Rezonings in Bed-Stuy and Harlem Begin Review Process

City Planning Commission certified 140-block Bed-Stuy North Rezoning and 90-block West Harlem Rezoning: included in the Brooklyn proposal is a text amendment that would also apply Citywide and to areas of the Bronx. At City Planning Commission’s review session on May 7, 2012, the Commission certified the Department of City Planning’s contextual rezoning proposal for the northern half of Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. The Bedford-Stuyvesant North Rezoning plan would impact a 140-block area generally bounded … <Read More>


Mundane Items Make Zone Green Text Amendment Important

The City Council has approved Zone Green. This comprehensive zoning text amendment will enable energy efficient cutting-edge design and construction of both new and existing buildings.

During public debate of the proposal, wind turbines, green houses, and solar panels received much attention. These elements are emblematic of the green building movement; however, it is the more mundane aspects that will have the most far reaching impact on reducing our carbon footprint.

New York City’s … <Read More>


Text revisions offered to encourage energy efficiency

Proposal, dubbed the “Zone Green” initiative, would streamline implementation of energy-efficient retrofits for existing buildings and the construction of new green buildings. On February 29, 2012, the City Planning Commission heard testimony on the Department of City Planning’s “Zone Green” zoning text amendment. Planning is seeking to remove regulations that impede property owners from installing energy-saving retrofits in existing buildings and that discourage the development of new energy-efficient buildings. The proposal would broadly exempt from … <Read More>


Council modifies 130-block rezoning in western Queens

Proposed rezoning of Sunnyside-Woodside. Image: Courtesy of NYC City Planning Commission.

Modification established 80-foot building height limit along portion of Queens Boulevard. On June 23, 2011, the City Council’s Land Use Committee modified the Department of City Planning’s rezoning proposal for the Sunnyside and Woodside sections of Queens. The plan would impact 130 blocks in western Queens south of the Sunnyside Rail Yard and east of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Sunnyside, bisected by Queens Boulevard in … <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>


Eighteen-block West Clinton rezoning modified

West Clinton proposed zoning. Image: Courtesy of NYC Department of City Planning.

Proposal would permit as-of-right residential development along east side of Eleventh Avenue. On June 7, 2011, the City Council’s Land Use Committee approved the Department of City Planning and Manhattan Community Board 4’s proposed West Clinton Rezoning in Clinton, Manhattan. The eighteen-block rezoning area is generally bounded by West 55th Street to the north, West 43rd Street to the south, portions of the … <Read More>