New York City Council recently approved rezoning in several neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx in an effort to protect the areas against overdevelopment.

The plan rezones 99 blocks in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill in Brooklyn, 159 blocks in Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton – also in Brooklyn – and 64 full and 70 partial blocks in the Bronx neighborhoods of Wakefield and Eastchester, to preserve the architectural integrity of the neighborhoods.

The rezoning, which passed by a 48-0 vote, will, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, “advance planning goals” he outlined in his sweeping PlaNYC 2030 initiative that includes goals for a more sustainable New York City over the next two decades.

“The three city rezoning proposals will help us to make progress towards fulfilling PlaNYC’s key sustainable planning goals,” Bloomberg said in July.

Bloomberg estimated that the rezonings will jump start growth to the tune of nearly 900 new units of housing and increasing retail activity in the areas.

“At the same time,” he said, “[the rezoning plans] protect the scale and character of these lower density neighborhoods.”

There are currently five more rezonings under public review that, according to Bloomberg, “embrace PlaNYC’s initiatives.” The plans would preserve the character of neighborhoods in St. Albans, Hollis, Forest Hills and the Upper West Side of Manhattan, while spearheading the construction of nearly 5,000 units of housing in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn and Jamaica, Queens.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is vowing to crack down on any full-time construction employees misclassifying themselves as independent contractors.

Corzine recently signed a bill that will fine contractors who “knowingly classify” their full-time workesr as independent contractors to avoid state and federal taxes. According to the language of the law, the state will assume all construction workers are full-time employees until proven otherwise. Violators can be fined up to $75,000 and any guilty contractors could also become ineligible for public contracts.

“Taxpayer money will not go to unscrupulous contractors who put their bottom line ahead of protecting their employees,” said New Jersey Assemblyman Van Drew, D-Cape May/Atlantic/Cumberland, one of the bill’s sponsors. “Employers who purposely misclassify employees for a quick tax write-off cheat workers out of benefits and legal protections. Now such actions won’t just seem criminal, they will be criminal.”

Meanwhile, the governor also signed a bill prohibiting the sale, use, or burning of creosote and products treated with the wood-preservative which, through exposure, can lead to long-term health risks.

Creosote, a restricted-use pesticide is most commonly used to repel insects and prevent rot and water damage of wood and wood structures. It is recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a carcinogen.

“Construction workers should not have to put their health in jeopardy to earn a living,” Corzine said after signing the bill.

Leaking creosote from industrial and hazardous waste sites have led to contaminiation of soil and groundwater in parts of New Jersey.

Only railways, which use creosote to treat rail ties, and utilities, which use treated poles for power lines are exempt from the provisions laid out in the bill.

The United Nations announced the selection of Skanska USA Building of Parsippany, N.J., as construction manager for preconstruction on its $1.9 billion renovation of the UN Headquarters in Manhattan.

The renovation program will rehabilitate various structures on the 17-acre campus, including the 39-story Secretariat Building that opened in 1950 and the General Assembly Building that followed about a year later. The 2.6-million-sq-ft campus has had no major rehabilitation since its structures opened.

While the $7 million award is only for preconstruction, Alicia Barcena, the UN’s under-secretary-general for management, said at Friday’s briefing that the intention is for Skanska to continue as CM for the larger project.

“The potential amount of value [for the contract] will be of $1 billion,” she adds.

The project entails major rehabilitation for building systems and utilities; structural upgrades for greater security; code compliance for the complex; and a slate of environmentally sound design improvements to give the complex the equivalent of a LEED Silver rating. It also entails the construction of a 100,000-sq-ft temporary General Assembly structure on the North Lawn.

The UN approved its $1.9 billion Capital Master Plan in December, and has already hired a design team that includes Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Albany, N.Y.; Helpern Architects, New York; HLW, New York; R.A. Heintges & Associates, New York; and Syska & Hennessy Group, New York.

The project is slated to break ground in early 2008. Skanska expects to perform the project on a phased basis through 2014. Skanska;willnegotiate, and submit to the UN for approval, separate guaranteed maximum price contractsfor each phase of the project. The UN would not disclose the identity of the two competitors that Skanska beat out for the assignment.