Lower East Side to be rezoned

Under siege from developers and a land-hungry New York University, the Lower East Side and the East Village is slated for a major overhaul of zoning laws to protect the historic neighborhoods from the rampant spread of high-rise apartment towers and dormitories.

CITY 'LIMITS'

The zoning change, Burden said, is intended "to prevent the out-of-scale dormitories" that have been springing up in the neighborhood, the result of a massive expansion program by NYU, which predicts it will need 6 million square feet of new space.

"This is going to provide predictability and quality of life to a residential area," she said.

The zoning overhaul would stretch from East 13th Street on the north to Grand and Delancey streets to the south, running from Avenue D on the east to Bowery and Third Avenue on the west.

"It will definitely be helpful in terms of NYU's expansion east of Third Avenue," said Andrew Berman, president of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

But Berman said the rezoning should have covered a wider area, particularly along the Bowery, which has come under intense development pressure from residential towers and university projects.

"There are few other neighborhoods in New York City whose character is under threat as much at the moment," Berman said.

Hey, Bud, just throw a dart at a map of Queens...

Photo from Wired New York