Developer poured 91 percent of the foundations of fourteen-home development before the City Council approved the Sandy Ground Rezoning. Prior to February 2010, a developer obtained excavation and foundation permits and began work on a fourteen-building development on a 44,069 sq.ft. lot at Woodrow Road and Turner Street in Staten Island. The developer planned to build nine three-story, single-family attached homes and five two-story, single-family attached homes. On February 3, 2010, the developer obtained building permits for the project. Later that day the City Council approved the Sandy Ground Rezoning, which rezoned the project site from R3-2 to R3-1, rendering the buildings out of compliance with the zoning district’s prohibition on attached homes. Because the buildings’ foundations had not been completed by the rezoning’s enactment date, the newly issued permits lapsed. In May, the developer filed an appeal with BSA to complete construction. In late July, Buildings issued a letter stating that the developer’s building permits were issued prior to the rezoning. (read more…)

Rezoning proposed to prevent attached homes in area settled by freed slaves in 1827. On February 3, 2010, the City Council approved State Senator Andrew J. Lanza’s rezoning proposal for the Sandy Ground neighborhood of Staten Island. Sandy Ground, also known as Rossville, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and recognized as one of the country’s oldest communities established by freed slaves. The rezoning impacts 35 blocks generally bounded by the West Shore Expressway to the north and west, Ramona Avenue to the south, and Lenevar and Alverson Avenues to the east.

The area is characterized predominantly by detached and semidetached homes, but over the past several years Sandy Ground has experienced an increase in the development of attached townhouses and multi-family buildings. The rezoning aims to prevent out-of-scale development by down-zoning the area from R3-2 to R3-1, a district that does not permit attached homes. (read more…)