Project Greenhope housing facility approved

Facility to provide transitional housing for formerly incarcerated women. The Planning Commission approved a 49-unit, seven-story new building to serve as a substance abuse treatment facility and transitional housing for 70 homeless women ex-offenders, of whom an estimated 28 will have children residing with them. The new building, which will be funded by the New York State Homeless Housing Assistance Program, will be located at 435 East 119th Street in East Harlem and managed by … <Read More>


New zoning district approved for Bayside

New district created to curb development of Queens “McMansions.” On March 14, 2005, the Planning Commission unanimously approved the Bloomberg administration’s largest proposed down-zoning to date and a new citywide zoning district to be applied first to Bayside, a Queens neighborhood characterized predominantly by single-family detached homes. The approved 350-block down-zoning of Bayside, commenced at the urging of Council Member Tony Avella and local residents, seeks to end the rising development in Bayside of semi-detached … <Read More>


Anticipated Rezoning Approved with Changes

Affordable housing incentives, as well as height, massing and manufacturing zones, revised before approval. Over the disapproval votes of Commissioners Karen Phillips and Dolly Williams, the remaining members of the Planning Commission approved the rezoning of a two-mile area along the East River waterfront in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint and Williamsburg neighborhoods after modifications were crafted to address public officials and residents’ comments.

The six linked applications, including text, map and City map amendments to create park … <Read More>


New zoning plan ok’ed for Queens neighborhoods

140 blocks rezoned to stop out-of-character development. The Planning Commission unanimously approved an extensive rezoning of two of Queens oldest residential neighborhoods; Kew Gardens and Richmond Hill, both of which have seen a measurable increase in out-of-character development over the past four years. A lot-by-lot analysis completed by the Planning Department found an inconsistency between the existing building types and the zoning, which was unchanged since the City’s initial adoption of zoning districts in 1961. … <Read More>


Stormwater easements and acquisition approved

DEP to acquire 3.3 acres and three easements to establish stormwater runoff areas in Staten Island. In February the Planning Commission approved two actions associated with stormwater runoff systems in the Arden Heights, Annadale, Eltingville, Woodrow and Prince’s Bay neighborhoods of Staten Island, some of the last remaining areas in the city without established stormwater sewer systems.

DEP sought to acquire three easements, totaling .2 acres, in Prince’s Bay and Woodrow and in the second … <Read More>


Mixed-use antique district expanded

129-lot area rezoned to permit residential, live-work and retail. The Planning Commission approved the proposed rezoning of a 129-lot area of Port Morris in the South Bronx that altered the area’s manufacturing zoning to mixed-use, facilitating increased live-work, residential and small commercial business development. The proposed new zoning builds on a 1997 zoning action that established the Port Morris Special Mixed-Use District – the city’s first mixed-use district – within a five-block area of Port … <Read More>