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Land Use Committee Approves Herkimer‑Williams Redevelopment, Francis Lewis Overlay; files withdrawn sidewalk‑cafe application
Summary
The New York City Council Land Use Committee approved LU 434–438 (a multi‑block redevelopment in East New York) with modifications to MIH, and approved LU 439 (a C1‑2 commercial overlay for 18‑15 Francis Lewis Blvd). The committee also filed the withdrawn LU 447 sidewalk‑cafe application; the measures passed 10‑0.
The New York City Council Land Use Committee on Dec. 9 approved a package of land‑use actions to enable a multi‑block redevelopment in East New York and separately approved a commercial overlay for 18‑15 Francis Lewis Boulevard in Queens, while filing a withdrawn sidewalk‑cafe application.
Chair Salamanca told the committee it would vote to approve LUs 434–438 — described as the Herkimer‑Williams redevelopment proposal for property in Council Member Nurse’s Brooklyn/East New York district — and to approve LU 439 for a commercial overlay in Council Member Paladino’s Queens district. The chair said the LU 447 sidewalk cafe revocable consent application had been withdrawn by the applicant in writing to DOT on 2025‑12‑05 and confirmed to counsel on 2025‑12‑09, and moved to file LU 447 under counsel rule 11.6.0b.
The Herkimer‑Williams package includes a zoning map amendment, a zoning text amendment, a site selection/acquisition component, and two special permits including authorization for a large‑scale general development. Chair Salamanca said the combined actions would facilitate redevelopment of four blocks totaling over 1,000,000 square feet of floor area with nearly 1,000 residential units, commercial uses, light industrial uses and publicly accessible open space. The committee adopted a modification to strike Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) option 2 and add MIH option 3 for the project.
On LU 439, the committee approved establishment of a C1‑2 commercial overlay in an existing R3‑2 zoning district for property at 18‑15 Francis Lewis Boulevard.
William Martin, the committee clerk, called the roll on the coupled items and announced that the committee vote was "10 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative, and no abstentions," adopting all items as described by the chair. Several members answered "aye" during roll call; the committee’s recorded tally was unanimous.
After the vote, Council Member Nurse thanked the committee for holding the vote open and said she was "excited about this project," but added that "we do still have some things to work out" and expressed hope those issues would be resolved before the 18th.
The meeting record shows the franchise resolutions Reso 1109 (public communication structure) and Reso 1157 (coordinated street furniture) were laid over and not acted on at this session. The chair adjourned the committee after closing remarks.
The approvals now move forward to the next procedural steps in the council’s land‑use review process; no final city council adoption or implementation dates were specified at the meeting.
