Map of the pilot areas for the e-scooter program across the East Bronx. Image Credit: DOT

Over two years, the program will serve an area of over 500,000 residents in the East Bronx. On August 17, 2021, the Department of Transportation’s E-Scooter Pilot program will launch in the East Bronx. Through the program, E-Scooter companies Bird, Lime, and Veo will bring 3,000 e-scooters in the first phase of the program, with an additional 3,000 scooters to be rolled out in Phase 2 of the program next year.  (more…)

Early rendering of Blondell Commons presented at the CPC Public Hearing on Jan. 30th. Image Credit: Aufgang Architects/NYC CPC

Critics raised concerns over more traffic due to larger number of parking spaces. On February 27, 2019, the City Planning Commission voted to approve an application for a nine-story mixed-use residential and commercial building at 1346 Blondell Avenue in the Westchester Square section of the Bronx. To facilitate this development, named Blondell Commons, the application calls for rezoning a portion of a larger manufacturing district that mainly features auto repair shops along Blondell Avenue. Blondell Equities LLC brought the application. (more…)

Current View of 1675 Westchester Avenue. Image Credit: Google Maps

The City Planning Commission approved the development of a new 13-story building in Bronx River with 220 affordable housing units and retail space. On August 23, 2017, the New York City Planning Commission issued a favorable report on an application from the 1675 JV Associates, LLC for a zoning map and text amendment. The zoning map amendment will change the current residential district (R6) into a mixed-use district (R8A/C2-4), and the text amendment will establish a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing area on the project site.

The site is currently home to a vacant one-story building, which the borough president described as a “community liability.” The rezoning will permit the development of a new, 13-story building with 220 housing units, 7,570 square feet of retail space, and 6,845 square feet of community facility space. The new building’s residents will enjoy a fitness center, a community room, a computer room, a children’s play room adjacent to a laundry room, an exterior terrace, a garden, and a 24-hour doorman and cameras for security. All 220 units will be affordable—available to households with an Average Median Income ranging from 30% to 100%. While the applicant intends to maintain all units as affordable, the proposed zoning text amendment would ensure that at least 30% of the units (66 units) will be permanently affordable under Option 2 for Mandatory Inclusionary Housing.
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New Business Improvement District approved after Council recommended second comment period. On February 29, 2012, the City Council approved the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to create the Westchester Square Business Improvement District in the Bronx. The district will include 145 businesses along portions of East Tremont Avenue, Williamsbridge Road, and Westchester Avenue in the northeast Bronx. The district will have first-year budget of $320,000, with $120,000 allocated to sanitation services, $95,000 to administrative expenses, and $72,000 to marketing.

The proposal had to overcome some unforeseen procedural hurdles before its formation. The BID’s 30-day public objection period expired in November 2011. The Council’s Finance Committee, however, decided to postpone its vote on the proposal after discovering that the BID Steering Committee had not complied with public notice requirements. It had hand-delivered some of the notices for the Council’s objection-period triggering public hearing, rather than using the mail as required by law. Chair Domenic M. Recchia Jr. was concerned that the error would expose the BID to legal challenges, and decided to restart the hearing process to give the Steering Committee an opportunity to provide complying notice. The Steering Committee delivered proper notice for the new hearing, and a second objection period was triggered in early January. 9 CityLand 4 (Feb. 15, 2012).  (more…)

Bronx BID formation delayed to ensure compliance with public notice requirements. On January 3, 2012, the City Council’s Finance Committee held a public hearing triggering another 30-day objection period for the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to create the Westchester Square Business Improvement District in the Bronx. The proposed BID would be within Bronx Community Boards 10 and 11. The district, with a proposed first-year budget of $320,000, would include 90 tax lots and 145 businesses.

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