Zoning action delayed.

No Unified Bulk decision until 2001

The City's Planning Commission has postponed taking action on the proposed Unified Bulk Program, saying it plans to hold another public hearing early next year, said commission chairman Joseph Rose.

Under the City Charter, the commission had faced a Nov. 6 deadline for voting on the proposed zoning reforms, but the commission has made revisions to the proposal and wants to hold another public hearing. A date has not yet been set but it will probably be held sometime in January, Rose said.

"We've made some adjustments to the application and want to review them all at once," Rose said.

The City Council must also approve the proposed changes, which are the most the extensive ones proposed since 1961 when the rules were completely rewritten. Revisions were drafted based on comments the commission received during two previous public hearings on the subject.

The overriding goal of the reforms is to specify what is permitted in each zoning district while allowing enough flexibility for architectural innovation. The changes are meant to eliminate buildings drastically out of scale with others in the same neighborhood, the most recent and frequently cited example of which is the 856-foot-high Trump World Tower at First Avenue and 47th Street, near the United Nations.

For the first time in New York City's history, the reforms would introduce a coherent system for determining height limits. The rules are intended to be neutral with respect to "floor-area ratio," meaning developers would be permitted to build as much floor area as they could under the old rules.

The Real Estate Board of New York has fought the proposal, saying it would stifle development in the same neighborhoods that are supposed to benefit from it.

"We're hoping the changes go away all together," said REBNY president Steven Spinola.