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 located south of the parking lot along Woodrow Road. In 2001, the shopping center’s prior owner proposed building two, one-story buildings on the vacant lots, but the City Planning Commission denied the application.

The Savos plan to develop two, two-story commercial buildings totaling 37,200 sq.ft. and a 124-space parking lot facing the existing shopping center. They plan to improve circulation in the expanded parking lot by reconfiguring the driveways and adding a curb cut at an existing three-way intersection at Woodrow and Foster Roads. The Savos submitted multiple applications to facilitate the project, including a request to apply a C2-2 commercial overlay to the R3X-zoned project site and for a zoning text amendment to remove a portion of the project site from the Special South Richmond Development District’s designated open space boundaries. Pursuant to the special district’s regulations, the proposal also needed the Commission’s authorization to modify the site’s topography. (more…)

Special rules seek to protect residential neighborhoods and encourage development of day care and medical facilities in commercial districts. On January 18, 2011, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s amendment to the Lower Density Growth Management Area (LDGMA) regulations that apply to Staten Island and Bronx Community District 10. The amendment limits the development of out-of-context medical facilities and day care centers in low-density residential areas and encourages their construction in commercial districts. It also eases commercial regulations that restricted residential expansion and development in appropriate areas of Staten Island.

The amendment is the latest modification to the City’s LDGMA zoning regulations applicable to areas within Staten Island and Bronx CD 10 which are characterized by rapid growth, high vehicle ownership, and limited access to mass transit. 1 CityLand 4 (Oct. 15, 2004), 2 CityLand 164 (Dec. 2005). The City last revised the LDGMA regulations to close a parking requirement loophole in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx. 7 CityLand 37 (April 15, 2010). (more…)

Christ Church and castle-inspired 51st Calvary Armory designated. On August 10, 2010, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate the Headquarters Troop of the 51st Cavalry Brigade Armory and the Christ Church complex in Staten Island as two individual City landmarks. The Armory is located at 321 Manor Road in Castleton Corners, and Christ Church is located at 74 Franklin Avenue in New Brighton. Landmarks held public hearings on both structures in August 2009. 6 CityLand 126 (Sept. 15, 2009).

The Headquarters Troop Armory dates to 1926 and retains its historic function as a National Guard installation. The firm of Werner & Windolph designed the red brick-faced building to resemble a medieval castle with three-story towers, corner turrets, and crenellated parapets. This building is unique among the City’s armories because the National Guard sited it on a large grassy parcel in a suburban area. Landmarks only included the western portion of the armory’s expansive campus in the designation in order to permit unregulated use by the National Guard. Former Council Member Kenneth Mitchell and the State Division of Military and Naval Affairs supported designation at the August 2009 hearing. (more…)

Civic association proposed the rezoning to protect area’s low-density character and hilly topography. On April 14, 2010, the City Council approved the Clove Lake Civic Association’s proposal to rezone twenty blocks in the Grymes Hill and Sunnyside sections of Staten Island. The area, located near Wagner College, is generally bounded by Silver Lake Park to the north, Sunnyside Terrace to the south, Highland to the east, and Clove Road to the west. The predominately residential neighborhood features narrow, steeply graded streets and is characterized by single- family, detached homes, with small pockets of attached and detached two-family homes and multi-family buildings.

The civic association proposed the rezoning in response to recent out-of-character development that replaced single-family, detached homes with two-family homes on steep roads that cannot accommodate increased traffic. The majority of the area was down-zoned from R3X to R2, which only permits single-family, detached homes and reflects the area’s prevailing built character. A small portion of the area to the east was rezoned from R3X to R3-2 in order to match the existing attached townhouse buildings in that area. The plan also expanded the Special Hillsides Preservation District to include an area bounded by Victory Boulevard, Howard and Highland Avenues, and Clove Road. In 1989, the City created the preservation district to preserve northern Staten Island’s sloping topography. (more…)

Civic association proposed the rezoning to protect area’s low-density character and hilly topography. On April 14, 2010, the City Council approved the Clove Lake Civic Association’s proposal to rezone twenty blocks in the Grymes Hill and Sunnyside sections of Staten Island. The area, located near Wagner College, is generally bounded by Silver Lake Park to the north, Sunnyside Terrace to the south, Highland to the east, and Clove Road to the west.

The predominately residential neighborhood features narrow, steeply graded streets and is characterized by single- family, detached homes, with small pockets of attached and detached two-family homes and multi-family buildings. The civic association proposed the rezoning in response to recent out-of-character development that replaced single-family, detached homes with two-family homes on steep roads that cannot accommodate increased traffic. The majority of the area was downzoned from R3X to R2, which only permits single family, detached homes and reflects the area’s prevailing built character. A small portion of the area to the east was rezoned from R3X to R3-2 in order to match the existing attached townhouse buildings in that area. The plan also expanded the Special Hillsides Preservation District to include an area bounded by Victory Boulevard, Howard and Highland Avenues, and Clove Road. In 1989, the City created the preservation district to preserve northern Staten Island’s sloping topography. (more…)