Looking at the Quiet Rezoning of Ozone Park

Capital New York just ran an in-depth piece regarding rezoning under the Bloomberg administration, and in particular looks at the second-largest rezoning of his tenure in Ozone Park. Under the zoning changes, most of the 530 blocks of the neighborhood were downsized, limiting development on neighborhood side streets. “Moderate density development” is permitted on main streets like 101st and Liberty Avenues.

The downzoning came into effect to preserve neighborhood character, echoing a similar downzoning that happened nearby in Richmond Hill in 2012. As Capital says: “The Bloomberg administration’s 120 rezonings did as much to change the city’s shape in places where it limited growth as where it let developers build tall, and, as the city expands, those limits could become a problem.” Throughout Bloomberg’s 12 years, downzoning more or less kept pace with upzoning. A study by the Furman Center found that upzoned areas tended to be less white and less wealthy, with fewer homeowners. Downzoned areas tended to be more white, with higher incomes and higher rates of homeownership than upzoned areas. And areas with contextual rezoning were even whiter and richer, with very high rates of homeownership. As for the long-term effects of these rezonings, no one knows for sure. It’s a matter of watching these neighborhoods grow and conform to the buildable space now allowed by the city.

The Quiet, Massive Rezoning of New York [Capital New York]