Twenty-one areas to lose commercial zoning overlay. In 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg formed the Staten Island Growth Management Task Force to examine over-development in the borough. The Task Force’s recommendations resulted in new zoning controls adopted in 2004 restricting the size and density of Staten Island residential development. A loophole remained for lots within residential zones that were also subject to commercial district overlays. Along with allowing commercial uses on these lots, the commercial overlays permitted large as-of- right residential developments.

The Task Force had recommended the elimination of portions of 21 commercial overlays along streets in Staten Island that remained primarily residential in character, and the Planning Department, in May 2005, initiated three separate rezoning applications to remove lots that retained their residential character from all 21 commercial overlays. (read more…)