Approved plan rezones 161st Street and River Avenue corridor and establishes new C6-3D commercial zoning district. On September 30, 2009, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone areas along 161st Street and River Avenue in southwest Bronx. The rezoning impacts portions of eight blocks in three separate areas within the heart of the borough’s civic center, described as the Residential, Civic, and Transit Nodes. The broad rezoning area is generally bounded by 162nd Street to the north, 153rd and 159th Streets to the south, Park Avenue to the east, and River Avenue to the west.

The corridor is surrounded by a variety of land uses including the new Yankee Stadium, the Bronx County Courthouse and Borough Hall, and is near the Melrose Commons Urban Renewal Area. The corridor has easy access to mass transit including the 4, B, and D subway lines, and the Metro-North rail line. The area has experienced limited residential development and commercial expansion largely due to its zoning, which had remained mostly unchanged since 1961. The plan seeks to encourage the development of affordable housing, promote commercial expansion, and strengthen the area’s overall appeal. (more…)

Residents concerned that waiving height requirement would set bad precedent. On August 5, 2009, the City Planning Commission heard testimony on City Island Estates’ proposal to build a residential development at 226 Fordham Place on City Island. The 43-unit project, abutting the eastern shore of Long Island Sound, would be built on a 279,154 sq.ft. site and include 21 two-family detached homes and one single- family detached home. The plan called for building 17 of the 21 two-family homes up to 41.5 feet in height, while the remaining homes would be built to 35 feet.

To facilitate the project, the developer applied for waivers for the height and setback requirements of the Special City Island District. This included modifying the 35-foot height limit for new developments and enlargements. The developer also proposed rezoning the lot from M1-1 to R3A. (more…)

Plan envisions public walkway along Harlem River waterfront. The Department of City Planning’s sweeping rezoning proposal for a 30-block area of the South Bronx, bordering the Harlem River, obtained City Council approval on June 30, 2009. The plan impacts the underused and primarily industrial-zoned area along the Harlem River, bounded by East 149th Street on the north, Morris and Lincoln Avenues to the east, and the Major Deegan Expressway and Park Avenue to the south. Abandoned or converted to other land uses, City Planning found that the area suffered from a 22 percent vacancy rate with over 40 percent of the area occupied by storage, warehousing, and other light industrial uses.

The approved plan rezones the area’s inland blocks to mixed-use districts, permitting residential and commercial development as-of-right, as well as allowing the continuation of light industrial uses. The proposal allows grocery stores of any size as-of-right whereas food stores over 10,000 sq.ft. previously required a special permit. The Inclusionary Housing Program also became applicable to the area. (more…)

New development would provide affordable housing while incorporating green design features. On October 7, 2008, the City Planning Commission unanimously approved the Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development’s plan to build a mixed-use, mixed-income development in the Melrose section of the Bronx. The proposed project, known as Via Verde/The Green Way, is a product of the New Housing New York Legacy Project competition, sponsored by HPD and the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The competition sought to inspire new forms of sustainable design for a mixed-use, mixed-income project on the irregularly shaped, City-owned parcel at East 156th St. and Brook Avenue. The winning plan, developed by Jonathan Rose Companies, Phipps Houses Group, Grimshaw Architects, and Dattner Architects, proposed a development that would range in height from three- to 20-stories and provide approximately 220 units of affordable housing, 8,532sq.ft. of retail and community space, and 27,700sq.ft. of open space.

The proposal includes three- to four-story townhouses, a six- to 14- story mid-rise building, and a 15- to 20-story tower that would wrap around two interior courtyards and an amphitheater. In addition, a series of gardens beginning in the courtyard would spiral up the structure through a series of green roofs. The Commission noted that the proposed design was sympathetic to the broad range of surrounding uses. The low-scale section of the proposed building would avoid shading the ballfields to the south, and the taller part of the building would be of similar height to an existing 18-story residential building to the east. (more…)

Thirty-block rezoning in South Bronx would encourage redevelopment of blighted waterfront. On June 19, 2008, the Department of City Planning held a public hearing on the draft scope of an environmental impact statement for the proposed Lower Concourse Rezoning. The proposal covers a 30-block area, generally bounded by the Harlem River on the west, East 149th to the north, Morris and Lincoln Avenues on the east, and the Major Deegan Expressway and Park Avenue to the south.

City Planning’s plan seeks to encourage new residential and commercial development and enhance the waterfront areas in the traditionally industrial section of the South Bronx. During the past two decades the area, which is readily accessible by public transit, has seen significant residential construction after an earlier period of disinvestment and population decline during the 1970s and 1980s. At the same time, industrial uses in the area have decreased, creating underutilized, industrial-zoned land that, according to City Planning, blights the neighborhood. (more…)