Newsday from New York, New York • 153

good way to accommodate those needs: tall buildings may cast narrower shadows than short, wider buildings, and besides, they argue, pedestrians can't tell the difference between a building of 30 or 50 stories and one of 50 or 70. Ian Bruce Eichner, whose 72-story Cityspire next to City Center on West 56th Street will be the citys tallest residential tower, said a study "proved" that the shadows from the top of the building would not have an impact on the street below. Hie zoning code, enacted in 1961 and amended many times since, generally does not put any limits on height. What city zoning does is limit the amount of square footage that can be built on a particular lot. Sometimes there are design guidelines affecting how much sunlight hits the street, or making new buildings compatible with old ones.

In high-rise areas, a developer with a big lot and a slender building can go as high as the sky. But now, even some architects who say tall is good are disturbed by the pressure to develop every site that doesnt already have a high rise on it. One who is dismayed is John Burgee, who with fellow architect Philip Johnson, produced designs for some of the countrys most dominating new towers, such as the A.T.&T. building on Lexington Avenue and those planned for the 42nd Street Redevelopment Project at Times Square. Although bigness is not necessarily bad, he said, damage is done when every site is developed to its maximum potential.

"I dont think that when the zoning law was written, they thought St. Barts would want to build a high rise on top, he said, referring to the landmark churchs fight to tear down its community house to make way for an office tower. "They thought community facilities would relieve the density. When three designs for a new tower were turned down by the landmarks commission, the church filed a federal court suit charging a violation of its constitutional rights to separation of church and state. Burgee added, "When the value of land gets so incredible and the pressure gets so high you have to build a tower on St.

Barts it gets ridiculous and there should be something in the zoning code to control that. He suggested something like a cumulative limit on density within a zoning district, or neighborhood, perhaps on a first come-first served basis. Development lawyer Samuel Lindenbaum dismisses the notion that huge blocks of the city could be developed out to the maximum bulk allowed under the zoning code. "It will never happen. It cant happen.

Not every parcel is for sale, or available for possession by a developer, or suitable for high-rise building. Meanwhile, he said, building has become more complicated as the environmental review process and local community boards have gotten more sophisticated. The attitude toward development, he said, is swinging away from the open-arms approach of the 1970s, during the New York City fiscal crisis, when any new building was like a blip of a patients heart monitor. On the other hand, Lindenbaum said, he is usually able to work out agreements for his clients to get extra square footage built, in exchange for providing the city with an amenity such as a subway improvement or a plaza. The city defends such concessions as bringing benefits that far outweigh the effects of greater density.

Its a way to implement public improvements that might otherwise be impossible either because theyre on private property, or because theres a limit to what government can require private developers to do without compensation, said Con Howe, director of the city planning departments Manhattan office. A money-hungry transit system gets improved subway stations to help accommodate the increased numbers of people in the neighborhood, and in successful plazas, small oases of trees and benches offer haven to lunching office workers. "These are public improvements which directly deal with the effects of density and improve the functioning and quality of life of a city, Howe said. But former city planning commissioner Martin Gallent, a critic of the practice, says the impact of floor-area bonuses and other concessions handed out building-by-building eventually takes a toll. "Theres a build-up factor like taking low doses of poison, he said.

"There comes a time when you dont feel well. In 1982, the city amended its zoning code to dampen development on the overbuilt East Side and steer it to the West Side. Now, some question whether the results of the new zoning will merely reproduce some of the East Side problems on West Side blocks. "I think its perfectly fair to say that in attempting to bring development to the West Side weve run the risk of creating the same kind of overbuilding we were reacting to on the East Side, said architect Hugh Hardy. In feet, until 1988 when development incentives allowing extra floor space enacted by the city expire developers can put up some of the biggest buildings in the city.

Even afterward, the buildings can be bigger than usual because of the large zoning lots along such streets as Broadway and Seventh Avenue. The city does tinker with the zoning code to control development, often in response to community pressure. Zoning regulations now keep sidestreet development on the Upper East and West Sides relatively low scale. And the city is much less likely to give midtown developers waivers that result in less sunlight on sidewalks. In recent years, the city has enacted new zoning rules that require new trees around development in many areas, glass street frontage and retail uses along many avenues, including Fifth, Lexington and Madison avenues, and improvements to pedestrian circulation, such as comer plazas, arcades and enlarged building entrances, said Howe.

"All of those are required without any bonuses, extra floor space or otherwise, Howe said. Howe said the city is constantly reviewing its zoning code. "We find that in many residential neighborhoods people are concerned about height, he said. "In midtown, people are concerned about density at street level. What it says is that in a complex city like New York, regulations have to be different for different areas.

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