Residents sought to end the replacement of single-family homes with large out-of-character apartment buildings. On July 25, 2007, the City Council unanimously approved the rezoning of 159 blocks of the Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton neighborhoods of Brooklyn. Located at the base of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the rezoned area is generally bound by a LIRR rightof- way, Poly Place, 14th Avenue and the Gowanus Expressway. The rezoning commenced at the request of local residents who hoped to prevent further development of large multi-family apartments which were beginning to proliferate in both neighborhoods. The area currently features one- and two-family detached and semi-detached homes with lawns and gardens, well maintained row houses, and a local retail corridor.

The Council’s vote rezoned a 15-block section, which currently contains smaller homes, to R3A and R3X, thereby restricting development to one- and two-family detached homes with a maximum floor area of .5 times the size of the development lot. In a 65-block section, where row houses predominate, a new R5B zoning limits the size of residential development to a floor area of 1.35 times the lot size. The plan also rezoned 44 blocks to allow both detached and semidetached, one- and two-family homes with a maximum floor area ratio of 0.9 (R4A, R4B, R4-1). On the neighborhoods’ main commercial corridors along Fort Hamilton Parkway, 11th Avenue and 13th Avenue, the plan modified the existing commercial overlays and reduced their depth to limit encroachment of commercial uses onto adjacent residential blocks.

No opposition appeared at City Council’s July 23, 2007 public hearing, or the Planning Commission’s June 23, 2007 public hearing. The full Council voted by 48-0-0 to approve.

ULURP Process:
Lead Agency: CPC,Neg.Dec.
Comm.Bd.: BK 10, App’d, 40-1-0
Boro. Pres.: App’d
CPC: App’d, 11-0-0

Council: Dyker Heights / Ft. Hamilton Rezoning (July 25, 2007).