City Planning Proposes Homeowner-Friendly Zoning Rules for Staten Island Neighborhoods

The changes allow homeowners to bypass the lengthy review process for certain types of projects. On July 2, 2020, the Department of City Planning announced new proposed zoning rules for some Staten Island neighborhoods that make zoning rules more efficient and homeowner-friendly, and that reflect recent advances in environmental science.


EDC issues RFEI for Staten Island waterfront site

City seeks industrial maritime use for 33-acre site along Arthur Kill Channel. The City’s Economic Development Corporation issued a request for expressions of interest for the reactivation of an industrial maritime use on a waterfront site in Rossville, Staten Island. The 33-acre parcel along Arthur Kill Channel is north of the West Shore Expressway and abuts the Bloomfield Liquefied Natural Gas Tank property on Chemical Lane. Arthur Kill Channel supports deep-draft vessels used in domestic … <Read More>


Staten Island shopping center rezoning approved

Small rezoning would facilitate expansion of Woodrow Plaza shopping center. On June 29, 2011, the City Council approved Ottavio and Leonello Savo’s proposed expansion of the Woodrow Plaza shopping center at the corner of Woodrow Road and Rossville Avenue in Staten Island. Woodrow Plaza was built in the early 1980s and includes two, one-story buildings and a surface parking lot accessible from Rossville and Alverson Avenues. The project site consists of two wooded, vacant lots … <Read More>


Staten Island’s Sandy Ground area downzoned

Rezoning proposed to prevent attached homes in area settled by freed slaves in 1827. On February 3, 2010, the City Council approved State Senator Andrew J. Lanza’s rezoning proposal for the Sandy Ground neighborhood of Staten Island. Sandy Ground, also known as Rossville, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and recognized as one of the country’s oldest communities established by freed slaves. The rezoning impacts 35 blocks generally bounded by the West … <Read More>


Waiver Granted to Build Housing Development on Unmapped Street

Seven of the proposed homes did not front on a legally-mapped street. On January 6, 2015 the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to grant the applicant, Block 7092 LLC, a waiver to allow construction of seven residential buildings on an unmapped street.  The buildings are part of a development of twenty-four two-story, one- and two-family dwellings and one three-story, two-family home located at the intersection of Turner Street and Crabtree Avenue in Rossville, Staten … <Read More>


Sandy Ground designations

569 & 565 Bloomingdale Road. Image: Courtesy of LPC.

Four buildings date to 19th century community founded by African- American freedmen. On February 1, 2011, Landmarks celebrated the beginning of Black History Month by designating as landmarks four buildings in the Sandy Ground community of Rossville, Staten Island. Sandy Ground was established in the 19th century as one of the country’s earliest African-American freedmen communities. The community grew when African-American oystermen migrated from the Chesapeake … <Read More>