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Committee approves expansion of West 117th Street Design Review District to include Detroit Avenue
Summary
The Development, Planning, and Sustainability committee approved ordinance 1521-2025 on March 24 to add Detroit Avenue (between West 107th and West 116th Street) to the West 117th Street Design Review District while removing select residential parcels to ease routine homeowner permitting, officials said.
The Development, Planning, and Sustainability committee on March 24 approved ordinance 1521-2025 to expand the West 117th Street Design Review District to include additional parcels along Detroit Avenue between West 107th and West 116th Street while removing certain residential parcels south of Thornton Road and north of Lorraine Avenue.
Xavier Bay, a zoning planner with city planning, said the map change (map change 2683) is intended to "save a lot of this urban fabric that you see along the transit corridor" by giving city planning more oversight when major demolitions or exterior changes are proposed. He said the removals of residential parcels are meant to reduce permitting burdens for homeowners who seek routine repairs.
The ordinance’s proponents said design review districts allow staff and local review committees to evaluate demolition or redevelopment proposals so that larger projects do not proceed without an accompanying redevelopment plan. Bay told the committee the presentation included 52 examples of exterior permits to illustrate the administrative burden residents face under the current district boundaries.
Committee members asked for clarification about whether demolitions would be easily permitted and how the design review committee and the landmark commission would be involved. Bay said demolitions remain permissible but that projects proposing demolition would be subject to an extra review step intended to ensure proposals align with surrounding context.
The committee recorded that ordinance 1521-2025 "stands approved," and members were asked to sign in.
The ordinance changes the composition of the West 117th Street Design Review District by adding frontage along Detroit Avenue and removing designated residential parcels to streamline minor exterior repairs for single- and two-family homes. The committee did not discuss specific enforcement changes or a vote tally during the meeting; the action was recorded as approved.
