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Planning Framework:
• Background
• Existing Zoning
• Decline
in Industrial Activity
• Residential
Growth
• Land
Use Framework
The existing zoning in Greenpoint-Williamsburg
reflects historical land uses. Blocks nearest
the waterfront are zoned M3, a district that accommodates
heavy industrial uses. Adjoining M1 zones, permitting
light industry such as warehouses, form a buffer
between the waterfront M3 zone and the traditional
upland residential core. The M1 and M3 manufacturing
designations permit industrial and some commercial
uses, but they do not permit new residential uses.
The maximum permitted floor
area ratio (FAR) in these M districts is 1.0
or 2.0.
Although areas to the east and south of the study
area permit residential use (R6, R7 and C4-3 zoning
districts), new residences within the 170-block
study area itself are either not permitted at
all, or are permitted in a limited way only in
two special districts established in the 1970s
in recognition of their mixed use character.
The Special
Northside Mixed Use District (N), created
in 1976, has two mixed-use components: primarily
residential R(M) areas, and primarily industrial
M(R) areas. Specified industrial uses are allowed
by special permit in R(M) areas. Most residential
development is allowed only by special permit
in M(R) areas. Only a handful of special permit
applications have been filed since the district
was created. Nevertheless, residential use has
spread and, in areas designated for primarily
industrial use, manufacturing activity has declined
sharply.
The Special
Franklin Street Mixed Use District (FR),
is essentially a residential district that permits
a limited number of industrial uses by special
permit. Since 1975, nearly all industrial use
has left and, in the past two years, three new
residential buildings have been constructed in
the district. |
