Rezonings in three boroughs begin public review

Planning proposed contextual rezonings in Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan. On May 24, 2010, the City Planning Commission certified the Department of City Planning’s contextual rezoning proposals for sections of Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan. The Queens rezoning would impact a 418-block portion of northeast Queens and would be the City’s largest rezoning. The Bronx plan would rezone 75 blocks along the central Bronx’s Third Avenue and Tremont Avenue corridors. The Manhattan proposal, referred to … <Read More>


South Brooklyn contextual rezoning debated

Proposed Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street Rezoning used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Residents concerned that rezoning plan does not go far enough to prevent out-of-character development. On August 19, 2009, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone 86 blocks of Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens and Columbia Street neighborhoods. The proposed rezoning area is currently zoned R6 and is … <Read More>


Grand Street rezoning advances to Council

Developer of 14-story tower fought to delay rezoning; residents urged speedy approval. The Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone 13 blocks along Grand Street and adjoining areas in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. The area overlaps with the southern boundary of the extensive Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning, which the City adopted in 2005. 2 CityLand 67 (June 15, 2005).

Currently, the rezoning area is characterized by low-rise, mixed-use three- … <Read More>


Two Queens neighborhoods down-zoned

Middle Village and Glendale rezoned to allow in-context residential development. The Planning Commission approved another outer-borough rezoning intended to preserve established scale, protect low-rise character, and curb inconsistent development in residential neighborhoods. A majority of the rezoned area, 105 blocks along Metropolitan Avenue and the Long Island Railroad, will be predominantly rezoned R4-1 to allow only one- and two-family dwellings. Another 60-block area, bounded by Juniper Valley Road, Juniper Boulevard South, 78th Avenue, and 80th … <Read More>


Two Bronx neighborhoods down-zoned

Pelham Bay and Westchester Square residents concerned that developers would move in after adjacent neighborhood was down-zoned. After the City down-zoned Throgs Neck in September 2004, 1 CityLand 4 (Oct. 15, 2004), residents of Pelham Bay and Westchester Square complained that the new limits on development in Throgs Neck would send developers north and westward into their communities, spurring over-development. While both communities are predominately developed with detached housing, the current zoning permits large apartment … <Read More>


Rezoning encourages medium- and low-rise development

Midwood Rezoning: Proposed Rezoning Map. Used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Midwood rezoned to encourage appropriate higher density development. On February 22, 2006, the Planning Commission unanimously approved a rezoning impacting 80 predominantly residential blocks of Midwood, Brooklyn. The rezoning was proposed in response to out-of-scale development permitted by the R6 district’s community facility bonuses that increased FAR from 2.43 to 4.8. Designed to preserve the … <Read More>