Credit: The Department of City Planning

City Planning Commission certified 140-block Bed-Stuy North Rezoning and 90-block West Harlem Rezoning: included in the Brooklyn proposal is a text amendment that would also apply Citywide and to areas of the Bronx. At City Planning Commission’s review session on May 7, 2012, the Commission certified the Department of City Planning’s contextual rezoning proposal for the northern half of Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. The Bedford-Stuyvesant North Rezoning plan would impact a 140-block area generally bounded by Flushing Avenue to the north, Quincy Street to the south, Broadway to the east, and Classon and Franklin Avenues to the west. The proposal was requested by Brooklyn Community Board 3 and local elected officials after the City rezoned the southern half of the neighborhood in 2007. (read CityLand’s coverage here).

Bedford-Stuyvesant is a residential neighborhood characterized by late 19th- and early 20th-century rowhouses, small and medium-sized apartment buildings, and several large, tower-in-the-park NYCHA (more…)

Rezoning would impact 181 blocks in Williamsbridge and Baychester neighborhoods. On August 24, 2011, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on the Department of City Planning’s rezoning proposal for the Williamsbridge and Baychester neighborhoods in the north Bronx. The rezoning would impact 181 blocks generally bounded by 233rd Street to the north, East Gun Hill Road and Givan Avenue to the south, the New England Thruway to the east, and the Bronx River Parkway to the west. The rezoning area includes a 130-block section of Williamsbridge  and a 29-block section of Baychester. Planning seeks to protect the area’s lower-density residential blocks from out-of-scale development and provide growth opportunities along the area’s major mixed-use corridors.

The residential neighborhood of Williamsbridge is in the western portion of the rezoning area and is primarily characterized by detached single-family homes, rowhouses, and small apartment buildings, with pockets of larger multi-family structures near the Bronx River Parkway. Baychester is separated from Williamsbridge by Laconia Avenue, and is also characterized by lower density residential development. The area’s three main zoning districts — R4, R5, and R6 — permit new development that is out-of-context with the existing built character of the two neighborhoods. According to Planning, the “generic residential districts” do not promote predictable growth and have altered the area’s scale and character.

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Neighborhood group supported 31-block rezoning plan, but one property owner requested relief for site. On July 13, 2011, the City Planning Commission heard testimony on the Department of City Planning’s contextual rezoning plan for Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. The approximately 31-block study area is generally bounded by Atlantic Avenue to the north, Warren and Wyckoff Streets to the south, 4th Avenue to the east, and Court Street to the west. The proposal seeks to preserve the neighborhood’s low-rise residential character while reinforcing the commercial character of certain mixed-use corridors.

The majority of the area is currently zoned R6 and characterized by three- and four-story brown stone and rowhouse buildings. An R7B zoning district is mapped on portions of five blocks between 3rd and 4th Avenues. These blocks were part of a larger area that was rezoned in 1991 as part of the Park Slope North rezoning. There are no established building height limits under R6 zoning regulations and the maximum FAR for residential uses is 2.43 while community facility uses are permitted to build to a maximum of 4.8 FAR. As a result, the area has recently experienced outof- scale development.  (more…)

Owner would replace Northern Boulevard auto-parts store with seven-story mixed-use development. On May 25, 2011, the City Planning Commission approved Mark Solow’s proposal to facilitate the construction of a 52,570 sq.ft. mixed-use development at 135-05 Northern Boulevard in Flushing, Queens. The proposal would rezone three lots currently occupied by Solow’s Crown Auto Parts store at the northeast corner of Northern Boulevard and Prince Street from M1-1 to R6 with a C2-2 commercial overlay. The majority of the properties northeast of the site are zoned R6/C2-2 and developed with a mix of retail, community facility, and residential uses. Nearby properties along Prince Street are zoned M1-1 and are developed with low-rise commercial buildings and warehouses.

Solow plans to replace his auto-parts store with a seven-story mixed-use project. The building would provide 34 market-rate apartments, ground floor retail space fronting Northern Boulevard, community facility space, and a landscaped outdoor area on a second-floor roof at the rear of the building. The project would include a 62-space underground parking garage which would be accessible from Prince Street. (more…)

Contextual rezoning would impact 130 blocks in Sunnyside and Woodside neighborhoods. On May 25, 2011, the City Planning Commission heard testimony on the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone 130 blocks in the Sunnyside and Woodside sections of Queens. The proposal would impact approximately 2,800 tax lots generally bounded by the Sunnyside Rail Yard and 37th Avenue to the north, Roosevelt and Woodside Avenues to the south, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and 72nd Street to the east, and 39th Place to the west.

The Sunnyside and Woodside neighborhoods were established after the opening of the Queensboro Bridge in the early 1900s and the subsequent extension of what became the elevated No. 7 subway line. Sunnyside, located in the western portion of the study area, is predominately characterized by large, multi-family apartment buildings. Woodside is primarily characterized by one- and two-family homes and small apartment buildings. (more…)