Downzoning will preserve residential character. On October 29, 2007, the City Council approved, with modifications, City Planning’s plan to rezone 317 blocks in the St. Albans and Hollis sections of Queens.
The plan, the result of a collaborative effort between Queens Community Board 12, Council Member Leroy Comrie, and City Planning, seeks to protect the area after market pressures forced some owners to sub-divide their lots or tear down existing one- and two-family homes in favor of larger, out-of-character buildings. The plan also limits moderate residential and mixed-use development to the main commercial thoroughfares of Hollis and Merrick Avenues. The rezoning complements the larger Jamaica Plan, which the Council approved last August. 4 CityLand 117 (Sept. 15, 2007).
Under the old zoning, four different residential zoning districts allowed a variety of housing options ranging from detached single-family homes to three- and five-story apartment buildings. The new zoning more accurately reflects the area’s low-density residential character. One R3A zoning district will now cover 190 blocks — most of them located between Springfield and Baisley Boulevards, from 117th Street to 122nd Avenue — and prohibits dwellings larger than the one- and two-family variety. In addition, an existing R2 zoning district will now cover all or portions of 25 blocks, formerly zoned as R3-2 and R4, along Hollis Avenue, Farmers Boulevard and Murdock Avenue.
To prevent commercial encroachment, the plan shrinks commercial overlay depths from 150 feet to 100 feet for 31 blocks along Linden Boulevard between 180th Street and Francis Lewis Boulevard, as well as 29 blocks along Farmers Boulevard from 115th to 109th Avenues.
When the rezoning plan reached the Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning & Franchises, Board 12 supported the plan but recommended that the City rezone a three block area north of Linden Boulevard between Marne Place and west of Merrick Boulevard as R5D, instead of R6A, in order to further limit building heights to 40 feet as opposed to 70 feet.
The Council sent the plan back to the Planning Commission with the board’s modifications. The Commission approved the modifications on October 29, 2007, and the Council followed suit the same day.
ULURP Process
Lead Agency: CPC,Neg.Dec.
Comm.Bd.: QN 12,App’d, 32-0-0
Boro.Pres.: App’d
CPC: App’d, 12-0-1
Council: App’d, 49-0-0
Council: St. Albans/Hollis Rezoning, Queens (Oct. 29, 2007). CITYADMIN