Saturday, July 11, 2009

Auburndale rezoning not going smoothly

From the Times Ledger:

The City Planning Commission is readying a long-awaited and massive rezoning geared at protecting the communities of Auburndale, Kissena Park, Oakland Gardens and Hollis Hills, but community leaders said initial drafts of the proposal are far from adequate.

City Planning is expected to begin the public approval process on a massive contextual rezoning that would affect upwards of 15,000 homes in northern Queens as early as September. City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) said community leaders will be briefed in the coming weeks on an initial draft of the proposal, but urban planner Paul Graziano said many will not like what they will see.

“Some of the things they are proposing are just counter-intuitive. There are some big issues here that are going to get messy,” Graziano said. “I found at least six major flash points that deal with large chunks of the district that need major work.”

Democratic District Leader James Wu, who has also seen the proposal, said the City Planning Commission has suggested that a 50-block area of Kissena Park and Auburndale be rezoned to allow for two-family homes when approximately 73 percent of the area is single-family homes, according to statistics compiled by Graziano.

“We want to preserve the neighborhood. I understand there is a need to grow, but you need to have a neighborhood grow in the same context of what’s there,” Wu said. “If you do this, you’re going to have a lot of people taking advantage. Why destroy the neighborhood like that?”

Graziano said he believes Mayor Michael Bloomberg is pressuring the City Planning Commission to rush the proposal ahead of November’s election, and while it is possible to iron out the kinks, size and scope of the project, it means it likely will not go smoothly.

“It is not good enough, not even close,” he said. “There is a fight a brewing.”

10 comments:

Joe Citizen said...

News like this will make more people aware of Doomberg's agenda and voters will have a chance to show their disapproval in November. Although some posters on Queens Crap think that his re-re-election is a given, I believe that nothing is a sure thing.

Anonymous said...

LOL, even the NIMBYs admitted that 30% of the homes are two-family, yet they have a problem with two-family zoning?

They don't understand the meaning of the term "contextual"? If a zoning district consists of BOTH one and two families, then it it only contextual if you allow BOTH. If you only allowed ONE, it would be anti-contextual, and would be an attempt to harm the neighborhood (which, of course, is what Queens-crap NIMBYs want).

Anonymous said...

No, idiot tower person, you seem to not understand what contextual zoning is. It is supposed to preserve the majority of what's present in the district. It is not supposed to promote the wholesale redevelopment of the one family homes into two-family homes. The majority of the homes are one-family, then the two-family homes are non-conforming.

Anonymous said...

And it's 73% of the district, not 70%.

Anonymous said...

Here's a stupid question...

What the hell is a "tower person"?

Anonymous said...

IG:

Think the "new" LIC and the people who are convinced that Queens has "arrived" simply because they just did.

Anonymous said...

AHA!
In other words, people I would want to punch in the face if I saw them, huh?

This site IS so educational!

:)

Democratic Dictionary said...

Democatic Dictionary:

Tower People:

Subsidized by Archie and Edith's taxes that they pay expecting to get services, they have new electrical wiring, street trees, access to waterfront parks, press coverage for their whining, would think nothing of picnicing in a cemetary filled with your relatives, and believes everything bloomturd tells them.

They have no interest in getting out of their tower, or off their bike seat, to find out what the real Queens residents are like.

Anonymous said...

auburndale should take what they can get

Anonymous said...

Auburndale will get everything they want (that is fair and contextual with what exists on the ground).
Either that or Mighty John Young and Bloomturd get nothing, no approval.