New legislation is being drafted by the City Council that may change how buildings are landmarked in New York City. With the aim of bringing more transparency to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the legislation will largely aim to reform the commission's calendaring process, which has come under fire for allegedly being used to freeze proposed development.
According to Crain's, the legislation proposed by noted pro-preservation Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and councilmen Brad Lander, Stephen Levin and Daniel Garodnick, will aim to achieve quite a few things, but here are the biggies: it'll aim to establish a five-year table of consideration for calendared items, update public submission guidelines to require more reason for building or district designation, publish style guides for each historic district so people living and working within the area know how to cater to its character, and establish a mutual agreement that the commission will get a heads up from the DoB when they get an application to alter or raze a calendared property. Still, pro-development forces are critical of the legislation, "On first blush, the goals of the legislation are praiseworthy," the president of the New York Building Congress told Crain's, "But the devil is in the details. And the question it raises in my mind is what's missing."
· 'Devil in the details' on landmarking proposal [Crain's]
· All Landmarks Preservation Commission coverage [Curbed]
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