Related Companies withdrew its big-box retail proposal after Committee unanimously disapproved. On February 16, 2005, Related Retail Bruckner LLC withdrew its application for a special permit and map amendment to allow the development of a 130,000 sq.ft. BJ’s Warehouse Club, which was scheduled for a full Council vote that day. BJ’s had gained the unanimous approval of the Planning Commission, but faced likely defeat at the full Council meeting after its Land Use Committee unanimously disapproved the application on February 10, 2005. Objections pertained to potential traffic impacts, BJ’s labor history and the project’s effect on existing Bronx supermarkets.

The 430,000 sq.ft. site considered for the project is located within the Throgs Neck/Schuylerville area along Brush Road, directly north of Monsignor Scanlon High School and south of the junction between the Bruckner and Cross-Bronx Expressways and the Hutchinson River Parkway. Westchester Creek, St. Raymond’s Cemetery and the parkway and expressways separate the site from the bordering residential districts. Currently, the site contains a large, 42,000 sq.ft. warehouse building, a vacant restaurant and inn, and a parking lot used by the U.S. Postal Service. (more…)

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 homes, apartment buildings and oversized single-family homes referred to by the community as “McMansions.”

The Planning Department proposed to down-zone an area bounded generally by Francis Lewis Boulevard and Clearview Expressway to the west, the Cross Island Parkway to the east, 24th and 26th Avenues to the north and, on the south, by the Long Island Expressway. (more…)

Yassky opposed over affordable housing issue. On March 9, 2005, the full Council approved the rezoning proposal for 129 lots in the South Bronx, converting it from manufacturing to mixed-use zoning that aims to further expand Bruckner Boulevard’s antique row and increase development of residential and livework uses. Initially scheduled for a vote on February 28, 2005, Council Member Maria del Carmen Arroyo, elected only 14 days prior by a special election, requested a vote delay on the Port Morris action to obtain time to address residents’ complaints that the rezoning would drive up rents and ultimately force them out.

Council Member Arroyo at the Subcommittee vote noted that she had met with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which had agreed to work with her office to educate Port Morris property owners on the City’s affordable housing funding mechanisms. Commenting that she was satisfied with this arrangement, Council Member Arroyo explained that the majority of the rezoned lots were privately owned, which limited the City’s ability to make immediate commitments to build affordable housing. (more…)

New zoning designed to protect Bay Ridge from high-density development. On March 23, 2005, the City Council approved the Planning Department’s rezoning plan for a 249-block area within Brooklyn’s Special Bay Ridge District, bounded by 65th Street to the north, Seventh Avenue to the east and Shore Road to the south and west. In 1978, after neighborhood residents protested the development of three large residential buildings, the twin 30-story Bay Ridge Towers and the 13-story Shore Hill Apartments, the City established the Special Bay Ridge District. The 1978 zoning generally restricted construction to three stories on residential streets and eight stories on the avenues.

The current down-zoning resulted from additional lobbying by Bay Ridge residents who, even after the special district was established, felt that it was not enough to protect their neighborhood from over-development and the proliferation of “Fedders houses,” named after the air-conditioning units that protrude from the outside walls. In February 2003, residents sought support of newly elected Council member Vincent Gentile, who developed a Preservation Task Force to address their concerns. (more…)

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. Some districts permitted large 13 to 17-story apartment buildings in areas with single-family, detached homes.

Designed as a contextual rezoning based on the areas’ prevailing building types, the proposal sought to down-zone areas characterized by one and two-family detached homes, such as in Kew Gardens south of Maple Grove Cemetery and west of the Van Wyck Expressway, and increase the permitted size of development in areas that could support it, like the Jamaica Avenue corridor from 102nd to 130th Street in Richmond Hill. The final application covered 140 blocks. (more…)