Two new zoning districts created under plan can be applied citywide. The Planning Commission voted unanimously on September 5, 2007 to approve the 206-block rezoning plan for Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, sending it to the City Council.

Initiated by local residents, the plan crafts contextual zoning districts for low-density row house blocks, and higher density mixed-use districts for commercial corridors on Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street. On a majority of the 206- block area, the rezoning would map lower density residential districts (R6A and R6B) that would place 50- foot and 70-foot maximum height limits, the first time height limits would be used on Bedford- Stuyvesant’s residential streets. Along with the rezoning, the plan proposes two new zoning districts and a new mixed-use district for Howard and Atlantic Avenues. It would also apply the City’s Inclusionary Housing provisions to 20 blocks along Atlantic, Fulton Street, Kane Place and Howard Avenue.

The newly proposed residential district (R7D) would allow a maximum height of 100 feet and a base floor area limit of 4.2. The plan would map the new district on 20 blocks in Brooklyn and amend the zoning text to allow the City to apply it citywide. The new commercial district proposed under the plan (C4-5D) would require non-residential uses on buildings’ ground floors. In Bedford-Stuyvesant, the new commercial district would cover eight blocks along Fulton Street and Nostrand Avenue.

When the plan reached the Planning Commission for public hearing, it received support from several speakers, including Council Members Albert Vann and Darlene Mealy. One property owner on Bedford and Gates Avenues asked that his property remain under the existing zoning. The pastor of the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church on Fulton Street also opposed the rezoning plan, explaining that it would hinder the church’s plans for an affordable housing project.

The Commission voted to approve the plan without modifications, emphasizing that it was the first major rezoning in the area since the 1960s. In response to the Bedford and Gates Avenues property owner, the Commission rejected any plan to maintain the existing zoning, explaining that it would permit large out-of-character residential towers.

ULURP Process
Lead Agency: CPC,Neg.Dec.
Comm.Bd.: BK 3, App’d, 27-1-0
Boro. Pres.: App’d
CPC: App’d, 11-0-0

CPC: Bedford-Stuyvesant Rezoning (C 070447 ZMK – map amendment); (N 070448 ZRY – text amendment) (Sept. 5, 2007). CITYADMIN