Council vote completes 4-year push to prohibit large apartment buildings. The City Council approved the Planning Commission’s comprehensive down-zoning proposal of 88 blocks in Brookville, north of JFK International Airport in Queens. The Council’s vote completes a four-year-long initiative, which started with a community letter to the Queens Borough President in 2000 and led to the creation of a joint Community Board, Borough President, and City Planning Department Task Force.

The Brookville residents, pointing to a rising number of out-of-character developments in the area, asked that steps be taken to prohibit large developments. Concern arose from construction of several as-of-right 12-unit apartment buildings and one 25-unit apartment building directly adjacent to Brookville Park at 145-33 and 145-37 232nd Street. Prior to these developments, Brookville was characterized by one and two-family homes and small semi-detached dwellings. (more…)

Over 7,000 feet of water mains will be replaced. Image Credit: NYC DDC

The project will replace more than 7,000 feet of water mains, some of which were installed before World War II. On August 19, 2019, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Design and Construction (DDC) jointly announced the beginning of an infrastructure project in the Hollis and Queens Village neighborhoods of Queens. The project is part of Mayor de Blasio’s $1.9 billion plan to revamp the drainage system and alleviate flooding in southeast Queens. (more…)

Image Credit: GF55 Partners/HPD

The new building will have a variety of amenities and 111 parking spaces for residents. On February 12, 2019, HPD and HDC announced the completion of Alvista Towers, a 380-unit, affordable housing development in Jamaica, Queens. City agencies and private sector firms came together to develop this project as part of the City’s affordable housing initiative. The involved parties were the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC), Council Member I. Daneek Miller, the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, Phoenix Realty Group, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Settlement Housing Fund, the New York City Housing Partnership, and Artimus as the developer of the project. The development was the result of the Special Downtown Jamaica Rezoning, which was adopted by the City in 2007 to foster transit-oriented development in Jamaica.

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Contextual rezoning would impact 538 blocks in South Jamaica. On May 4, 2011, the City Council’s Land Use Committee approved a Department of City Planning proposal to rezone South Jamaica and portions of Springfield Gardens and St. Albans in southeast Queens. The 538-block rezoning area is generally bounded by Liberty Avenue and South Road to the north, North Conduit to the south, Merrick and Springfield Boulevards to the east, and the Van Wyck Expressway to the west.  Planning also proposed a zoning text amendment to expand the City’s FRESH program to commercial and manufacturing districts within the rezoning area and other portions of Queens Community District 12. The FRESH program offers incentives to encourage the development of grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods.

South  Jamaica   is  a  residential  neighborhood characterized by one- and two-family detached houses, with small pockets of one- and  two-family semi-attached and attached houses and multi-family buildings. Approximately 97 percent of the study area is zoned R3-2 and R4. These zoning districts permit a variety of housing types at densities that are inconsistent with the neighborhood’s built character. (more…)

Tribeca, West Village, and Rosedale in SE Queens would be affected. On June 7, 2010, the City Planning Commission certified the Department of City Planning’s rezoning proposals for sections of Queens and Manhattan. The Queens rezoning would impact the 193-block Rosedale section of southeast Queens. Planning’s North Tribeca rezoning would impact a 25- block area below Canal Street. A third plan would rezone a six-block portion of the West Village bounded by Washington and Greenwich Streets.

Rosedale is a suburban neighborhood bordering Nassau County characterized by one- and two-family homes built along tree-lined streets. Sunrise Highway divides the neighborhood. Rosedale’s northern portion is primarily zoned R2, which permits single-family detached homes. The southern portion is zoned R3-2 and permits a variety of building types, including rowhouses, garden apartments, and semidetached homes, which are inconsistent with Rosedale’s development patterns. The rezoning would replace the R3-2 district with contextual zoning districts — R3A, R3X, and R3-1 — that would tailor future development to the prevailing scale of blocks within the area. The plan would also modify the area’s commercial overlays to better reflect commercial and retail uses and reduce required off-street parking. Queens Community Board 13 approved the plan on June 28. (more…)