Within the Special Midtown District, for each square foot of public plaza provided on a zoning lot, the basic maximum floor area permitted on that zoning lot under the provisions of Section 81-211 (Maximum floor area ratio for non-residential or mixed buildings) may be increased by six square feet, provided that in no case shall such bonus floor area exceed a floor area ratio of 1.0.

This Section shall be applicable in all underlying districts throughout the Special Midtown District, except that there shall be no floor area bonus for a public plaza that is:

(a)        on zoning lots in the C5P District within the Preservation Subdistrict;

(b)        within 50 feet of a street line of a designated street on which retail or street wall continuity is required, pursuant to Sections 81-42 (Retail Continuity Along Designated Streets) or 81-43 (Street Wall Continuity Along Designated Streets);

(c)        on a zoning lot, any portion of which is within the Theater Subdistrict Core, as defined in Section 81-71 (General Provisions); and

(d)        on zoning lots, any portion of which is in the Grand Central Core Area, as shown on Map 2 (East Midtown Subdistrict and Subareas) in Appendix A of this Chapter, or on qualifying sites, as defined in Section 81-613, in any other subarea of the East Midtown Subdistrict.

All public plazas provided within the Special Midtown District shall comply with the requirements for public plazas set forth in Section 37-70, inclusive.

A major portion of a public plaza may overlap with a sidewalk widening which may be provided to fulfill the minimum pedestrian circulation space requirements set forth in Section 81-45 (Pedestrian Circulation Space), provided that the overlapping portion of the public plaza also conforms to the design standards of Section 37-50 (REQUIREMENTS FOR PEDESTRIAN CIRCULATION SPACE) for a sidewalk widening. Such sidewalk widening may be included in the major portion of a public plaza for purposes of calculating the proportional restrictions set forth in Section 37-715.