Council Member Lanza and City Planning push forward Prince’s Bay down-zoning. On October 11, 2006, the Planning Commission approved a proposal to down-zone an 172-acre portion of Prince’s Bay, Staten Island and to adopt text amendments to restrict future development on an additional 830 acres. Council Member Andrew Lanza withdrew his original rezoning application in 2005 when opposition called it too restrictive and claimed it would interfere with a potential senior housing development on the Mt. Loretto site, a large tract of land owned by the Archdiocese of New York.

A majority of the 172-acre area to be down-zoned retains the original 1961 R3-2 zoning, which allows multi-family buildings as well as detached and semi-detached homes. The new proposal seeks to restrict future development to one and two-family detached homes on 40-foot lots (R3X). The second zoning change would impact the 22- acre former Camp St. Edwards site, currently under development. The proposal would match the current construction, changing the zoning to limit development to single-family homes with a minimum of 5,700- square-foot lots (R3X to R1-2).

The plan also calls for the creation of two special districts: a large lot district and a senior housing district to cover Mt. Loretto. The large lot district would increase the required lot size from the current 3,800 sq.ft. to 5,700 sq.ft. The Mt. Loretto district would permit up to 250 units of senior housing with approval by the Planning Commission chair.

Council Member Lanza testified at the Commission’s hearing. He requested support of what he called a well-crafted compromise to stop out-of-character development and allow potential future development of Mt. Loretto with senior housing. Addressing the claim that the proposal would preclude affordable housing, Lanza told the Commission that Staten Island developers were not interested in affordable housing and had not built one unit.

A local developer, speaking in support, explained that he had applications pending at City Planning that he had already revised to match an earlier rezoning. The developer asked that his property, along Drumgoole Road and Minturn and Bradford Avenues, be carved out of the large lot requirement.

The Commission approved after modifying the proposal to carve out the developer’s project site. The Commission noted that the large lot proposal matched the area’s character, the down-zoning would limit oversized development and, overall, the plan would allow appropriate new development.

ULURP Process
Map Amendment
Lead Agency: CPC,Neg.Dec.
Comm.Bd.: SI 3, App’d, 16-7
Boro. President: App’d

Text Amendment
Lead Agency: CPC,Neg.Dec.
Comm.Bd.: SI 3,No vote
Boro. President:No vote

CPC: Prince’s Bay Rezoning (C 060465 ZMR – map amendment); (C 060464 ZRR – text amendment) (Oct. 11, 2006). CITYADMIN