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....February 11, 9:23 PM |
| Rezoning’s New Challenge: College Point Next Hurdle In Battle
By Michael Rehak Continuing the fight against overdevelopment in Queens neighborhoods, fresh from gaining their first victory in Bayside, the fearsome foursome of Queens rezoning is setting its sights on its next victory.
The four-man team, which includes the chairman of the City Council zoning committee, Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside), Queens City Planning Director John Young, urban planner Paul Graziano and City Planning Project Manager Frederick Lee, unveiled their latest plan of attack last week – the rezoning of the waterfront community of College Point. Residents of this little peninsula are the only people in Queens who have views of Flushing Bay to the west and the East River to the north. But their picturesque skyline view of Manhattan is tempered by their limited road access in and out of their predominantly suburban neighborhood. With that in mind, a rezoning study, conducted by the Department of City Planning and unveiled last week at the landmark Poppenhusen Institute, lays out a number of changes to the zoning regulations that have existed since 1961. What’s Changing? The proposed changes include the new R2A zoning designation, which was created with the intent of curbing residential development in low-density areas. Before it can be certified, the changes have to pass muster with an environmental review. After that, Community Board 7, Borough President Helen Marshall, City Planning and the City Council all must sign off, though the only vote that really counts is that of the Council – the rest are all advisory. According to Young, this process could turn the College Point zoning into law by September, with three to four months for the environmental study and an additional three to four months for the legislative review. Avella said that College Point had always been zoned improperly. “No one can deny that College Point is one of the worst examples of overdevelopment in the borough of Queens and it has been going on for decades.” He added that public input is most important at this stage, so that any changes or additions could be made before it becomes certified. “One of the key factors is to understand that we need to have orderly growth of development, not rampant overdevelopment, which in the short-term, for some people, is very good, but long-term for everyone – not very good,” Young said. “And that is certainly why we have been trying to work with civic groups, local elected officials, the borough president and her zoning task force to identify what areas are really threatened by rapid changes that alter their character. The goal, he said, is to finish the rezoning process with “stable, healthy, growing communities.” Lee, the project manager behind the rezoning, said that the 240 blocks and approximately 5,000 lots of College Point that are zoned predominately residential with a perimeter of manufacturing districts around the waterfront to the south and the east will, for the most part, remain that way. |
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