LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION TO VOTE ON 95 POTENTIAL LANDMARKS

In a public hearing, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission will vote on whether ninety-five properties deserve landmark status on Tuesday, the New York Times_ reports.

The properties, which span the five boroughs, have been backlogged on the commission’s calendar—some have been waiting to be evaluated for decades. Once placed on the list, the properties were temporarily safe from developers. The matter of designating these properties became urgent when the commission’s chairwoman Meenakshi Srinivasan, appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, announced at the end of 2014 that the list was to be erased.

The statement created turmoil amongst preservationists as well as within the commission, whose staff spent hours researching the pending cases. Some of the properties on the list include the I.R.T. Powerhouse on the Manhattan’s West Side, the Pepsi-Cola sign in Long Island City, and the Bergdorf Goodman store on Fifth Avenue. The commission will access property-owners rights, preservationists’ concerns, and the cultural value of each site to determine which properties deserve the title of landmark.

Going forward, the commission will consider a new proposal to limit the time a property can remain on the list.