Planning and Development Initiatives
The Department’s zoning proposal stems from its Plan for Long Island City: A Framework for Development (Framework, 1993), which outlined a planning and development policy for Long Island City, organized around four principal land use goals:

1. Reposition 37 blocks between Court Square and Queens Plaza as a 24-hour, pedestrian oriented mixed-use and office district by increasing the allowed zoning densities and range of uses on these blocks and requiring urban design provisions consistent with other high density urban areas in the city (implemented July 2001);

2. Support continued industrial activity in the areas industrial precincts by retaining low density manufacturing districts (implemented in 1995);

3. Create opportunities for infill housing in the mixed-use Hunters Point community (implemented in 1995); and

4. Provide for continuous public waterfront access between Queens West and Queensbridge Park through the adoption of a Waterfront Access Plan (implemented in 1997).

The Framework was undertaken to integrate zoning changes and development projects approved in Long Island City beginning in 1986, including the Court Square Subdistrict, a three-block high density zoning district, and the Queens West residential and commercial East River waterfront project. These approvals have resulted in a 1.25 million square foot office building at Court Square for Citibank and a 522-unit residential building at Queens West. Ground-breaking for the second residential building occurred in December 2000.