Willets Point Headscratcher series, part 4

Here's an easy lesson in zoning for you. M3 zones are for heavy manufacturing. They are the only zones which allow for Group 18 uses as-of-right. What is Group 18?

- From the Department of City Planning's Zoning Text -
Use Group 18 consists primarily of industrial uses which:
(1) either involve considerable danger of fire, explosion or other hazards to public health or safety, or cannot be designed without appreciable expense to conform to high performance standards with respect to the emission of objectionable influences; and
(2) normally generate a great deal of traffic, both pedestrian and freight.

A. Manufacturing establishments
Asphalt or asphalt products
Beverages, alcoholic or breweries
Brick, tile or clay
Cement
Charcoal, lampblack or fuel briquettes
Chemicals, including acetylene, aniline dyes, ammonia, carbide, caustic soda, cellulose, chlorine, carbon black or bone black, cleaning or polishing preparations, creosote, exterminating agents, hydrogen or oxygen, industrial alcohol, potash, plastic materials or synthetic resins, rayon yarns, or hydrochloric, picric, or sulphuric acids or derivatives
Coal, coke or tar products
Excelsior or packing materials
Fertilizers
Foundries, ferrous or non-ferrous
Gelatin, glue or size
Glass or large glass products, including structural or plate
glass or similar products
Grain, milling or processing
Graphite or graphite products
Gypsum
Hair, felt, or feathers, bulk processing, washing, curing or dyeing
Incineration or reduction of garbage, offal or dead animals
Insecticides, fungicides, disinfectants, or related
industrial or household chemical compounds
Leather or fur tanning, curing, finishing or dyeing
Linoleum or oil cloth
Machinery, heavy, including electrical, construction, mining, or agricultural, including repairs
Matches
Meat or fish products, including slaughtering of meat or preparation of fish for packing
Metal or metal ores, reduction, refining, smelting or alloying
Metal alloys or foil, miscellaneous, including solder, pewter, brass, bronze, or tin, lead or gold foil or similar products
Metal or metal products, treatment or processing, including enameling, japanning, lacquering, galvanizing or similar processes
Metal casting or foundry products, heavy, including ornamental iron work or similar products
Monument works, with no limitation on processing
Paint, varnishes or turpentine
Petroleum or petroleum products, refining
Plastic, raw
Porcelain products, including bathroom or kitchen equipment or similar products
Radioactive waste disposal services involving the handling or storage of radioactive waste
Railroad equipment, including railroad cars or locomotives
Rubber, natural or synthetic, including tires, tubes or similar products
Sewage disposal plants
Ship or boat building or repair yards, for ships or boats 200 feet in length or over
Soaps or detergents, including fat rendering
Steel, structural products, including bars, girders, rails, wire rope or similar products
Solvent extracting
Stock yards or slaughtering of animals or poultry
Stone processing or stone products, including abrasives, asbestos, stone screenings, stone cutting, stone work, sand or lime products, or similar processes or products
Sugar refining
Textile bleaching
Wood or bone distillation
Wood or lumber processing including sawmills or planing mills, excelsior, plywood, or veneer, wood-preserving treatment or similar products or processes
Wood pulp or fiber, reduction or processing, including paper mill operations
Wool scouring or pulling

B. Storage or miscellaneous uses, open or enclosed
Coal or gas storage
Dumps, marine transfer stations for garbage or slag piles
Electric power or steam generating plants
Explosives storage, when not prohibited by other ordinances
Gas manufacturing plants
Grain storage
Junk or salvage yards, including auto wrecking or similar establishments, provided that such yard is completely enclosed on all sides by a solid opaque fence or wall (including solid opaque entrance and exit gates) of suitable uniform material and color, at least eight feet in height and constructed in accordance with rules and regulations to be promulgated by the Commissioner of Buildings
Lumber yards, with no limitation on lot area per establishment
Manure, peat or topsoil storage
Petroleum or petroleum products, storage or handling
Refrigerating plants
Scrap metal, junk, paper or rags storage, sorting, or baling, provided that any yard in which such #use# is conducted is completely enclosed on all sides by a solid opaque fence or wall (including solid opaque entrance and exit gates) of suitable uniform material and color, at least eight feet in height and constructed in accordance with rules and regulations to be promulgated by the Commissioner of Buildings

So as you can see, the shiny new condos and schools proposed for Willets Point would be adjacent to highly polluting businesses with a bunch of congested highways thrown in. A great place to live, especially if you have asthma. Does this sound like good urban planning to you? The Department of City Plotting strikes again!