridges. Residents visit the Esplanade to pause and reflect as well as to fish. It also serves as a significant recreational resource used by strollers, joggers, and bicyclists.

CIVITAS has had a long history of advocacy for an improved East River Esplanade. In February and March 2011, members of CIVITAS walked the length of the Esplanade to assess and document its existing condition; to identify areas of infrastructure distress; to note areas of limited or impeded access; and to highlight related critical needs.

They documented a shockingly deteriorated Esplanade that included breaches of the bulkhead, crumbling infrastructure, unsupported rails and sidewalk sink holes, buckling or bulging sidewalks, and piers and platforms in need of such dire repair as to necessitate fencing to protect the public.

The worst sections were found north of East 110th Street. To rescue the East River Esplanade much has to be done. As a start:

• Document, evaluate and repair the Esplanade’s pedestrian walkways.
• Repair sinkholes at 110th and 111th Streets, 114th and 115th, and at 124th Street. These are not the only sinkholes; however, they are the ones that could impact public safety. They require immediate repair.
• Increase signage at pedestrian entrances. Many entrances do not have any signage indicating access to the Esplanade.
• Enhance the 60th and 96th Street Esplanade entrances. These entrances serve as major access points and should be welcoming, safe and easily accessible.
• Install noise attenuation barriers to reduce automobile traffic sounds and exhaust pollution.
• Add sufficient quantity and variety of seating along barren stretches of the Esplanade.
• Replace trees in existing empty tree pits.

Despite its degraded condition, the Esplanade is still actively used by the public. Accordingly, its rescue and restoration are of critical importance. To restore the Esplanade will require the combined resources and efforts of Community Boards 8 and 11, community-based organizations, local businesses, adjoining institutions and elected officials. Funding will have to come from city, state and federal agencies, and possibly from the private sector. Only then will the Esplanade be able to fulfill its promise of park space for the communities of the Upper East Side and East Harlem, as well as a destination for visitors and tourists.

Since its founding as a Dutch trading post, New York City’s shoreline contributed substantially to the growth of the city with significant maritime trade. Although New York remains a premier port city, its traditional shoreline uses have been declining due, in part, to changes in shipping operations and an overall decline in the city’s manufacturing and industrial base. With waning traditional waterfront use (abandoned piers) its infrastructure fell into disrepair and subsequent physical decay. In 1992, the Manhattan Borough President unveiled a grand vision for Manhattan’s waterfront: a near continuous, publicly accessible esplanade around the entire island. It is this grand vision that many have today for Manhattan’s shoreline.

The East River Esplanade as a public open space has the promise of a vibrant gathering point for residents and visitors alike. With the renewed focus on the city’s waterfront and its adjoining “Sixth Borough,” we have an opportunity now to ensure that this promise is fulfilled.

Park Avenue: Historic, Iconic, and Only Partly Protected

By Lucienne S. Bloch

Prepared for the CIVITAS Fall 2010 Newsletter

CIVITAS has joined our neighborhood partners Carnegie Hill Neighbors and Historic Park Avenue in supporting an application to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission for historic designation for Park Avenue from 79th Street to 96th Street. Park Avenue between 63rd Street and 79th received local historic designation in 1981. At present, only a few blocks of the avenue between 86th Street and 96th Street fall within the boundaries of the Carnegie Hill Historic District. In June 2010, the New York State Historic Preservation Office determined Park Avenue between 79th Street and 96th Street to be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and that application is under way. A listing on the State and National Registers is more of an honorific title than a locally protective measure for historical structures, but it does add a layer of review for proposed alterations that receive state or federal funding.

Historic Designation: For and Against

Local historic designation for Park Avenue to 96th Street is long overdue, and a matter of some urgency to many people who see the all-too-obvious outcome of non-designation, as demonstrated on both eastern corners of 87th Street. One is the site of a new entirely glass-fronted building that is glaringly insensitive to the look and feel of the avenue. The other is a tower in a plaza that was completed in 1974 and is hugely out of scale with its surroundings. The publicized and unstoppable plans for that tower spurred the better-late-than-never establishment of the Park Improvement Special District in 1973. The district set standards for building height and adherence to the avenue’s predominant streetwall, although it doesn’t protect low-rise 19th and early 20th century buildings from demolition or radical face-lifting.

Some of the arguments that have been used against landmark status include: the time and expense of additional bureaucratic paperwork for building permits, and of committee review of exterior alterations that must be historically appropriate; the stringent contextual regulations for new buildings that may preclude opportunities for innovative architecture; stricter city building codes that may mandate and enforce sustainable design in construction and building maintenance, as well as eco-friendly retrofits of older buildings. These are cogent issues, but they don’t address another reasonable bottom line: the past matters, especially in a city that has only patches of its irreplaceable historic fabric still standing.

