City Council downzones sections of Flushing

The City Council voted unanimously to downzone sections of Queensboro Hill, Cedar Grove, Flushing-on-the-Hill, and Kissena Heights at its meeting on Wednesday, February 28. The approval went into effect immediately for the area, which is generally bounded by the Queens Botanical Garden and Kissena Corridor Park to the north; St. Mary’s Cemetery to the east; the Long Island Expressway (LIE), Queens College, and Mount Hebron Cemetery to the south; and College Point Boulevard to the west.
The new zoning regulations bring the majority of the neighborhoods down from an R4 classification, which allows all types of low-density residential structures to be built. Instead, R3X and R4A zoning will be primarily used, allowing for only one- and two-family detached homes.
“This rezoning plan protects the integrity of the existing low-density residential neighborhood of Queensboro Hill,” Councilmember John Liu said. Liu was one of the 49 Councilmembers to vote in favor of the plan. “The plan affects thousands of homes in the area and enjoys widespread support. I respect the people who do not agree with this plan and thank them for participating in the process and effectuating changes in the original plan. This plan is not simply a compromise; it is the correct approach and five to 10 years down the road, that will become more apparent.”
Originally, Community Board 7 and Borough President Helen Marshall voted for zoning to range from R2A to R3X, the former of which allows only for single-family residences.
“I was satisfied with the plan that City Planning certified,” said 40-year Queensboro Hill resident Kim Ohanian, the former president of the Queensborough Hill Community Association. Ohanian said she has been fighting for more than a decade to have restrictions put into place on the residential dwellings in the area.
“There’s no way that that neighborhood should have been an R4 neighborhood to begin with,” she said.
However, the City Planning Commission bumped up the zoning classifications to R4A after local residents protested the downzoning. For the City Council’s Land Use Committee, the classifications were reset to include R3X and R4A dwellings, a plan that was then passed onto the full Council for final approval.
Ohanian said she worried about the infrastructure of the neighborhood and whether City services would be able to handle the additional residents allowed by the new zoning regulations. “This neighborhood was not built to house 1 million people,” she said.