Civic association proposed the rezoning to protect area’s low-density character and hilly topography. On April 14, 2010, the City Council approved the Clove Lake Civic Association’s proposal to rezone twenty blocks in the Grymes Hill and Sunnyside sections of Staten Island. The area, located near Wagner College, is generally bounded by Silver Lake Park to the north, Sunnyside Terrace to the south, Highland to the east, and Clove Road to the west.

The predominately residential neighborhood features narrow, steeply graded streets and is characterized by single- family, detached homes, with small pockets of attached and detached two-family homes and multi-family buildings. The civic association proposed the rezoning in response to recent out-of-character development that replaced single-family, detached homes with two-family homes on steep roads that cannot accommodate increased traffic. The majority of the area was downzoned from R3X to R2, which only permits single family, detached homes and reflects the area’s prevailing built character. A small portion of the area to the east was rezoned from R3X to R3-2 in order to match the existing attached townhouse buildings in that area. The plan also expanded the Special Hillsides Preservation District to include an area bounded by Victory Boulevard, Howard and Highland Avenues, and Clove Road. In 1989, the City created the preservation district to preserve northern Staten Island’s sloping topography. (more…)

Rezoning proposed to prevent attached homes in area settled by freed slaves in 1827. On February 3, 2010, the City Council approved State Senator Andrew J. Lanza’s rezoning proposal for the Sandy Ground neighborhood of Staten Island. Sandy Ground, also known as Rossville, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and recognized as one of the country’s oldest communities established by freed slaves. The rezoning impacts 35 blocks generally bounded by the West Shore Expressway to the north and west, Ramona Avenue to the south, and Lenevar and Alverson Avenues to the east.

The area is characterized predominantly by detached and semidetached homes, but over the past several years Sandy Ground has experienced an increase in the development of attached townhouses and multi-family buildings. The rezoning aims to prevent out-of-scale development by down-zoning the area from R3-2 to R3-1, a district that does not permit attached homes. (more…)

Amendment restricts residential- only development in commercial districts. The City Council rezoned three areas of Staten Island and approved a text amendment to insure lower density commercial development in portions of the borough. The three areas rezoned are located along Castleton Avenue, New Dorp Lane, and Arthur Kill Road.

The Planning Department initiated the rezoning proposals and text amendment in response to recommendations made by the Staten Island Growth Management Task Force. After finding that Staten Island’s commercial areas were overdeveloped with residentialonly projects, the task force identified three main goals: discouraging inappropriate residential development, encouraging appropriate commercial development, and encouraging Staten Island’s legacy of town centers.

The approved Castleton and New Dorp Lane actions primarily replaced C4-2 districts with R3-2 districts, including commercial overlays on a total of 14 blocks. The actions also preserved the neighborhoods’ character by limiting purely commercial buildings to two stories, prohibiting ground floor residential units, and setting a 35-foot maximum height for mixed-use buildings. (more…)

Bay Terrace and Oakwood down-zoned to prohibit semidetached homes. On November 16, 2005, the City Council approved zoning map amendments to rezone 48 blocks of Bay Terrace and Oakwood, Staten Island.

Council Member Andrew J. Lanza initiated the Bay Terrace proposal in response to concerns about over-development in Staten Island. The proposal called for the rezoning of an area bounded by Amboy Road, Buffalo Avenue, Durant Avenue, and Bay Terrace. Under the proposal, 27 blocks would be rezoned from R3-1 to R3X to prevent the construction of semi-detached houses and require larger lots for increased building height. (more…)

Council angered by allegation that rezoning will impede affordable housing construction. The full Council approved three linked proposals to eliminate commercial zoning overlays in 21 areas of Staten Island after a public hearing where a Staten Island architect alleged that the actions would impede affordable housing development.

The October 6, 2005 hearing before the Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises became heated when a Staten Island architect, who first testified that a block on Wyman Avenue should retain its commercial zoning, cautioned the Council that its efforts to downzone Staten Island could ultimately prove exclusionary for low-income families. Calling his comment an “insult” and “disgusting,” Council Member Andrew J. Lanza told the architect that “not a single stick of affordable housing has been built in Staten Island” and commented that the rezonings had been thoughtfully planned. “You know how much affordable housing will be built in Staten Island: zero,” Lanza told the architect. When the architect began to explain that he was currently working on a multi-family project aimed at first-time home buyers, Council Member Tony Avella, the Subcommittee Chair, told the architect that he was cutting him off.

Additional opposition testimony came from a property owner with a site that had contained an oil and heating company since 1 963. He asked that his site be carved out of the rezoning to allow it to maintain its commercial zoning.

Closing public testimony, Council Member Lanza recommended that the lot containing the heating and oil company be removed from the rezoning and that no other modifications be supported. The Subcommittee approved the three actions, adopting Lanza’s modification. The Land Use Committee and full Council approved.

The approved rezoning eliminated commercial overlays on blocks determined by the Planning Department to be primarily residential in nature. With the removal of the commercial zoning, a loophole was removed that had allowed developers to build large as-of-right residential developments in lower density areas. For the full ULURP process, see 2 City Land 138 {Oct. 15, 2005.)

Council: Staten Island Commercial Overlay Rezoning (October 1 1 and October 27, 2005) ; Staten Island Commercial Overlay Rezoning (C 050453 ZMR), (C 050454 ZMR) , (C 050455 ZMR) (September 1 4, 2005) . CITYADMIN