FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2004
CONTACT: RACHAELE
RAYNOFF, PRESS SECRETARY (212) 720-3471, fax: (212)
720-3219
CITY PLANNING BEGINS PUBLIC
REVIEW OF PLAN TO PRESERVE CHARACTER OF 350 BLOCKS
OF BAYSIDE, QUEENS
New zoning tool to curb supersized houses
November 1, 2004 – The Department of City Planning
(DCP) today initiated public review of a proposal to
preserve the suburban neighborhood character of a 350-block
area of Bayside, Queens, DCP Director Amanda M. Burden
announced. This is the largest such initiative to date
in Queens and is designed to reinforce Bayside’s
primarily detached and semi-detached housing patterns,
and prevent unusually large single family homes referred
to as "McMansions" and other out-of-character
development. A new zoning designation - R2A - will be
created and mapped for the first time in a portion of
Bayside. This new single-family zone will establish
new floor area definitions, require lower building wall
heights and provide sloping roof guidelines to ensure
that new homes will more closely complement the scale
of existing homes on typical single-family lots.
"We are proud to have worked with this remarkably
involved community and its elected officials to create
new zoning tools that address the challenges of out-of-character
development in Bayside," said Ms. Burden. "Not
only are we proposing lower density contextual zoning
to prevent multi-family homes from replacing the area’s
primarily one and two family character, we are also
ensuring that future single family homes complement
the character of their neighbors. This is entirely in
keeping with the Bloomberg administration’s commitment
to preserve the special qualities that have made the
City’s lower density suburban style neighborhoods
so attractive."
Council Member Tony Avella said, "The Bayside
rezoning package is a huge step forward in addressing
overdevelopment in Bayside. I am pleased to have jump
started this process. The Bloomberg administration and
the Department of City Planning are to be commended
for working expeditiously to develop this initiative.
It is our combined hope that much of what we do in Bayside
can be applied to other residential neighborhoods."
The area to be rezoned is in Queens Community Board
11 bordering Little Neck Bay and is bounded by 26th,
24th and 34th Avenues to the north, the Cross Island
Parkway to the east, Francis Lewis Boulevard and the
Clearview Expressway and 207th Street to the west, and
48th Avenue and the Long Island Expressway to the south.
Recent development trends in the area have produced
new attached and semi-detached buildings replacing single-family
detached houses as well as over-scaled new single-family
houses that do not match the character of surrounding
buildings. These changes in the area’s character
prompted requests from the local community board and
elected officials, including Councilmember Tony Avella
and State Senator Padavan, for DCP to study the area.
The resulting rezoning proposal will:
- Preserve neighborhood character by reducing the
permitted density on 118 neighborhood blocks through
the designation of contextual (R1-2, R3A, R3X, R3-1,
and R4B) zones that require new construction to more
closely match the existing building stock. These contextual
districts would replace the general residence districts
that permitted a variety of building types; and
- Create a new contextual zoning designation - R2A
- that will limit floor area exemptions for garage
use to 300 or 500 sq. ft., rather than the entire
ground floor. This 220 block zone will provide height
limits and guidelines for roofs to slope inward from
the sides and ends of every house in order to ensure
that new single-family houses will be more in keeping
with their surrounding contexts.
 View
a descriptive graphic that illustrates the R2A zoning.
The community board now has 60 days to review the proposal,
after which it will go to the Borough President, the
City Planning Commission and the City Council as part
of the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure
(ULURP). More details on the ULURP
timeline is available on the DCP website.
More information on the proposal is available at the Department of City Planning’s website.
Reference Maps:
About City Planning:
The Department of City Planning is responsible for the
City's physical and socioeconomic planning, including
land use and environmental review; preparation of plans
and policies; and provision of technical assistance
and planning information to government agencies, public
officials, and community boards.
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