§ 81-681 Mandatory requirements for qualifying sites
ZR § 81-681
(a)Building energy design requirements for buildings on qualifying sitesTo ensure advancement of goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, buildings on qualifying sites shall either:
(1)utilize a district steam system for the building’s heating and hot water systems; or
(2)the core and shell of such building shall exceed the standards of the chosen commercial building energy-efficiency compliance path within the 2016 New York City Energy Conservation Code (NYCECC), by three percent.
Compliance with the provisions of this Section shall be demonstrated to the Department of Buildings at the time of issuance of a new building permit for a development or, where permitted, an enlargement on a qualifying site.
The City Planning Commission may, by rule, modify the standards of this Section, as necessary, to ensure that the environmental standards established herein, meet or exceed the current best practices in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
(b)Mandatory publicly accessible space requirements for qualifying sitesA qualifying site shall provide a publicly accessible space, open or enclosed, as defined herein, in accordance with the size provisions of paragraph (b)(1) of this Section and the design requirements of paragraph (b)(2). Each publicly accessible space shall require a certification by the Chairperson of the City Planning Commission, pursuant to Section 37-78 (Compliance), as modified herein.For the purposes of this Chapter on a qualifying site, a “publicly accessible space” shall be defined as an open or enclosed area provided for public use and enjoyment on the zoning lot. An “open publicly accessible space” shall be defined as a publicly accessible space, that is open to the sky on a qualifying site, and an “enclosed publicly accessible space” shall be defined as a fully enclosed, climate-controlled publicly accessible space on a qualifying site. The design standards contained in paragraph (b)(2)(ii) of this Section for an enclosed publicly accessible space are intended to serve the same purposes outlined for public plazas in Section 37-70.
(i)A qualifying site with a lot area of at least 30,000 square feet but less than 45,000 square feet shall provide a publicly accessible space, open or enclosed, with an area of not less than 10 percent of the lot area of the zoning lot.
(ii)A qualifying site with a lot area of 45,000 square feet but less than 65,000 square feet shall provide an open publicly accessible space with an area of not less than 10 percent of the lot area of the zoning lot, except that where the provisions of Sections 81-40 (MANDATORY DISTRICT PLAN ELEMENTS), inclusive, and 81-67 (Special Mandatory District Plan Element Requirements), inclusive, are applicable to the qualifying site and preclude an open publicly accessible space from being provided on the qualifying site, an enclosed publicly accessible space shall be provided in the proposed building.In addition to complying with paragraphs (a) through (d) of Section 37-78, each application for an enclosed publicly accessible space shall demonstrate which of the applicable provisions of Sections 81-40 and 81-67, inclusive, conflict with the design requirements set forth in 37-70, inclusive, and that they necessitate the provision of the enclosed publicly accessible space in lieu of an open publicly accessible space.
(iii)A qualifying site with a lot area of 65,000 square feet or greater shall provide an open publicly accessible space with an area of not less than 10,000 square feet. Where such qualifying site has a through lot portion, such qualifying site shall provide an open publicly accessible space across the through lot portion.However, for a qualifying site with a lot area of 80,000 square feet or greater that includes an existing entrance to a rail mass-transit facility located outside the through lot portion of the zoning lot existing on May 8, 2019, such open publicly accessible space may be located so as to include the entrance to a rail mass-transit facility, provided that such open publicly accessible space adjoins a street or a required sidewalk widening, as applicable.
For open publicly accessible space, the provisions of Section 37-70, inclusive, shall apply, except that the provisions of Section 37-713 (Locational restrictions) shall not apply. In addition, the following modifications or waivers may be applied under certain circumstances:
(3)the provisions of paragraphs (a) and (c) of Section 37-76 (Mandatory Allocation of Frontages for Permitted Uses) need not apply, where at least one food service kiosk shall abut or be included within such open publicly accessible space. The size limitations of paragraph (a), and the certification requirements of paragraph (c) of Section 37-73 shall not apply to such kiosk; and
(4)where the provisions of paragraph (d) of Section 37-715 are not applied, the provisions of paragraph (a) of Section 37-721 (Sidewalk frontage) may be modified to require no more than 40 percent of the area within 15 feet of any such street line to be free of obstructions and the provisions of Section 37-741 (Seating), may be modified to exclude the length of any such street line from the calculation of the amount of seating required within 15 feet of such street line.
(c)Public access to the enclosed publicly accessible space shall be provided, at a minimum, from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. However, if a cafe or kiosk, pursuant to Section 37-73 (Kiosks and Open Air Cafes), is provided within, such enclosed publicly accessible space shall remain open to the public during the hours of operation of the cafe or kiosk, if such hours are longer than otherwise required by this Section.The hours of access shall be included on all required entry plaques and information plaques in accordance with the provisions of Section 37-751 (Public space signage systems) and for through block enclosed publicly accessible spaces, an information plaque shall be provided in accordance with paragraph (h)(2)(viii) of Section 37-53 (Design standards for Pedestrian Circulation Spaces).
(d)The provisions of Sections 37-718 (Paving), 37-722 (Level of plaza), 37-728 (Standards of accessibility for persons with disabilities), 37-744 (Litter receptacles), 37-745 (Bicycle parking), 37-746 (Drinking fountains), 37-748 (Additional amenities), 37-752 (Prohibition signs), 37-753 (Accessory signs) and 37-77 (Maintenance) shall apply to enclosed publicly accessible spaces.
(e)The provisions of Section 37-723 (Circulation paths) shall apply to enclosed publicly accessible spaces. In addition, for enclosed publicly accessible spaces provided in conjunction with subway entrances and/or designed to provide connection to above- and/or below-grade improvements, an unobstructed pedestrian circulation path shall be provided from at least one entrance of the enclosed publicly accessible space to such subway entrance and to such above- and/or below-grade improvements.
(f)The provisions of paragraphs (a) and (b) of Section 37-726 (Permitted obstructions) shall apply to enclosed publicly accessible spaces and are modified as follows:
(g)The provisions of Section 37-741 for seating shall apply to enclosed publicly accessible spaces, except that such provisions are modified as follows:
(h)The requirements of Section 37-742 for planting and trees shall apply to enclosed publicly accessible spaces, except that the surface area of any vertical planting may be included in the calculation of the total area of planting beds that are provided, and trees shall not be required.
(j)At least 50 percent of the total frontage of all building walls fronting on an enclosed publicly accessible space, excluding such frontage occupied by street walls, building lobbies or building walls abutting lot lines, shall be limited to retail, personal service or amusement uses permitted by the underlying zoning district regulations, but not including uses in Use Groups 6B, 6E, 7C, 7D, 8C, 8D, 9B, 10B, 11 and 12D or banks, automobile showrooms or plumbing, heating or ventilating equipment showrooms. For such building walls, the transparency provisions of paragraph (c) of Section 37-76 shall apply.
(k)The area of the enclosed publicly accessible space shall be exempt from calculations for floor area as defined in Section 12-10 (DEFINITIONS).
In addition, a maximum of 30 percent of the area of the publicly accessible space, whether open or enclosed, may be counted towards meeting the pedestrian circulation space requirement, up to a maximum of 3,000 square feet.
