By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
The City Council and Department of City Planning have agreed on a proposal aimed at restricting the ability of community facilities to expand into residential neighborhoods, marking the first major changes to the city’s zoning resolution in more than 40 years.
In a public hearing at City Hall scheduled for Monday at 9:30 a.m., the Council’s Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee, chaired by Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside), will discuss the proposal to combat problems associated with facilities such as houses of worship and medical offices moving into low-density residential areas.
The issue has raised the hackles of northeast Queens residents who have complained of traffic, parking problems and irreversible changes to the residential character of neighborhoods caused by churches and medical offices.
“This is a major accomplishment,” said Avella of the agreement. “Nothing of this magnitude has been done before.”
City Planning spokeswoman Katie MacCracken said “it shows our commitment to working on the issue, wanting to address these community concerns.”
According to Sandy Hornick, director of strategic planning for the City Planning Department, the new proposal requires religious institutions to provide parking based on occupancy rather than on the number of fixed seats they contain. Houses of worship have been able to skirt fixed-seat parking requirements by using folding chairs instead of seats attached to the floor.
Another element of the agreement would reduce the number of low-density residential neighborhoods into which community facilities would be allowed to build rear-yard expansions.
Currently, such facilities are only restricted from building one-story rear-yard extensions in neighborhoods zoned for one-family detached homes, said Hornick.
The proposal would extend the restriction to areas with one- and two-family detached and attached homes.
Among other provisions, the proposal would make it easier for houses of worship to locate in manufacturing zones and for medical offices to locate in commercial retail zones.
Hornick expected the changes to the city’s 1961 zoning resolution to go into effect in about a year, pending a lengthy public review process.
Avella, who called the agreement “historic,” said the full Land Use Committee of the City Council would vote on the proposal Tuesday, with two thirds of committee members required to vote for it in order to move forward.
Avella said buildings already completed by the time the zoning changes take effect will be allowed to remain under the old regulations.
Hornick said there would be a series of requirements for buildings currently under construction in order for them to fall under the old regulations.
In general, a building would fall under the old rules if its foundation is substantially complete and its plans are approved by the Buildings Department by the time the laws change, said Hornick.
Tyler Cassell, president of the North Flushing Civic Association and an activist on zoning issues, said he was “ecstatic and overjoyed” at the proposal.
“It has been a long and tough struggle for many of us who fought for these changes,” said Cassell. “It just makes common sense to require religious-use public facilities to provide parking for their members based on the occupancy of the building.”
Eliott Socci, president of the Douglaston Civic Association, said some activists had sought a limitation on floor area for community facilities in residential neighborhoods, but the proposal was “in the right direction.”
The delay in the release of the long-anticipated changes had “created a fear that it wasn’t going to happen,” said Socci.
Cassell said that although the proposed zoning changes pleased him, he was “saddened that the changes didn’t happen sooner to save parts of North Flushing. At least other communities may now be saved based on these much-needed changes.”
A detailed text of the proposal will be available at Monday’s hearing, said Hornick.
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
