Rezoning of 75 blocks along the Third Avenue and Tremont Avenue corridors will expand permissible uses to reflect existing development. On October 13, 2010, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s 75-block rezoning in central Bronx. The plan impacts the east-west commercial Tremont Avenue corridor bounded by Daly and Webster Avenues, and the north-south industrial Third Avenue corridor which is generally bounded by East 189th and East 175th Streets. A third area, the Neighborhood Preservation Area, borders Third Avenue to the west and extends to Park Avenue between Cyrus Place to the north and Tremont Avenue to the south.
Planning proposed the rezoning to encourage development along the two mixed-use corridors while preserving the residential character of the Neighborhood Preservation Area. The proposal applied commercial and special mixed-use districts in the industrial corridor, which allows new residential and commercial uses on vacant and underutilized lots while also protecting existing light manufacturing uses.
Bronx Community Board 6 and Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. supported the plan, and the City Planning Commission unanimously approved the rezoning. 7 CityLand 138 (Oct. 15, 2010).
At the Council’s Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee hearing, Council Member Diana Reyna voiced concern over whether the special mixed-use districts would adequately protect existing manufacturing uses. Reyna said she had seen a lot of manufacturing districts in the City “disappear,” and feared that the dilution of these districts would create a change from living wage jobs to minimum wage jobs. Reyna called for the monitoring of zoning changes impacting manufacturing uses in order to better understand the correlation between land use and small businesses.
The full Council unanimously approved the proposal.
Review Process
Lead Agency: CPC, Neg. Dec.
Comm. Bd.: BX 6, App’d, 22-0-0
Boro. Pres.: App’d
CPC: App’d, 11-0-0
Council: App’d, 48-0-0
Council: Third Avenue/Tremont Avenue Rezoning (Oct. 13, 2010).
