• WHEREAS a portion of the East Midtown ReZoning district extends to the East Side of Third Avenue to a depth of 160 to 200 feet;
• WHEREAS this portion reaches from East 47th to East 52nd street, the area generally knows as residential Turtle Bay;
• WHEREAS the current zoning for this part of Third Avenue is FAR 15 with a building height of 400 feet;
• WHEREAS under the East Midtown ReZoning the FAR would rise to 18, and in some cases, FAR 21.5 or FAR 23.0, and the permitted building height to 800 to 1200 feet;
• WHEREAS existing commercial in this area is class B;
• WHEREAS the new zoning would overwhelm the low-rise century old houses of Turtle Bay with out-of-scale towers, shadows, noise and traffic, adversely affecting Greenacre Park (east 51st Street) and the landmark Turtle Bay Gardens (East 48th & 49th Streets);
NOW, THEREFORE, the TURTLE BAY ASSOCIATION (TBA) urges the following conditions regarding the ReZoning:
1. The zoning of the commercial area (47th-52nd streets) on the East Side of Third Avenue shall be limited to FAR 15.0.
2. No building shall rise above the existing building heights.
3. No floor areas shall be moved from existing or future buildings constructed elsewhere.(this includes landmark transfers allowed by the ReZoning).
4. The prevailing mid-block R8B zoning shall be left intact.

Bruce Silberblatt
Zoning and Land Use Chair
TURTLE BAY ASSOCIATION
JUNE 23, 2017