Council Members Dickens and Jackson defend plan despite vocal opposition from local residents. On April 30, 2008, the City Council modified the Department of City Planning’s plan to rezone the 125th Street corridor, a 24-block area in the Harlem section of Manhattan.

The plan will rezone large portions of the east and west ends of the corridor to encourage arts, entertainment, and retail uses. The plan will also impose height limits, street wall continuity requirements, and measures to preserve nearby brownstone neighborhoods.

At the Council’s public hearing before the Zoning and Franchises subcommittee, Amanda Burden, Chair of the City Planning Commission, testified that the plan will create Upper Manhattan’s first inclusionary housing bonus, and the City’s first Arts Bonus to encourage developers to provide space for arts and entertainment uses. Burden also testified that the plan would result in 2 million sq.ft. of office space and 8,200 new jobs. Burden concluded her testimony by noting that the three Council Members who represent the area, the affected Community Boards, Congressman Charles Rangel and Governor David Paterson all backed the plan. (more…)

Under new plan, City can opt to build High Line amenities in exchange for $2.3M developer fee. On September 5, 2007, the Planning Commission approved amendments to the zoning text for the Special West Chelsea District, specifically aimed at allowing the City to opt to build amenities for the High Line Park rather than waiting for developers to complete the construction.

Under the original text, developments adjacent to the High Line could receive a floor area bonus if the developer agreed to construct amenities for the High Line Park. Since the text’s approval in March 2006, the City grew concerned that developers might delay the High Line Park’s opening since construction of the amenities would correspond to the development’s construction timeline, not the park’s. (more…)

Largest rezoning undertaken by City sent back to Commission for final approval. The City Council approved, with several significant modifications, the Planning Commission’s proposal to rezone 378 blocks in Jamaica, Queens. The Council’s modifications must now go to the Planning Commission for final approval.

The Jamaica Plan, considered the largest comprehensive rezoning plan proposed by the City, grew from pressure on the City by Queens Community Boards 8 and 12 to revitalize the area, one of Queens’ most significant transit hubs. Once a significant shopping and business center, downtown Jamaica began to decline in the early 1960s as automobile use increased and auto-accessible shopping centers in Long Island replaced it. The area then began to fall into neglect, and for years the only development came from government-funded construction projects like the JFK Air Train Station and the Archer Avenue Subway extension. Even with such significant government projects, vacant and derelict parcels remained and discouraged private investment. When City Planning started its rezoning study, it found the existing zoning in downtown Jamaica to be extremely restrictive for an area so well-served by public transportation.

City Planning’s rezoning proposal sought to encourage development by up-zoning downtown Jamaica’s core, and to protect established residential blocks by down-zoning the St. Alban’s, Hollis, Briarwood, Jamaica Estates, Jamaica Hill and South Jamaica areas. Along with the 368- block rezoning, the plan’s seven linked applications included text amendments to create zoning rules to foster development of a downtown Jamaica shopping district and to apply the City’s inclusionary housing program to 70 blocks in downtown Jamaica and along Hillside Avenue from 139th to 191st Streets, the largest application of inclusionary housing outside of Manhattan. The plan also called for the creation of an urban renewal area to allow the City to take property by eminent domain to achieve Jamaica’s revitalization. The urban renewal plan would apply to three blocks near the new JFK AirTran/LIRR station. (more…)

Changes included the addition of anti-harassment law and strengthening of height limits. In May 2005, after last-minute modifications, the City Council approved six land use actions related to a comprehensive redevelopment plan of a two-mile waterfront area along the East River and adjacent upland neighborhoods in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 2 CityLand 36 (Apr. 15, 2005), 2 CityLand 51 (May 15, 2005), 2 CityLand 67 (June 15, 2005). Public review of the proposed amendments identified the need for additional modifications, including a specific request by the community and Borough President Marty Markowitz that current residents be protected by anti-harassment laws.

On October 28, 2005, the Planning Department filed two applications for Follow- Up Corrective Actions, or FUCAs, to clarify certain provisions of the earlier rezoning and to amend the zoning map to establish contextual height limits in 19 blocks. (more…)

Rezonings extend protection of contextual zoning and low-density regulations. The Planning Commission approved amendments to the zoning maps in three Bronx neighborhoods to ensure that residential buildings are not out-of-character with low-density development in the neighborhoods.

In Baychester, five of the five and a half blocks located immediately south of Co-op City are currently zoned R3-2 and permit detached, semi-detached and attached homes with a maximum building height of 35 feet. The remaining half block, currently zoned R6, permits residential and community facilities, and has apartment buildings between three and twelve stories high. Under the proposed rezoning, both areas would be zoned R3A, permitting only detached single- and two-family homes with a maximum height of 35 feet. (more…)