By Stephen Stirling
While pouring through the City Charter recently in an effort to find a way to ward off a rezoning of the area around Harlem's 125th Street, first year CUNY law school students Giselle Schuetz and Kathleen Meyers, along with two others at Vote People, a legal services group, came across a 110-year-old clause that has given hope to those opposed to the Manhattan rezoning.The clause, outlined in Section 200 of the City Charter, states that if a petition is signed by more than 20 percent of the landowners in and directly adjacent to a proposed rezoning area approved by the City Planning Commission, the City Council would need a 75 percent majority to approve the measure rather than a simple majority.”It was basically just good hard normal legal research,” Schuetz said. “We were kind of confused about it at first, but we took it to Erica [Razook, Vote People's general counsel] and she said no, this looks like something that we should look into.”The discovery has breathed life into the opposition to the rezoning proposal for 125th Street and adjacent blocks, which seeks to turn the historic Harlem thoroughfare into a bustling business center with office towers and 2,000 market-price condominiums.Meyers and Scheutz, who are both Harlem residents, called the find “exciting.””It's the kind of thing that was just buried in there, but it certainly says what it says. A lot of people are working really hard on this right now,” Meyers said.She later added: “We have a stake in this and its very important to us personally.”Schuetz's and Meyers's discovery has also piqued the interest of business owners at Willets Point, who are currently fighting the city's plan to remake the 60-acre swath of land into a sprawling mixed-use development with more than 1 million square feet of office and retail space and 5,500 housing units.When word of the century-old clause reached members of the Willets Point Industry and Real Estate Association, a group of 11 property owners united against the city's plan and lawyers for the group immediately began pouring over the language of the City Charter.”Everybody's looking at it,” said Rick Wynn, general counsel for Tully Construction Co., one of the largest businesses in Willets Point. “It's certainly interesting from our point of view – let's put it that way.”Wynn said it may be a week before the Willets Point group can fully grasp what the implications of the clause may be for their cause. If it can be used, however, it would not come into play until the City Planning Commission approves the plan for the area, something the city hopes to have done within the next year.Gerald Antonacci, owner of waste management company Crown Containers on 34th Avenue, said any little bit helps.”I have confidence in this City Council anyway to do the right thing. But anything that makes it harder on the city to accomplish what they're trying to accomplish is good,” Antonacci said.Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at Sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
