Far West Village rezoning approved

Council down-zoned lots with pending development. The Council rezoned 14 blocks of Greenwich Village west of Washington Street, replacing manufacturing and commercial zoning in the area with contextual zoning districts. The proposal came from the Planning Department after Far West Village residents complained of the growing number of large development proposals that followed construction of the Richard Meier-designed, 205-foot luxury residential towers along West Street.

In the proposal, the Planning Department designed contextual commercial zones … <Read More>


Far Rockaway rezoning allows larger and smaller homes

Developers and residents claimed rezoning was racially motivated. On September 15, 2005, the City Council approved a zoning map amendment to rezone a 21- block area encompassing Mott Creek and the West Lawrence section of Far Rockaway in Queens. The proposal was initiated by area residents concerned about their community’s over-development.

It called for the rezoning of an area bounded by Hicksville Road to the north, Beach 9th Street and Beach 6th Street to the … <Read More>


High Line/Chelsea Rezoning Gets Go Ahead

Rezoning crafted to transform High Line into elevated open space; no mandatory affordable housing requirement set, despite community’s request. On June 23, 2005, the City Council approved the complicated rezoning and land acquisition plan for West Chelsea that has as its central goal the transformation of the High Line, an elevated rail line, into a 1.45-mile open space.

The approved rezoning impacts the area between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues from West 17th to West 30th … <Read More>


North Brooklyn Rezoning Gains Final Approval

Full Council approves Greenpoint- Williamsburg rezoning. On May 11, 2005, the full Council approved the rezoning plan for a two-mile area in the North Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Only Council Member Charles Barron voted against the plan to transform the primarily manufacturing-zoned area to large and small-scale residential. Council’s Land Use Committee had modified the rezoning proposal and sent it back to the Planning Commission, which approved the modifications.


Council Modifies Massive Rezoning Plan for Brooklyn

Affordable housing incentive increased; new industrial protection zone proposed. The City Council’s Land Use Committee voted to modify the 183-block rezoning plan for the two-mile East River waterfront in Greenpoint and Williamsburg at a May 2, 2005 hearing attended by Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, Planning Commission Chair Amanda M. Burden, and HPD Commissioner Shaun Donovan.

The Land Use Committee had scheduled the vote at 11:00 a.m., but delayed the hearing until late afternoon to allow … <Read More>


City increases zoning protection for Bay Ridge

New zoning designed to protect Bay Ridge from high-density development. On March 23, 2005, the City Council approved the Planning Department’s rezoning plan for a 249-block area within Brooklyn’s Special Bay Ridge District, bounded by 65th Street to the north, Seventh Avenue to the east and Shore Road to the south and west. In 1978, after neighborhood residents protested the development of three large residential buildings, the twin 30-story Bay Ridge Towers and the 13-story … <Read More>