It is Time to Get the Job Done

The grounds for Park Avenue’s historic designation are visible and compelling. Apart from 19th century mansions and row houses, small flats buildings, religious and educational institutions, Lenox Hill Hospital, and the Seventh Regiment Armory, residential Park Avenue from 63rd to 96th Streets is pretty much all of a piece. Most of the apartment houses were constructed between 1913 and World War II. Different noted architects designed buildings with entrances, cornices and ornamentation in different idioms, Georgian, Italian Renaissance Revival, and Art Deco among them, but the similarity of height, 12 to 17 stories, and of building materials, stone and brick, on both sides of the broad boulevard gives Park Avenue an overall and palpable coherence. There is a sense of harmonious scale on residential Park Avenue, and a sense of place that has both historic and architectural significance. Several of the 19th century structures belong to the wide avenue’s past as a busy open rail corridor with at-grade tracks in the middle of it. Between 1871 and 1877, a tunnel was constructed for the lowered tracks from 97th Street to Grand Central Depot, bridges were built over the sunken tunnel for pedestrians and vehicles, and row houses and tenements sprang up along the still-gritty avenue. The tunnel wasn’t covered over until 1913, when the new and present Grand Central Station was completed. At that time, the median malls were landscaped with grass, trees, paths and benches, transforming the newly parklike avenue into a prime area for luxury apartment houses, and soon making it the world-famous iconic boulevard we know today.

Park Avenue between 63rd and 79th Streets has been landmarked for over a quarter of a century. It is time to finish the job by designating the entire stretch of residential Park Avenue to 96th Street. This will make it possible for future generations to enjoy its architectural quality and balance, its historic allure that evokes the early and still important connection between transportation and urban development, and its continuing presence in a constantly changing city.

Statement before the Landmarks Committee of Community Board 8

in Support of Proposed Designation of the Park Avenue Historic District

Between 79th and 96th Street

June 14, 2010

CIVITAS supports the nomination of Park Avenue between 79th and 96th Street to be designated a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places and as a New York City local historic district.

Park Avenue is one of the world’s most famous thoroughfares and is well regarded for its central median, lined by stately apartment buildings, low-rise nineteenth century buildings and houses of worship. Yet almost half of the avenue on the Upper East Side is not protected by landmark status. Except for a few blocks of Park Avenue located in the Carnegie Hill Historic District, most of this corridor between 79th and 96th Street does not fall within a New York City historic district.

Park Avenue is best known as a twentieth century streetscape as it rose to prominence in the 1910s and 1920s. Yet it has a significant nineteenth century layer as well, including several buildings that pre-date “Park Avenue” itself and were constructed when this thoroughfare was known as Fourth Avenue, before the railroad tracks were covered. The avenue’s predominant scale – 12-17 story apartment buildings that follow a uniform street wall—is mostly protected under the Park Improvement special zoning district. But this offers no protection to the nineteenth century layer, which is increasingly threatened. At least two of these structures have been demolished in recent years.

The architectural character of Park Avenue is not just about scale. The architects who designed many of the proposed district’s greatest buildings—George and Edward Blum, Rosario Candela, J.E.R. Carpenter, and others—followed a relatively uniform bulk in designing the luxury apartment houses. Much of the designers’ individual expression is articulated through architectural details, such as windows, decorative medallions and door surrounds. The structures present a wonderfully eclectic face to the avenue, evoking Renaissance Revival, Art Deco and Georgian references. Designation of Park Avenue as a New York City historic district will protect those details for future generations to enjoy.

As part of our support, CIVITAS raises the following issues for consideration by the United States Department of the Interior, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

First is the historical condition of the Park Avenue median. When the railroad tracks were covered in the 1880s and the landscaped median was created in the 1910s, it was a wide park with seating and meandering paths located in the middle of the avenue. Over the course of the twentieth century, the median has been whittled down to its current width, a “park” meant to be looked at but not entered and enjoyed. As the current movement in New York City continues to reclaim green space and public space in previously overlooked spaces, we would like to see additional thought given to restoring Park Avenue to its historical plan and configuration with a public park in its center. Designation as a National Register or New York City historic district should call special attention to the avenue’s original plan and not act as an impediment to possible restoration of the median.

Further, there is much discussion on the local and national level devoted to incorporating energy efficient components into historic structures. Preserving the “embedded energy” expended in constructing the historic buildings on Park Avenue represent the greenest approach there is, but we would like to see continued dialogue between the preservation and environmental communities to support eco-friendly upgrades that respect the aesthetics and historic integrity of Park Avenue’s buildings.

We encourage the United States Department of the Interior, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to move quickly in designating the Park Avenue corridor between 79th and 96th Street.