Council Member Sanders claimed that contextual rezoning would check development pressure. On September 16, 2010, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s 193-block rezoning proposal in Rosedale, Queens. The contextual rezoning impacts a triangular-shaped area generally bounded by Idlewild Park and Hook Creek to the south, the Nassau County border to the east, and Brookville Boulevard to the west. Planning proposed the rezoning in order to reinforce Rosedale’s lowdensity suburban character against recent development pressure.
Sunrise Highway divides the study area into a northern portion, zoned R2, and a southern portion, previously zoned R3-2. Although both sections are characterized by single-family detached homes, the flexibility of the R3-2 zoning, which permits detached and attached housing and small apartment buildings, had resulted in pockets of out-of-character development. The rezoning targeted the southern portion and replaced the majority of its R3-2 zoning with contextual zoning districts, including R3-1 and R3X, in order to limit new development to existing land use patterns.
At the City Planning Commission’s hearing, Council Member James Sanders Jr., whose district includes Rosedale, and local leaders expressed support for the rezoning. The Commission unanimously approved the plan. 7 CityLand 122 (Sept. 15, 2010).
At the Council’s Zoning & Franchises Subcommittee hearing, Council Member Sanders said the zoning had permitted out-of-context, cheaply made “monstrosities,” and described the situation as “a ghetto-in-the-making” where developers “had feasted on the community.” Sanders also urged Planning to contextually rezone the nearby Springfield neighborhood, noting that the City’s established communities should not be “gutted and sacrificed [at] the alter of the almighty dollar.”
The Subcommittee, Land Use Committee, and full Council unanimously approved the rezoning.
Review Process:
Lead Agency: CPC, Neg. Dec.
Comm. Bd.: QN 13, App’d, 35-0-0
Boro. Pres.: App’d
CPC: App’d, 12-0-0
Council: App’d, 48-0-0
Council: Rosedale Rezoning (Sept. 16, 2010)