Sutton Place Rezoning Plan Certified For Public Review

SUTTON PLACE, NY — A plan to rezone Sutton Place — a small residential neighborhood sandwiched between the Upper East Side and Midtown East — to prevent the development of "supertall" towers was certified for public review Monday by the Department of City Planning.

The formal public review process for the rezoning plan is similar to the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), city planning staffers told Patch in April. The plan will be reviewed by the Community Board and by Borough President Gale Brewer, who will offer advisory votes to the City Council and City Planning Commission, staffers told Patch.

The East River 50s Alliance, a group of private citizens who submitted the rezoning plan, celebrated the certification Monday.

"We are delighted that our proposal, which we have been working on with the Department of City Planning for more than 18 months, has cleared this hurdle," Alan Kersh, the president of ERFA, said in a statement. "We are now prepared to enter a formal public review."

The ERFA plan would cap new developments — within the confines of East 52nd to 59th streets East of First Avenue — at 260 feet and would require developers to set aside 20 percent of their building's residential units at below market rate prices in exchange for bonus Floor Area Ratio (the amount legally allowed square footage in relation to the size of the building lot), according to a press release.

The ERFA submitted their proposal to the Department of City Planning over fears that Sutton Place's relaxed and outdated zoning regulations would make the area a ripe target for extremely tall "Megatowers." Sutton Place's zoning regulations were put in place in the 1960s and have not been updated since, Lisa Mercurio of the East River 50s Alliance told Patch. The current R10 zoning scheme does not put any limits on building height, which was common practice at the time because residential developers were not interested in building very high, Mercurio said.

But times have changed. Sutton Place's affluence and lax zoning regulations have made it a development target in recent years.

The threat became real for neighborhood residents when developer Joseph Beninati's Bauhouse Group scooped up a three-building site on East 58th Street, between First Avenue and Sutton Place, and planned to build a 950-foot residential tower, more than double the height of the tallest existing building int he neighborhood.

The development site is now owned by Gamma Real Estate, which recently gained permission from the Department of Buildings to begin preliminary construction on a proposed 700 foot residential tower.

The building's developers have fought the ERFA zoning proposal, calling it a "self-interested" attempt by residents to protect their apartment views.

"ERFA’s application is nothing more than a gimmick to protect the special interests of a group of Sutton Place residents, many of whom reside at The Sovereign, a 485-foot tall luxury residential building directly adjacent to our project," Jonathan Kalikow, president of Gamma Real Estate, said in a statement. "Look no further than ERFA’s proposed height limit of 260 feet, which has no precedent in existing zoning regulations and would conflict with many existing buildings within the proposed zoned area – including the Sovereign."

Gamma has also argued that the ERFA proposal would drive development of both market-rate and affordable housing out of Sutton Place, an argument that may be shared by some in city government.

In April, city planning staffers shared concerns with Patch regarding the ERFA plan's potential to pass the public review process because it may harm the neighborhood's potential for affordable housing. In the context of Mayor Bill de Blasio's affordable housing agenda, which holds the idea that all newly-created housing is good for the affordable housing crisis, the Sutton Place rezoning plan places onerous requirements on developers which may prevent the creation of affordable housing units, a spokesman for the Department of City Planning Said.

But while City Hall may have its reservations about rezoning Sutton Place, local elected officials have voiced strong support for the ERFA. Four officials — City Councilmen Daniel Garodnick and Ben Kallos, State Senator Liz Kreuger and Borough President Gale Brewer — co-signed the rezoning application.

"My first priority as Borough President has been giving communities a real seat at the table in zoning and neighborhood development, which is why I’ve supported this plan," Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer said in a statement.

The plan's first stop in the public review process will be Community Board 6. The board's land use & waterfront committee is scheduled to discuss the plan on Wednesday.

Photo courtesy of the East River 50s Alliance