Elected Officials, Community Groups Rally Against Mayor’s Citywide Rezoning Plan

Speakers argued the plan eliminates residential zoning protections with little affordable housing benefit.  On March 25, 2015 the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation held a press conference on the steps of City Hall to protest Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed citywide rezoning plan, “Zoning for Quality and Affordability”.  According to the Department of City Planning, the plan was created in response to zoning barriers identified by DCP and the Department of <Read More>


Crown Heights West Rezoning Approved by City Council

City Council approved Crown Heights rezoning despite calls for mandatory inclusionary housing and anti-harassment legislation. On September 16, 2013, the Brooklyn Borough Office of the Department of City Planning testified before the City Council’s Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises in support of its proposal to rezone 55 blocks in the western portion of Crown Heights (Crown Heights West). Crown Heights West is bounded by Atlantic Avenue, Pacific, Dean and Bergen streets to the … <Read More>


City Planning’s Carol Samol on Redevelopment in the Bronx and Reforming the City’s Land Use Review Process

As director of the Department of City Planning’s Bronx Office, Carol Samol uses zoning tools to promote sustainable economic development in the Bronx. She has also participated as a leader in a broader City effort to reform the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure’s pre-certification process.

Journey to the Bronx. Samol grew up in the upper Ohio Valley near Wheeling, West Virginia and studied English at Berea College, a small liberal arts college in Kentucky. … <Read More>


Rezonings in Manhattan and Queens begin public review

Tribeca, West Village, and Rosedale in SE Queens would be affected. On June 7, 2010, the City Planning Commission certified the Department of City Planning’s rezoning proposals for sections of Queens and Manhattan. The Queens rezoning would impact the 193-block Rosedale section of southeast Queens. Planning’s North Tribeca rezoning would impact a 25- block area below Canal Street. A third plan would rezone a six-block portion of the West Village bounded by Washington and Greenwich … <Read More>


Rezonings in three boroughs begin public review

Planning proposed contextual rezonings in Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan. On May 24, 2010, the City Planning Commission certified the Department of City Planning’s contextual rezoning proposals for sections of Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan. The Queens rezoning would impact a 418-block portion of northeast Queens and would be the City’s largest rezoning. The Bronx plan would rezone 75 blocks along the central Bronx’s Third Avenue and Tremont Avenue corridors. The Manhattan proposal, referred to … <Read More>


Astoria rezoning approved

Astoria’s 238-block contextual rezoning received strong support from Council Member Vallone. On May 25, 2010, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s contextual rezoning plan for Astoria, Queens. The plan impacts 238 blocks bounded by 20th Avenue to the north, Broadway to the south, Steinway Street to the east, and the East River and Vernon Boulevard to the west. The rezoning replaces the area’s predominant R5 and R6 zoning with contextual zoning districts, … <Read More>