City Council OKs Five Neighborhood Rezonings as Part of PlaNYC

The City Council approved proposals today for the rezoning of five New York neighborhoods as the Mayor presses forward with the sustainable planning goals of PlanNYC. The neighborhoods affected by the rezoning are Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Dyker Heights, Fort Hamilton, and the Bronx neighborhood of Wakefield.

The goal of the rezoning is to “catalyze growth on key corridors near transit hubs, fostering nearly 900 units of new housing and strengthening local retail activity,” according to a press release.

The full press release is below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 25, 2007

No. 257

www.nyc.gov

STATEMENT FROM MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG ON CITY COUNCIL PASSAGE OF THREE REZONINGS THAT WILL ADVANCE PLANNING GOALS OUTLINED IN PLANYC

“In PlaNYC we outlined 127 initiatives for a greener, greater New York. The three City rezoning proposals approved by the City Council today for the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton, and the Bronx neighborhood of Wakefield will help us to make progress towards fulfilling PlaNYC’s key sustainable planning goals. Specifically, these plans will catalyze growth on key corridors near transit hubs, fostering nearly 900 units of new housing and strengthening local retail activity. At the same time, they protect the scale and character of these lower density neighborhoods.

"Since 2002, we have adopted 73 rezonings, encompassing over 4,900 blocks. City Planning will continue to work with communities and elected officials throughout the city to ensure this type of sustainable planning that today’s rezonings embody. Currently, five additional rezonings that embrace PlaNYC's initiatives are in public review. Encompassing over 1000 blocks, the rezoning proposals for the communities of St. Albans and Hollis, Forest Hills South and the Upper West Side will preserve unique neighborhoods, and in Jamaica, Queens and Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, City Planning's proposals will spur the construction of over 4,700 units of housing, of which, more than 1,200 will be affordable.”