Lesser house renovations could continue after R2A

The new R2A zoning, which restricts developers from compromising the integrity of established neighborhoods by creating new age McMansions, has also restricted long-time homeowners in the midst of lesser renovations. Under City Planning's new proposal, however, that will no longer be a problem.
City Planning Director Amanda Burden recently announced proposed new objective standards and procedures to enable homeowners who are caught in the process of improving their homes when more restrictive R2A zoning is adopted to complete their alterations.
The issue was raised by Queens Councilmember Tony Avella on behalf of homeowners who had been stymied in the midst of such renovations during recent rezonings.
Under the proposal, if homeowners have completed structural framing at the time an R2A rezoning goes into effect they will be spared the angst of time-consuming and expensive appeals to the City’s Board of Standards and Appeals, as residents were forced to do in Bayside when 200 stop-work orders were issued.
Instead, if the Buildings Department finds that required structural framing for the alteration is complete, they will be given the go-ahead to complete their project. &#8220We've identified changes to the vesting alteration requirements that will simplify the process for homeowners in areas to be rezoned R2A, effectively eliminating an unnecessary hardship,” Director Burden said.
That doesn't help other residents who are not in the process of additions to their homes, although they may want to in the future. &#8220It's a band-aid solution,” said Chris Petallides, president of the Queens chapter of the New York State Society of Professional Engineers. &#8220What about the people that never started who want to renovate? What about them? It's nonsense.”
Public review, a 60-day period when the community can voice their displeasure at the new zoning, has also begun on a rezoning proposal to preserve the suburban neighborhood character of a 135-block area in the northeast Queens neighborhoods of Douglaston and Little Neck. Since a November Little Neck-Douglaston Civic Association meeting to discuss R2A, the homeowners have voiced their displeasure; recently, a petition with 400 signatures opposing R2A was sent to Councilman Avella.
&#8220He chooses to ignore it,” said Petallides, a former member of Community Board 11 who has clashed with the Bayside Councilman in the past. &#8220He doesn't care what the community wants.”
Community Board 11 Chair, Jerry Iannece, praised City Planning for holding off on its certification of the Little Neck and Douglaston neighborhoods, allowing him to hold a public hearing at the first meeting after the summer, September 5th. He will hold three committee meetings, hoping to get all the opinions on the proposed zoning out in the open. &#8220There is opposition,” he said, &#8220and there are others who favor it.”
As in other neighborhoods, much of the existing zoning in these areas has been in place since 1961. In Douglaston and Little Neck, the Department is proposing contextual and lower-density zones, including R2A and others that would reflect the current neighborhood character of one- and two-family dwellings, and prevent out-of-scale development.
Councilmember David Weprin, who represents the southern portion of the area, between the Long Island Expressway and the Grand Central Parkway, said &#8220The re-zoning of Little Neck/Douglaston has been a complex yet thorough process. I am pleased that this new procedure will address the need to preserve our community’s integrity.”
R2A is also currently being studied in such areas as North Flushing, Laurelton, and Hollis Hills.