Residents support City Planning’s proposal to use lower density and contextual zoning districts to limit out-of-character development. On April 22, 2009, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s rezoning proposal for more than 250 blocks in northeastern Queens, and the creation of a new citywide R1-2A contextual zoning district. The North Flushing rezoning plan, undertaken in response to requests from local council members, Queens Community Boards 7 and 11, and local civic groups, impacts five neighborhoods: North Flushing, Broadway-Flushing, Bowne Park, Auburndale, and Bayside. The rezoning area is generally bounded by 25th Avenue to the north, Northern Boulevard and Depot Road to the south, Clearview Expressway and Francis Lewis Boulevard to the east, and Union Street to the west.

Zoning in North Flushing has remained largely unchanged since 1961. Over the past several years North Flushing has experienced increasingly out-of-scale development in the largely residential area, which is predominantly characterized by one- and two-family detached and semi-detached houses, and with multi-family buildings located primarily in the western and southern portions. The bulk of the rezoning replaces many existing R3- 2, R4, R5, and R6 districts with lower density and contextual zoning districts, including the new R1-2A district. The rezoning also modifies commercial overlay districts to prevent intrusion of commercial uses on residential portions of blocks. Planning believes that the rezoning will ensure that future development in the area will reflect the neighborhoods’ established character. (more…)

Plan extends screening buffer waiver to community facility uses. In 1993, special waterfront zoning regulations were adopted to facilitate the redevelopment of waterfront properties. The regulations, found in Article VI Chapter 2 of the Zoning Resolution, were a response to the obstructed views, blocked public access, and out-of-character development that occurred along the City’s waterfront. The rules required developers in certain districts to construct and maintain waterfront public access areas. Over time, the rules helped create new access areas throughout the City. The access areas in Greenpoint-Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Hudson River Park, Manhattan serve as examples.

Though the regulations allowed for greater public enjoyment of the waterfront, the Department of City Planning believed revisions were necessary. Planning proposed to eliminate the design models for Shore Public Walkways and Supplemental Public Access Areas and replace them with a single set of regulations that would allow for greater design flexibility for both the walkways and access areas. The flexibility would alleviate design constraints that developers experienced when building public access areas along the highly varied conditions of the City’s waterfront. Other amendments included changes to lighting, signage, seating, bicycle parking, hours of operation, planting, and buffer requirements. (more…)

Amount of bicycle parking spaces required for affordable housing developments could be waived or reduced. On March 4, 2009, the City Planning Commission approved, with several modifications, the Department of City Planning’s proposed bicycle parking text amendment. The amendment would require developers to provide secure, enclosed bicycle parking facilities in new buildings, enlargements of buildings of 50 percent or more, and conversions to residential use.

Although the Commission expressed support for the proposal, it believed revisions were necessary to address concerns raised during its February 4th public hearing. 6 CityLand 25 (March 15, 2009). The Commission modified the text to allow affordable housing developers to allocate less space, or no space at all, for bicycle parking that would otherwise be required. The reduction or waiver would apply to cases where the development lacked space for the required number of parking spaces, the additional space could not reasonably be constructed based on the amount of financing available, and the reduction was the minimum necessary to address financial limitations. The Commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development would be required to make these three findings before Buildings could grant the waiver or reduction. (more…)

Council Members Tony Avella and Melinda Katz secure exemption for certain one- and two-family homes from new street tree requirements. On April 30, 2008, the City Council modified the Department of City Planning’s proposals to amend the zoning requirements for street trees and yards. The proposals are designed to create green streetscapes, increase open space, and ameliorate storm water runoff problems.

Under the old zoning, property owners were required to plant street trees in a limited number of special districts and only under certain conditions, such as when there is new construction in an area. The old zoning also required only one rear yard per zoning lot, to be extended along the rear lot line. (more…)

Council Member Melinda Katz is Chair of the Land Use Committee, a position she has held since 2002, when she was first elected to the City Council. The City’s land use review process requires that almost all major land use initiatives, with few exceptions, pass her desk for review. During her tenure as Chair, Katz “worked as a team” with the Bloomberg administration on the City-initiated rezonings, the largest rezoning initiative since 1961, covering roughly onesixth of the City including Hudson Yards, Greenpoint-Williamsburg, Highline-West Chelsea, Downtown Brooklyn, and the Jamaica Plan. On an unseasonably warm January day, CityLand sat down with Katz to get a feel for her perspective on land use issues

“I live in the same house I grew up in.” The daughter of two Julliard-graduates, Katz was born and raised in Forest Hills, Queens. After graduating from Hillcrest High School in Jamaica, Katz attended the University of Massachusetts where she graduated summa cum laude. She then chose to attend St. John’s University School of Law because she “was young and wanted to save the world.” During law school, Katz interned with the Legal Aid Society, United States Attorney’s Organized Crime Unit, and United States District Court Judge Michael B. Mukasey. (more…)