Avella’s plan to remove Beach 116th Street defeated. On August 14, 2008, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s rezoning proposal for the Rockaway peninsula in Queens. The rezoning plan impacts 280 blocks, extending six miles from the Nassau County line to Beach 130th Street, including the neighborhoods of Rockaway Park, Rockaway Beach, Somerville, Far Rockaway, and Edgemere.

Zoning in the Rockaways has remained largely unchanged since 1961. In the past several years, increasingly out-of-scale development has endangered the built character of the neighborhood. To address this concern, City Planning’s comprehensive plan includes replacing many existing R3, R4, R5, and R6 districts with contextual zoning districts. 5 CityLand 89 (July 15, 2008). Other highlights include prohibiting construction of new semidetached housing in Rockaway Park in favor of detached homes, and the extension of commercial zoning into a residential district in Far Rockaway. To encourage reinvestment in the Rockaways, blocks adjacent to public transit have been up-zoned, including Beach 116th Street to an R7A district. (read more…)

Rockaway residents clash over plan for Beach 116th Street. After almost three years in development, the rezoning proposal for the Rockaway peninsula in Queens reached the City Planning Commission for a hearing on June 18, 2008. The plan entails a contextual rezoning of 280 blocks and impacts five neighborhoods: Rockaway Park, Rockaway Beach, Somerville, Edgemere, and Far Rockaway. The bulk of the rezoning, 245 blocks, would replace the existing zoning (R3, R4, R5, R6) with contextual zoning districts, including R3A, R4A, and R5A, which the Department of City Planning believes will go further in protecting these neighborhoods from inconsistent development. Integral to the rezoning is the proposed up-zoning of certain blocks adjacent to public transit, such as Beach 116th Street, which the City hopes will spur needed reinvestment.

Residents clashed over the specific plan for lots along Beach 116th Street, where the plan calls for an upzoning from an R5 to an R7A district. This increase would allow mixed-use buildings with a maximum building height of 80 feet, up from the existing 40-foot limit.

Supporter Vincent Castellano, a resident and Queens Community Board 14 member, explained that people oppose the idea of the upzoning until he takes them down to Beach 116th Street. Calling the block a “slum,” Castellano told the Commission that the newest building on the east side of the block was built in 1929 and the area needed revitalization. District Manager Jonathan Gaska reported that Board 14 supported the rezoning by a vote of 35- 12-2, and the twelve in opposition remained concerned with the upupzoning on Beach 116th Street. (read more…)

Residents sought rezoning to halt subdivisions and out-of-character residential development. On March 22, 2006, the Planning Commission unanimously approved a rezoning impacting 82 blocks of the Bayswater and Far Rockaway neighborhoods in Queens. The rezoned areas are predominately residential and border the Far Rockaway commercial district. The rezoning was proposed in response to overdevelopment concerns caused by the subdivision of large lots and replacement of one- and two-family homes with multi-family homes.

Existing R2, R3-2, R4, and R5 districts will be rezoned R1-2, R3A, R3X, R4A, and R4-1 to ensure that new development will match existing density and housing types. The new zoning restricts residential development to one- or two-family detached residences with height limited to 35 feet (R3A, R3X, R4A, and R4-1) or based on the sky exposure plane (R1-2). Minimum lot size requirements within the rezoning are 5,700 sq.ft. (R1-2), 2,375 sq.ft. (R3A and R4-1), 3,325 sq.ft. (R3X), and 2,250 sq.ft. (R4A). (read more…)

Developers and residents claimed rezoning was racially motivated. On September 15, 2005, the City Council approved a zoning map amendment to rezone a 21- block area encompassing Mott Creek and the West Lawrence section of Far Rockaway in Queens. The proposal was initiated by area residents concerned about their community’s over-development.

It called for the rezoning of an area bounded by Hicksville Road to the north, Beach 9th Street and Beach 6th Street to the west, Seagirt Avenue and the Far Rockaway Inlet to the south, and the Nassau County line to the east. Under the proposal, the area north of Seagirt Boulevard was rezoned from R3-1 to R4-1 to allow larger residential buildings and decrease the lot size requirement. South of Seagirt Boulevard was down-zoned from R5 to R4A and R3X. (read more…)