In order to preserve the residential character of the Special District, the applicable use regulations of the underlying districts are modified, as follows:

(a)        Within the Limited Commercial Areas, commercial uses listed in Section 32-15 (Use Group 6) are permitted, provided they are located only on the ground floor of an existing or new building containing residential or community facility uses. All existing or new commercial uses shall be directly accessible only from the street. Any existing commercial use which fails to provide direct access from a street shall be terminated one year after September 28, 1989.

(b)        On a cross-street within the Commercial Extension Areas, commercial uses listed in Section 32-15 are permitted to occupy the ground floor of an existing or new building containing residential or community facility uses. Such ground floor commercial uses may be permitted to extend up to the Grand Concourse on the basement level of a building, provided that such commercial uses are accessible only from a cross-street which intersects the Grand Concourse. No direct or indirect access to such commercial uses is permitted from the Grand Concourse.

(c)        Any commercial use which lawfully existed on or before July 1, 1981, on any Commercial Infill Site listed in Table A, shall be considered conforming and may be changed to a Use Group 6 use or to a use which previously occupied the space lawfully on or before July 1, 1981, except that expansion or re-occupancy of floor area to a retail use in Use Group 6A or 6C is restricted to the ground floor of the building.

However, if a building on a Commercial Infill Site contains an entrance from the Grand Concourse as well as from the cross-street running underneath the Concourse, such entrance floors at both street levels may be occupied by retail uses listed in Use Group 6 if they were in existence prior to July 1, 1981, as a lawful use. In those cases, the use of the remaining stories of such building shall be limited to business, professional or governmental offices or to ambulatory diagnostic or treatment health care facilities as set forth in Use Group 4A or Use Group 6B, regardless of the locational restrictions in Use Group 4.

TABLE A

COMMERCIAL INFILL SITES

(d)        For the purposes of this Chapter, any non-residential uses permitted pursuant to paragraphs (a) through (c) of this Section shall be located only on a story below the lowest story occupied by a residential use, except that this limitation shall not preclude the location of any such non-residential use below the level of the first story ceiling.