Amity Street Development Turned Back By LPC
From The Brooklyn Paper
City rejects historic housing plan
By Mike McLaughlin
The Brooklyn Paper
The city Landmarks Preservation Commission shot down a controversial plan to build a row of new, gated-off townhouses in the Cobble Hill Historic District.
The commission disapproved of almost all elements of the plan that called for converting the historic Lamm Institute at the corner of Amity and Henry streets into eight apartments and for the construction of six, single-family townhouses in a controversial “mews-style” gated compound that would not only obstruct neighbors’ views, but would also be inconsistent with existing architecture in the historic district.
“The gates were not a feature seen in the district or anywhere in the city of New York for that matter,” said Lisi De Bourbon, a Landmarks spokeswoman, and “the mews concept was out of context with the district.”
The developers designed their project as a modern mews — in this case, a private lane and courtyard — accessible from Henry Street. Five of the townhouses would have formed a row with their entrances on a private, gated lane.
Historically, a mews was a small side street for stables.
Now it’s back to the drawing board for Lucky Boy Development and Time Equities, the developers of the project.
What this article doesn’t say is that LPC declined to ACT on this application, instead sending it back to the drawing board rather than rejecting it outright. What this means is that the application is still officially open. It would be procedurally more correct have rejected it – closing the door on the whole concept – and inviting the developers to re-apply with a completely different project.