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 as the Third Avenue Corridor Rezoning, would impact an eight-block section of the East Village bounded by East 13th and East 9th Streets and Third and Fourth Avenues.

The Auburndale, Oakland Gardens, and Hollis Hills neighborhoods of northeast Queens have recently experienced development out of scale with the area’s residential character. The rezoning would replace the area’s zoning, which has remained unchanged since 1961, with contextual zoning districts, including R1-2A, R2A, and R3X districts. The plan would also modify commercial overlays to more closely match current use patterns and to Borreduce off-street parking requirements. Planning would broadly apply R2A zoning to 295 blocks (most of Hollis Hills and portions of Auburndale and Oakland Gardens) in order to reinforce the area’s existing detached single-family and two-family housing. Queens Community Boards 7, 8, and 11 must vote on the plan by August 2, 2010. (read more…)