Amendment restricts residential- only development in commercial districts. The City Council rezoned three areas of Staten Island and approved a text amendment to insure lower density commercial development in portions of the borough. The three areas rezoned are located along Castleton Avenue, New Dorp Lane, and Arthur Kill Road.

The Planning Department initiated the rezoning proposals and text amendment in response to recommendations made by the Staten Island Growth Management Task Force. After finding that Staten Island’s commercial areas were overdeveloped with residentialonly projects, the task force identified three main goals: discouraging inappropriate residential development, encouraging appropriate commercial development, and encouraging Staten Island’s legacy of town centers.

The approved Castleton and New Dorp Lane actions primarily replaced C4-2 districts with R3-2 districts, including commercial overlays on a total of 14 blocks. The actions also preserved the neighborhoods’ character by limiting purely commercial buildings to two stories, prohibiting ground floor residential units, and setting a 35-foot maximum height for mixed-use buildings. (read more…)