Credit: Karl Fischer Architect

Developer’s two-building, 69-unit project will include 14 units of affordable housing. On September 12, 2012, the City Council approved Walton Realty Associate’s proposal to rezone a three-block area in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn to permit residential uses. The rezoning impacted portions of three blocks located just outside the Broadway Triangle Urban Renewal Area and generally bounded by Middleton and Wallabout Streets and Union and Marcy Avenues. Walton Realty requested the rezoning in order to develop a two-building residential project at 59 Walton Street. The buildings will rise eight stories and provide a total of 69 rental units, and is expected to include 14 units of affordable housing built using the Inclusionary Housing Program’s floor area bonus.

Brooklyn Community Board 1 and Borough President Marty Markowitz supported the proposal but asked that Walton Realty guarantee that it would provide the affordable housing component.

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Contextual rezoning would impact 130 blocks in Sunnyside and Woodside neighborhoods. On May 25, 2011, the City Planning Commission heard testimony on the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone 130 blocks in the Sunnyside and Woodside sections of Queens. The proposal would impact approximately 2,800 tax lots generally bounded by the Sunnyside Rail Yard and 37th Avenue to the north, Roosevelt and Woodside Avenues to the south, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and 72nd Street to the east, and 39th Place to the west.

The Sunnyside and Woodside neighborhoods were established after the opening of the Queensboro Bridge in the early 1900s and the subsequent extension of what became the elevated No. 7 subway line. Sunnyside, located in the western portion of the study area, is predominately characterized by large, multi-family apartment buildings. Woodside is primarily characterized by one- and two-family homes and small apartment buildings. (more…)

Eighty-block rezoning encourages residential development along Webster Avenue and limits out-of-character development in Norwood and Bedford Park neighborhoods. On March 23, 2011, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s 80-block Webster Avenue/Bedford Park/Norwood Rezoning plan. The rezoning affected thirteen blocks along Webster Avenue between 193rd and 211th Streets and the surrounding residential side streets of Bedford Park and Norwood. Webster Avenue is characterized by low-rise buildings, heavy commercial uses, parking lots, and vacant lots. Bedford Park and Norwood are developed with a mix of attached, semi-detached, and detached homes, along with five- and seven-story apartment buildings.

The plan replaced the majority of Webster Avenue’s C8-2 zoning with residential districts and commercial overlays to encourage mid-rise residential development and promote new commercial uses. The City’s Inclusionary Housing Program will now apply along sections of Webster Avenue. Bedford Park and Norwood’s R7-1 zoning was replaced with residential districts that include height limits to ensure that future development matches existing scale. (more…)

Rezoning would impact 75 blocks along the Third Avenue and Tremont Avenue corridors. On September 15, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone 75 blocks along the intersecting Third Avenue and Tremont Avenue corridors in central Bronx. The L-shaped rezoning area comprises three sections. The east/west Tremont Avenue corridor is bounded by Daly Avenue and Webster Avenue. The industrial Third Avenue corridor, running north/south, is generally bounded by East 189th Street and East 175th Street. A third section, the Neighborhood Preservation Area, borders the Third Avenue corridor to the west and extends to Park Avenue between Cyrus Place to the north and Tremont Avenue to the south.

Planning seeks to expand the development potential along the mixed-use corridors while preserving the existing residential character of the Neighborhood Preservation Area. To promote the creation of affordable housing, the proposal would apply the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program to the Third and Tremont Avenue corridors. The rezoning would also apply three mixed-use districts to the Third Avenue corridor in order to preserve existing light industrial uses and encourage the redevelopment of vacant and underutilized lots. (more…)

Proposal would establish new height and bulk regulations in northern portion of Special Tribeca Mixed Use District. On September 15, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved the Department of City Planning’s North Tribeca Rezoning proposal. The 25-block rezoning area is generally bounded by Canal Street to the north, Walker and Hubert Streets to the south, Broadway to the east, and West Street to the west. The plan would impact the Special Tribeca Mixed Use District’s A4, B1, and B2 subareas. It would replace the area’s existing M1-5 manufacturing zoning with a C6-2A commercial mixed-use district and create new special district subareas that better reflect northern Tribeca’s increasingly residential and commercial character.

North Tribeca was primarily a manufacturing district characterized by industrial and warehouse buildings, with limited residential uses. As the industrial base declined in the 1960s and 70s, vacant buildings attracted new residential and commercial tenants. The City in 1976 created the Special Tribeca Mixed Use District to establish zoning rules that permitted controlled residential uses to coexist with light manufacturing uses. The special district applied flexible residential use regulations to the southern portion of Tribeca, but prohibited new residential development in North Tribeca in order to preserve its industrial character. (more…)