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C 150077 ZSM and C 150078 ZSM - 7-13 West 21st Street – Application for a special permit for public parking garage for residential growth and a waiver in street wall height and front setback, rear setback and rear yard...

WHEREAS, 7-13 West 21st Street ("Site") is located in a C64A zoning district in the Ladies' Mile Historic District; and

WHEREAS, The Applicant, 7 West 21 LLC, has applied for a waiver for street wall height and front setback, rear setback and rear yard pursuant to ZR Section 74-712 (Developments in historic districts) and for a special permit to allow a 200-space public parking garage pursuant to ZR Sections 13-45 and 13-451 (Additional parking spaces for residential growth);

WHEREAS, The proposed actions are requested to facilitate development of a new building containing approximately 279,118.8 zoning square feet of mixed use development: approximately 271,184 zoning square feet of residential use, approximately 7,934.6 zoning square feet of local service/retail use, and a garage, which will serve the general public; and

WHEREAS, The proposed site is participating in the City's inclusionary housing program to provide rental units affordable to households earning below the area median income; and

WHEREAS, The applicant wishes to install two vents in the rear yard, to allow additional venting of the parking garage, and

WHEREAS, Community Board Five approved an application to the Landmark Preservation Commission ("LPC") for a certificate of appropriateness in September 2013; and

WHEREAS, The proposed building will replace a 256 space ground level parking lot, which was located on the Site until approximately October 2014 when the site was closed for environmental remediation; and

WHEREAS, The City Planning Commission ("CPC") approved a special permit for a 363-space public parking garage on the Site on June 23, 2004 and renewed the special permit for an additional three years on June 5, 2008 and for an additional three years on February 12, 2012 with an expiration of August 12, 2014; and

WHEREAS, In 2004 CPC also approved (i) a zoning map amendment from an M1-6M to a C6-4A district for a five and a half block area bounded by Fifth Avenue, West 17 Street, Sixth Avenue and West 22nd Street and (ii) zoning text amendments to ZR Sections 11-44, 23-633 and 35-24 to clarify zoning text, grandfather a previously approved special permit, and allow street wall heights to match adjacent street walls provided that such height does not exceed 150 feet; and

WHEREAS, The proposed building will contain 300 dwelling units, which would permit 60 vehicle parking spaces as a matter of right but demonstrated that according to DCP guidelines, growth in parking has not kept pace with growth in residential population; and

WHEREAS, LPC approved a design for the proposed building that incorporates a straight 185 feet front wall with no front setback; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends approval of the application for special permit for 200 spaces public parking garage and a waiver for front wall set back, rear yard setback and rear yard for developments in historic districts relating to construction of a residential building at 7-13 West 21st Street in the Ladies' Mile Historic District.

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