Tom Smith offered extensive explanation about the city's plans for the proposed rezoning project.
The rezoning of Ozone Park has finally arrived as was announced by Councilman Eric Ulrich at the march meeting of the Ozone Park Civic Association.
According to DDC, the Ozone Park rezoning was undertaken in response to concerns raised by Community Boards 9 and 10, local civic organizations and local elected officials that existing zoning didoes not closely reflect established building patterns of guide new development to appropriate locations.
The following correspondence illustrates preliminary measures taken by the Councilman nearly three years ago with a letter sent by Councilman Eric Ulrich to the Chairwoman of the City Planning Commission, the Hon. Amanda M. Burden, ne in July of 2010.
Dear Chairwoman Burden:
I write to formally request the initiation of a re-zoning Study for Ozone Park, Queens.
This neighborhood, like many communities throughout the City, has experienced rapid growth in recent years. As a result, housing patterns have changed dramatically, and new opportunities to strengthen the commercial districts in order to stimulate economic development have emerged. Unfortunately, the current zoning is a mix of strict segregation of uses, and is altogether outdated.
Now more than ever, Ozone Park demands a smarter and more flexible blueprint to help create a more livable neighborhood. Therefore, I respectfully ask for your approval and assistance in initiating a new zoning resolution for this community.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. I look forward to your response.
Very Truly Yours,
Eric A. Ulrich
Council Member
A few weeks later, the Councilman received the following piece of correspondence back from the chair.
Dear Eric,
It was a pleasure meeting you. And thank you for your letter regarding your request for a rezoning study in Ozone Park.
Rezoning in Queens have been a priority for the Bloomberg Administration as we work to provide protections from out-of-context development in a variety of lower density communities across the borough. Since the Mayor took office in 2002, the Department has shepherded the adoption rezoning proposals within the Borough of Queens, covering more than 4,600 blocks, an unprecedented amount for any eight-year period.
There is much more work to do, and the Department of City Planning has taken on an ambitious workload in order to bring the zoning in line with the prevailing character of communities throughout the city, including several Queens neighborhoods. Each of our rezoning plans require a block-by-block and lot-by-lot analysis to develop appropriate zoning strategies that best match the distinct development patterns in the neighborhoods being studied.
As you know. Among our current work programs in Queens is a study of a 220-block area in the Woodhaven and Richmond Hill communities of Community Board 9. While this study is ongoing, we expect to complete preliminary recommendations by this fall. Once recommendations have been finalized and have gained consensus in the community, the Department would work quickly to complete required environmental analysis and enter into public review in Spring 2011.
I have been briefed on your rezoning request for Ozone Park and agree that a study of this area is appropriate to Complement the Woodhaven/Richmond Hill study currently underway. While our staff is fully engaged on this study in Community District 9 and our other numerous commitments throughout Queens, I believe that we will be able to shift our resources to initiate the Ozone Park study for portions of CS’s in 9 and 10 as the bulk of work on Woodhaven is completed in the early parts of 2011. I recommend that we aim to have a kick-off conversation with the affected Community Boards and key civic stakeholders near the beginning of the year. Our Queens staff will stay in touch with you to coordinate.
I greatly appreciate your partnership and support in working with us to ensure appropriate zoning protections in Woodhaven, in Ozone Park, and throughout Queens.
Very Sincerely,
Amanda M. Burden
Engineer for the Department of City Planning, Tom Smith, was on hand at Tuesday’s meeting to explain the process and the procedure that will be taking place with regard to the rezoning procedure.
Smith explained that the goals and objectives of the project would be to protect the neighborhood character while reinforcing existing 1 and 2 family developments. Included in those objectives would also be intentions to direct a moderate amount of new residential and mixed-use development opportunities to major corridors and locations near mass transit resources and to prevent commercial encroachment into residential area and more closely match existing land use patterns with commercial overlay zoning.
See next week’s Forum when we will give you a breakdown of proposed zoning changes to
each of the varied property types, both residential and commercial and the streets on which they will occur.
