New Challenge Filed Against Upper West Side's Tallest Development

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A group of Upper West Side residents have filed a new zoning challenge against 200 Amsterdam Avenue, the neighborhood's tallest planned development. The Committee for Environmentally Sound Development has submitted an appeal to the city Board of Standards and Appeals to revoke building permits for SJP Properties' planned 668-foot tower on Amsterdam Avenue between West 69th and 70th Streets.

The appeal filed with the Board of Standards and Appeals is the latest attempt by the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development to sink the planned development. The controversial construction project was stalled for nearly three months summer by a city Department of Buildings audit and a public zoning challenge.

The appeal accuses developers of gerrymandering 200 Asmterdam's zoning lot to obtain out-of-scale building rights. The 200 Amsterdam lot is combined with parts of five other tax lots, which should violate a Zoning Resolution condition determining what makes an appropriate zoning lot.

"The only way for SJP Properties to justify such a clearly disproportionate supertall in a residential neighborhood is to violate both the spirit and letter of the zoning laws, specifically those defining zoning lots and open space," Olive Freud, president of the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, said in a statement.

City Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal has backed the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development's latest challenge of 200 Amsterdam Avenue, her office announced in a statement. Rosenthal had previously backed the public zoning challenge with the city Department of Buildings and strongly objected when the department lifting of a construction halt on 200 Amsterdam Ave. in September.

The Department of Buildings lifted a construction halt on 200 Amsterdam Ave. when developers provided the department necessary information to support an initial zoning approval, a DOB spokesman told Patch at the time.

Developer SJP Properties has commenced construction on 200 Amsterdam Ave. following the DOB's decision to lift the hold, a spokeswoman for the development firm told Patch.

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