Mayor’s rezoning plan flawed

We, the Coalition Against the Mayor’s Rezoning Plan, represent a growing number of concerned civic leaders united in opposition to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed rezoning plan. The two-part plan, Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA) and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH), is designed to increase affordable housing — a laudable goal. However, the high-density development that these plans encourage and incentivize will be a great boon to developers at the expense of our community’s open space, air, light, views and unique character. 

Rezoning will impact our community in a number of ways:

Producing taller, denser buildings and greatly increasing the number of community facilities; 

Allowing multi-family apartment buildings in low-density R-1 and R-2 single-family residential areas by changing zoning definitions;

Accelerating the demolition of private homes and small businesses to create building sites for large developments;

Eliminating or reducing the required number of on-site parking spaces that developers are currently required to provide, resulting in more time spent circling the block searching for scarce parking spots;

Overcrowding local schools and overburdening aging infrastructure; 

Making it easier for developers to obtain special permits and to win variances at the Board of Standards and Appeals without regard for impact on community character;

Mr. de Blasio’s one-size-fits-all plan undermines Community Board 8’s 197-a Plan, which was adopted by the City Planning Commission and the City Council in 2003. That plan resulted in a series of zoning actions to “preserve the scale and character of area neighborhoods” in North Riverdale, Central Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Van Cortlandt Village and elsewhere, plus text amendments for the Special Natural Area District and expansion of SNAD boundaries.