He Helped Get Carroll Gardens Contextually Re-Zoned, But Mayor de Blasio's Proposed City-Wide Zoning Plan May Soon Undermine The Neighborhood's Character

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Councilmember Rosie Mendez

Councilmember Corey Johnson

Mayor de Blasio walking past the protesters yesterday

Back on October 28, 2009,  the Carroll Gardens neighborhood received the long-awaited news that the brownstone neighborhood had finally achieved a significant measure of protection from out-of scale development.  On that day, the New York City Council had unanimously approved the Department of City Planning’s Contextual Rezoning of the neighborhood.

The purpose of the contextual zoning was to "preserve [Carroll Gardens'] neighborhood character and scale" by limiting building heights to "better reflect the existing, predominantly row house character."
It had taken months of hard work from neighborhood residents to get to that point and, deservedly, it felt like a wonderful success.

The contextual  re-zoning had been sponsored by our then- Councilmember Bill de Blasio, who called the measure a “victory" made possible by “the many community organizations and activists who demanded that the voice of their neighborhood was heard.”

That measure of protection for Carroll Gardens is now put in jeopardy by de Blasio now that he is Mayor.  In February,  he and his administration quietly released an ambitious plan to change New York City's zoning laws to purportedly increase the amount of affordable housing in the City and to "make it easier to  prevent out of scale development while still allowing for building upgrades, improvements and modest expansions." Further, the City will seek to unlock new development opportunities and lower costs by eliminating outdated regulations."
Called "Housing New York: Zoning for Quality and Affordability", the plan aims to increase height limits across the board, including in contextually rezoned neighborhoods like ours.

The De Blasio administration is pushing this through at break-neck speed. Barely a month after releasing the plan, the Department of City Planning held a public scoping meeting yesterday afternoon in Manhattan. It is the first step in the Uniform Land Use Review Process, which will culminate with a vote in the City Council.

Ahead of yesterday's scoping hearing, neighborhood organizations throughout New York City joining together for a press conference and rally on the steps of City Hall to express their concerns about the plan, "which would drastically reduce neighborhood zoning protections and raise height limits throughout the city."

Councilmembers Corey Johnson and Rosie Mendez joined protesters to express their concern.  Mendez believes that the new regulations will change the unique character of the city's neighborhoods forever and will undo the careful re-zonings of the past few years.

The general feeling amongst the protesters was that this plan represented an up zoning which was meant to benefit developers and that there was little proof that it would actually create the affordable housing that it promised.

During the protest, Mayor de Blasio walked past. He was greeted by loud 'boos'.

The sentiment of the protesters was echoed by many at the actual scoping hearing yesterday.
The Village Voice has a great write-up on the many testimonies given by representatives from many Community Boards across the city, as well as from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and 26 other Manhattan elected officials.

I urge everyone to please get familiar with this issue since it will affect our neighborhood as well as the rest of the City forever.

Below are some additional articles that are of interest.

‘Citywide Rezoning Plan Would Benefit Developers, Hurt Neighborhoods’
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/zoning-qa/presentation_0215.pdf

‘Zoning Changes Made in Haste Makes For Bad
Government’
http://chelseanow.com/2015/03/zoning-changes-made-in-haste-makes-for-bad-government/

‘Zoning Process Too Fast For CB4′
http://chelseanow.com/2015/03/zoning-process-too-fast-for-cb4/