A tug of war between making the ground floors of northern Tribeca buildings commercial or residential was up for discussion at the Community Board 1 Tribeca Committee meeting Thursday evening. Proponents of both sides urged their point of views, while some were content to go with a more laissez-faire attitude.
“I think we should have the marketplace decide… with a smattering of both residential and commercial,” said board member George Olsen.
The board has been working on a zoning change application in north Tribeca, covering a larger section of the neighborhood than the four-block application made by the Jack Parker Corporation.
However, not everyone was on board with this line of thinking. Disagreeing with letting the marketplace take over, board member Marc Ameruso suggested stricter guidelines for the size of commercial venues. He thinks there should be both a minimum and maximum amount of space allotted to the store facility, commenting that Chambers St. “looks like a bazaar.”
Although the board did not reach a resolution on the issue, Carole De Saram, a board member who is also president of the Tribeca Community Association, suggested that all the members scout out different subsections of Tribeca, and give their opinions as to whether that section should be more residential or commercial at their next monthly meeting.
—Janet Kwon
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