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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Three-building project on former railway site will include 141 affordable rental apartments. On April 6, 2011, the City Council approved a proposal by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to allow Phipps Houses to develop a three-building affordable housing project on two vacant through-block lots in the East Tremont section of the Bronx. Phipps will construct an eight-story residential building and a ten-story mixed-use building at 1155 East Tremont Avenue, and a ten-story mixed-use building across the street at 1176 East Tremont Avenue. The project will provide 141 rental units marketed to households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income.

The City-owned lots were once occupied by the now-defunct elevated New York, Westchester, and Boston Interurban Railway. Remnants of the railway’s train trestle remain on both lots. The surrounding area is characterized by five- to six-story tenement buildings, older multi-unit homes, and vacant lots. The area’s underlying M1-1 zoning prohibits residential uses, which caused HPD in October 2010 to apply to BSA for use variances to facilitate the project. 7 CityLand 169 (Dec. 2010). HPD’s current proposal included a request for a UDAAP designation and special permits to build on a railroad right-of-way. (more…)

Project will include two connected buildings and more than 200 units of low- and moderate-income housing. The City Council approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to allow Phipps Houses to build a 217-unit affordable housing project in the Melrose section of the Bronx. The two-building development, known as Courtlandt Crescent, will wrap around the northeast portion of a block bounded by East 161st and East 162nd Streets and Melrose and Courtlandt Avenues.

The project will include 22 studios, 59 one-bedroom apartments, 115 two-bedroom apartments, and 21 three-bedroom apartments. The apartments will be marketed to families earning up to 60 percent of the area median income. Phipps will provide an underground parking garage and space for a 10,000 sq.ft. early childhood center administered by the City’s Administration for Children’s Services. HPD requested that the City replace the site’s R7-2 zoning with R7A and R8/C1-4 districts and amend the height and setback rules of the Melrose Commons Urban Renewal Plan. (more…)

Two-building project would create 217 units of affordable housing. On February 16, 2011, the City Planning Commission approved a proposal by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to allow Phipps Houses to develop a 217-unit mixed-use affordable housing project in the Melrose section of the Bronx. The site comprises ten lots on a block generally bounded by East 163rd Street to the north, East 162nd Street to the south, Melrose Avenue to the east, and Courtlandt Avenue to the west.

The project, known as Courtlandt Crescent, would include a seven-story building along East 163rd Street and Courtlandt Avenue that would follow the curve of those streets, and a ten-story L-shaped building with frontages along Melrose Avenue and East 162nd Street that would step down to seven stories along East 162nd Street. (more…)

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. (more…)