NEWS and REMINDERS: Upcoming City Council and Community Board Far West Village Hearings; Report from BSA Superior Ink hearing

Subject: [Gvshp] NEWS and REMINDERS: Upcoming City Council and Community Board Far West Village Hearings; Report from BSA Superior Ink hearing
Date: 10/3/2005 5:12:07 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
From: aberman@gvshp.org
To: gvshp@lists.mayfirst.org
Sent from the Internet (Details)


NEWS and REMINDERS from the
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
www.gvshp.org



*City Council Far West Village Rezoning Hearing: Thursday, October 6
*Huge Turnout at Sept. 28 BSA Superior Ink Hearing
*Community Board Far West Village Landmark Hearing: Wednesday, October 5
*GVSHP Awarded Grant to Nominate Westbeth to
State & National Register of Historic Places


REMINDER: The City Council will hold its first hearing on the Far West Village rezoning plan on Thursday, October 6th in the Council's Zoning Subcommittee, which meets at 9:30 am at City Hall. Please note: while the Subcommittee begins at 9:30 am, the hearing on this item, and the opportunity to testify, may not come until much later.

GVSHP STRONGLY URGES YOU TO ATTEND THIS HEARING IF YOU CAN, AND TO WRITE THE COUNCIL URGING EXPEDITIOUS APPROVAL OF THE DOWNZONING WITHOUT ANY ROLLBACKS.

Go to www.gvshp.org/counlet.htm for letters to send to the City Council NOW urging they pass the rezoning plan; please send in the letters EVEN IF YOU EXPECT TO COME TO THE HEARING ON THURSDAY.

Use the same letters at www.gvshp.org/counlet.htm as the basis for testimony you can read on Thursday; even if you cannot stay until your name is called to testify, you can submit written testimony at the hearing (bring 10 copies), and you will be able to sign in in support of the rezoning.

If you haven't already, please write to City Planning Chair Amanda Burden to thank her for making this rezoning a reality, but urging her to keep working with the community to scale back the proposed developments on the Superior Ink and Whitehall Storage sites -- go to www.gvshp.org/FWVletters.htm for sample letters.

UPDATE: A huge turnout of over 100 Villagers and supporters at last Wednesday's Board of Standards and Appeals hearing on the variance application for a taller and larger tower on the Superior Ink site clearly put developer Related Companies on the defensive, and was marked by strong and skeptical questioning of Related by the Board.

In fact, the Board seemingly concurred in their questioning with almost every issue GVSHP raised in its testimony (for copy go to www.gvshp.org/BSAtest.htm).

Thank you's to Councilmember Christine Quinn, Congressman Nadler, State Senator Duane, and Assemblymember Glick for their testimony at the hearing. The Board seemed to strongly indicate that they would decrease the size and height of Related's proposed development, but no final decision would come for several months.

GVSHP URGES YOU TO KEEP ENCOURAGING THE BOARD TO REDUCE THE SIZE AND HEIGHT OF RELATED'S PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT.

Go to www.gvshp.org/SupInkBSAlet.htm for a sample letter you can send to the BSA NOW urging that they scale back Related's proposed development.

REMINDER:
Community Board #2's Landmarks Committee will be holding a hearing on the City's Far West Village landmarking plan this Wednesday, October 5th, at 7:30 pm at 75 Morton Street.

GVSHP recommends that you attend this hearing and urge the Community Board to do the following:
Thank the Landmarks Preservation Commission for issuing a substantial landmarking proposal for the Far West Village that will protect scores of buildings and which marks the first-ever expansion of the Greenwich Village Historic District and the first-ever expansion of historic district protections to the Far West Village.

Thank the Commission for heeding the public call for adding the very vulnerable buildings at 177 Christopher, 139 Charles, and 143 Charles/687 Washington to their proposal and for accelerating the timetable for calendaring of the proposed historic districts.

Urge the Commission to further expand their proposal to AT LEAST include other currently endangered buildings like the Superior Inks factory and the 1856 former factory and stable at 389 West 12th Street (currently the Diane von Furstenberg studios).

Urge the Commission to move as quickly as possible to designate the proposed buildings and districts in the Far West Village, as many of them face the very real possibility of demolition.

Please also write to the LPC Chair to thank him for the recent addition of buildings to the Far West Village landmark proposal and for accelerating the timetable for consideration of the area, and to urge him to include other endangered historic buildings as well by going to www.gvshp.org/FWVletters.htm#Tierney.

NEWS:
GVSHP has been generously awarded a grant from the J.M. Kaplan Fund to produce a nomination to list the entire Westbeth complex on the State and National Register of Historic Places (for more information on building, go to www.gvshp.org/block639.htm).

Listing Westbeth on the Register would qualify certain historically appropriate repair and restoration work on this non-profit artists complex for State, Federal, and other grants afforded ONLY to listed properties. This will be especially helpful as the landmark designations in the Far West Village -- which GVSHP and many others fought for -- move ahead, as Westbeth is proposed for landmark designation.

Additionally, GVSHP's nomination and listing of the complex would highlight Westbeth and the West Village's unique history as a trailblazer in adaptive re-use of industrial buildings and as a center for the arts. Because the complex was converted to artists' housing less than 50 years ago, a listing upon this basis would require proving "exceptional significance" under State and Federal criteria, a honor bestowed to only very small number of buildings and sites. GVSHP looks forward putting forth this ground-breaking nomination.

This nomination grows out of GVSHP's successful efforts earlier this year to secure a "determination of eligibility" for listing on the State and National Register of Historic Places for most of the Far West Village currently proposed for landmark designation (incl. Westbeth). The determination of eligibility is an important first step towards listing, which helps to get these properties special grants and tax breaks offered only for historically appropriate restoration work to properties listed on the State and National Register.


The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is committed to fighting to preserve the historic buildings, scale, and character of our neighborhood.

For more information on the fight to save the Far West Village, go to www.gvshp.org/protectingFWV.htm.

To join GVSHP or support its preservation efforts, go to www.gvshp.org/membership.htm.


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