By Amy Zimmer
DNAinfo News Editor
UPPER EAST SIDE — Shake Shack moved to the Upper East Side in August and breathed new life into the long-abandoned public plaza on East 86th Street. But neither Danny Meyer’s famous burger joint, nor its landlord, realized a zoning law required the plaza to be kept open 24 hours a day.
The 440-unit 1960s-era Park Lane Tower at 154 E. 86th St. where Shake Shack is located included a public plaza so it could build higher — and with that variance came rules requiring the plaza remain open to the public at all hours. Residents and the restaurant, though, want the city to allow for the plaza to be closed at night.
“My concerns are ones of noise, safety, and cleanliness,” John Londoner, a tenant in the building, said at a Community Board 8 committee meeting Tuesday night. “The alley way is a dark and cavernous place lending itself to be a haven of crime, drug use, drug dealing and other unlawful behavior.”
He also worried it might become a “public toilet.”
Though Shake Shack opened in August, it didn't start keeping the plaza open 24 hours until October, when they learned of the rule.
Longtime Upper East Siders remember what it was like 25 years ago.
“There were beggars and peddlers,” recalled Elaine Walsh, Community Board 8 member and president of the East 86th Street Association, which notified the Shake Shack about potential problems when it started to keep the plaza open all night in October.
Shake Shack, which sets up tables in part of the plaza, has no qualms about closing it from 11 p.m. until 7 a.m., said Jay Segal, a land-use attorney for the building. But it needs approval from the Department of City Planning.
“City Planning thinks at some point the plaza is best closed,” Segal told the community board. “I’m 95 percent sure it will be closed. It’s just a question of timing.”
The law, he said, mandates the plaza must be open for a year or have “a demonstrated safety concern” before it can be closed at night.
Walsh said a police inspector from the 19th Precinct had stated at a Nov. 8 public meeting that the NYPD also wanted the plaza closed at night for safety reasons.
City Planning has not yet received an application to close the plaza at night.
The zoning rules state that an existing open area may be closed at night if the City Planning Commission finds, for example, the plaza has “been open to the public a minimum of one year or there are significant operational or safety issues documented.”
