Marty: City Should Study More Residential for 4th Avenue

The Post has an article saying Borough Prez Marty Markowitz is testifying before the City Council today about how 4th Avenue can be improved beyond the zoning tweaks the Planning Dept. has on the table. The Post story notes that Markowitz will recommend that the city’s proposed “Special Fourth Avenue Enhanced Commercial District,” which will mostly require that new buildings have commercial space at street-level and is wending its way through ULURP, extend all the way south on the avenue rather than just to 24th Street. Of greater interest, however, is that Markowitz has also urged the city to look into rezoning the stretches of 4th Avenue left out of the 2003 and 2005 rezonings so they can accommodate residential builds. The borough president released a statement over the summer recommending that “City Planning conduct a zoning analysis into a greater amount of residential development along the west side of 4th Avenue between Douglass and 6th Streets and south of the Prospect Expressway to 24th Street.” (Zoning to allow for residential development between Douglass and 3rd Street was supposed to be changed as part of the Gowanus rezoning, but that initiative appears to have died when the Superfund designation came through.) The borough president’s focus on improving the avenue has also spawned the task force that’s currently holding meetings in various communities about ways to upgrade the avenue. The question, though, is whether groundwork is being laid for even more residential construction on the avenue.
Markowitz Push for Massive Fourth Avenue Rezoning Heads to Council [NY Post]