City Planning Considering Bed Stuy Rezoning
After watching portions of their neighborhood get ruined by low-end developers with no stake in the community, Community Board 3 and other Bedford Stuyvesant-based groups are finally uniting around a rezoning plan that would preserve the neighborhood’s stunning architecture while increasing the incentives for the creation of affordable housing. The plan, which the Department of…
After watching portions of their neighborhood get ruined by low-end developers with no stake in the community, Community Board 3 and other Bedford Stuyvesant-based groups are finally uniting around a rezoning plan that would preserve the neighborhood’s stunning architecture while increasing the incentives for the creation of affordable housing. The plan, which the Department of City Planning was expected to begin reviewing yesterday, would presumably follow a similar pattern to the rezoning that have happened (or are in the process of happening) in Park Slope, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. In all three cases, historic brownstone blocks have gained added protection while restrictions on height and density have been eased on major avenues to encourage affordable housing. “We want the new properties to fit in with existing properties,” said Joyce Turner, president of the Bedford Stuyvesant Real Estate Board Inc., a local non-profit that’s been active for nearly 70 years. “There has to be consistency…We need to put some controls on this. Bravo. The sooner this happens the better. Anyone have any more detail on the plan?
Bed-Stuy Zoning Plan Begins Public Review [Metro]
Photo by gkjarvis
in response to SPer’s comment, the new proposed zoning can’t really prevent ugly buildings, but it would ensure that new buildings line up with their neighbors and also prohibits parking in the front.
city planning has actually posted information about the proposal on their website, http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/bed_stuy/index.shtml
Bed-Stuy would be a perfect neighborhood to test a bonus FAR for aesthetic standards.
Let someone build big if they throw a nice Victorian facade on it.
its a start at least…anyone know how residents and others can participate and help push moves like these along?
Amen to that, 11:05. I hope this is a wake up call to Bed Stuy and other nabes that you can’t wait too long on these things, because those with money and power move fast, and you’ll be run over before you even know what hit you.
SPer has a point, too. Just because you build low, doesn’t mean you build well or even contextually. And allowing for higher development would not necessarily prevent monstrosities like the building at Classon and Fulton. As of now, landmarking is the only way a neighborhood can be assured that fugly crap like that is not flung up in every empty lot.
THANK GD!!!!! This neighborhood has been raped by lousy developers for too long, but luckily it is still packed with gorgeous brownstones. I am so glad to see this initiative happening!
How do height and density limits on side streets do anything to prevent the construction of very ugly cheap two families with driveways? “Fitting in” isn’t simply a matter of height. Sometimes what’s been built is of lower density than what was there before.