New York City Council Member Rafael Espinal. Image credit: NYCC/William Alatriste
The modified East New York Rezoning includes such deep levels of affordability that Council Members referred to the rezoning plan as a “unicorn,” though all hope to use it as an example for future rezonings. On April 14, 2016, the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and Committee on Land Use held back-to-back meetings on the Department of City Planning’s East New York Rezoning Plan, which would affect the greater East New York area of Brooklyn. The proposed rezoning would make East New York the first of 15 neighborhoods to be rezoned under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York plan.
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Borinquen Court’s Main Entrance. Image credit: West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc.
West Side Federation will build new units adjacent to an existing, low-income residential building and add additional community and commercial space. On August 13, 2015, the City Council approved West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure application to build a development around the pre-existing Borinquen Court building, which is a low-income residential building geared towards senior citizens and physically-disabled individuals. The development would be located in Council District 8—represented by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito—on property bounded by Third Avenue, Alexander Avenue, 138th Street, and 139th Street in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx. The additions would yield a three-winged structure with Borinquen Court at the center, a 122-unit building attached to its west end, and a 56-unit building attached to its east end.
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