Image of the Coney Island Comprehensive Rezoning Plan used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Modifications include increasing ground floor amusement requirements and easing bulk restrictions. On June 17, 2009, the City Planning Commission approved the seven linked applications comprising the City’s extensive redevelopment plan for Coney Island. The approval included demapping of streets and parkland, creation of new streets and parkland, and a 19-block rezoning, running from West 8th to West 20th Streets between Mermaid Avenue and the Riegelmann Boardwalk.

The product of over 300 public meetings dating back to 2005, the City’s plan aims to foster Coney Island’s redevelopment while insuring permanency for the amusement uses. Under the plan, the City would acquire the ride and arcade area surrounding the Wonder Wheel, map it permanently as City parkland, and connect it to the two currently mapped, protected attractions: the Cyclone and the Parachute Jump. This action would create a contiguous, permanent park along the boardwalk extending from the Parachute Jump to the New York Aquarium.

Most of the 19 blocks in the rezoning have a C7 zoning, which permits large-scale open amusement parks, but prohibits complementary uses like restaurants without entertainment. The rezoning plan would create a new Special Coney Island District, establishing regulations that would supplement and supersede the newly proposed zoning. Amusement uses would be concentrated in the Coney East subdistrict, roughly extending east of KeySpan Park from Surf Avenue to the boardwalk. Coney East would remain a C7 district, but special provisions within the Special Coney Island District would broaden permitted uses, including restaurants, bars, skate parks, and hotels, and require complementary amusement uses along the street level of new developments. Three other subdistricts would permit residential, other entertainment, and retail uses, facilitating 4,500 units of new housing, 900 of which would be affordable. (read more…)