Commission down-zones another Queens neighborhood. On April 13, 2005, the Planning Commission approved another of the Bloomberg administration’s down-zoning initiatives by rezoning 40 blocks of Kissena Park, a small residential neighborhood directly north of its namesake, the 235-acre Kissena Park.

The down-zoning, commenced at the urging of the Kissena Park Civic Association, would be the first rezoning plan passed since 1961 in this predominately one and two-family home residential neighborhood. Designed to match the context of the area’s buildings, the action proposed replacing the current R3-2 zoning with three districts (R2, R3A and R3X) that would generally limit future development to one and two-family homes on all 40 blocks. The current zoning allows rowhouse and large apartment development. The proposal would impact an area generally bound by 45th and 46th Avenues and Parson Boulevard to the east, Rose Avenue and Colden Street to the south and Mulberry Avenue, Union Street and Kissena Boulevard to the west. (more…)

Related Companies withdrew its big-box retail proposal after Committee unanimously disapproved. On February 16, 2005, Related Retail Bruckner LLC withdrew its application for a special permit and map amendment to allow the development of a 130,000 sq.ft. BJ’s Warehouse Club, which was scheduled for a full Council vote that day. BJ’s had gained the unanimous approval of the Planning Commission, but faced likely defeat at the full Council meeting after its Land Use Committee unanimously disapproved the application on February 10, 2005. Objections pertained to potential traffic impacts, BJ’s labor history and the project’s effect on existing Bronx supermarkets.

The 430,000 sq.ft. site considered for the project is located within the Throgs Neck/Schuylerville area along Brush Road, directly north of Monsignor Scanlon High School and south of the junction between the Bruckner and Cross-Bronx Expressways and the Hutchinson River Parkway. Westchester Creek, St. Raymond’s Cemetery and the parkway and expressways separate the site from the bordering residential districts. Currently, the site contains a large, 42,000 sq.ft. warehouse building, a vacant restaurant and inn, and a parking lot used by the U.S. Postal Service. (more…)

New district created to curb development of Queens “McMansions.” On March 14, 2005, the Planning Commission unanimously approved the Bloomberg administration’s largest proposed down-zoning to date and a new citywide zoning district to be applied first to Bayside, a Queens neighborhood characterized predominantly by single-family detached homes. The approved 350-block down-zoning of Bayside, commenced at the urging of Council Member Tony Avella and local residents, seeks to end the rising development in Bayside of semi-detached homes, apartment buildings and oversized single-family homes referred to by the community as “McMansions.”

The Planning Department proposed to down-zone an area bounded generally by Francis Lewis Boulevard and Clearview Expressway to the west, the Cross Island Parkway to the east, 24th and 26th Avenues to the north and, on the south, by the Long Island Expressway. (more…)

Suit claims environmental study was flawed and Council’s approval violated City land use plans. Five Brooklyn residents and the Coalition to Revitalize Our Waterfront Now, a citizen group formed in 2003 to advocate for sustainable waterfront development in Red Hook, filed suit in Supreme Court on February 8, 2005, seeking to void the City’s approval of an Ikea superstore on a 22-acre site along Brooklyn’s Erie Basin.

Ikea received the City’s final approval in October 13, 2004 for a proposed 346,000 sq.ft. furniture store that would be the largest Ikea in the U.S. The development required a zoning amendment, special approvals to exceed size and height limits, and a finding that it was consistent with the City’s coastal zone management plan. (more…)

Undersized Staten Island lot can be developed if trees replanted. Owners of an undersized, 9,733 sq.ft. Staten Island lot at 380 Lighthouse Avenue sought to construct a single-family home that required variance approvals because of the small lot size and because the proposed home failed to meet rear or side-yard requirements.

The lot fell within the Special Natural Area District, a 1974 zoning control passed by the City to protect existing topography, trees, plantings and integral sloping, triggering a separate review. Under the zoning resolution, the Planning Commission normally has jurisdiction over the requirements to protect a lot’s natural features, but with 380 Lighthouse Avenue, only BSA could grant approval because the lot was less than 12,500 sq.ft. and the Planning Commission lacked jurisdiction to vary lot size. (more…)