By Madina Toure
City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing), chairman of the Council’s Landmarks Subcommittee, introduced a bill last week that would reduce the amount of time it takes for the Landmarks Preservation Commission to review potential landmarks.
The bill mandates a time line for the designation of landmarks, interior landmarks, scenic landmarks and historic districts.
Koo said he is trying to kick-start a conversation about landmarks reform.
“Landmarking in New York City is an arduous process that has kept many properties in a state of perpetual limbo, unable to reap the benefits of an actual landmark designation,” he said. “Since the creation of the landmarks law 50 years ago, many potential landmarks have languished on the LPC calendar for as long as 49 years with no end in sight.”
The bill requires the LPC to hold a public hearing within 180 days of calendaring possible individual, interior and scenic landmarks for consideration and take final action within 180 days of the public hearing.
For potential historic districts, the LPC would have to hold a public hearing within a year of calendaring the landmark for consideration and take final action within a year of the hearing.
For items currently on the calendar, the commission would have to decide whether to designate such items within 18 months after the bill becomes law.
In all cases, if the commission disapproves or does not designate any item, the property would be prohibited from reconsideration of landmark status for five years.
Before a building or neighborhood can receive landmark status, the LPC requires items under consideration to be calendared, according to Koo.
But there are no limitations on how long the LPC has to consider calendared items, forcing some potential landmarks into a limbo status, he explained.
The Bowne Street Community Church at 143-11 Roosevelt Ave. in Flushing, which is in Koo’s district, is among properties currently under consideration for landmark status, according to a spokesman for Koo’s office.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
