Dutch Kills Hears Final Rezoning Proposal
From the Western Queens Gazette
Dutch Kills Civic Hears Final Zoning Subdistrict Plans
BY THOMAS COGAN
A sizable audience heard about the final draft of the zoning proposal for the Dutch Kills subdistrict at the Dutch Kills Civic Association March meeting. Explaining it all were Joy Chen and Penny Lee from the Department of City Planning. The meeting in St. Patrick’s school on 28th Street, three blocks north of Queensboro Plaza, was sometimes contentious, especially when some commercial property-holders said that the proposed new zoning would be inimical to business growth in the 40-block Dutch Kills zone. Others said that building relatively small residences on small lots would be so costly it would be unfeasible, and still others said that in the case of a certain street, 41st Avenue, building tall on one side and low-rise on the other was a dubious proposition. Despite such disputes, the meeting was largely positive and many came away believing that the attempt to revitalize the Dutch Kills neighborhood would be successful. The Dutch Kills subdistrict is proposed to remove residential restrictions and provide as-of-right residential opportunities- with incentives for developers to build affordable units, retain existing light industrial businesses, maintain the existing scale of two- and three-story buildings on mid-blocks and provide greater density on wide streets or near public transportation to accommodate growth. Among other things, City Planning’s clearly stated goal for its project intends to address the long-standing ban on rebuilding or enlarging residences within Dutch Kills and allow it to be rescinded, with manageable consequences. Most of the new zoning would be either M1-2/R5B or M1-2/R5D, reflecting the mix of (light) manufacturing and residences. Either would allow floor area ratios (FAR) to be equal or greater for residential than for industrial builders, with building heights no more than 33 feet or three stories for M1-2/R5B (1.65 FAR) or 40 feet or three- to-four stories for M1- 2/R5D (2 FAR). Buildings in an M1- 2/R6A (3 FAR) zone would have a maximum building height of 70 feet, or five to seven stories. For the section along Northern Boulevard that extends a block or two into Dutch Kills, M1-3/R7X (5 FAR, including ratio/3.5 base FAR) zoning would call for a maximum height of 125 feet and rise between eight and 12 stories. This last zone is expected to be the site of high-rise apartment buildings with inclusionary housing into the bargain- meaning that 20 percent of it would be “affordable”. (A clarification of “affordable” was requested during the meeting and Penny Lee said it was based on the regional income average, not on the city average.) All this has been done with hope for orderly development that supports the infrastructure and avoids strain.