Tom Smith, City Planning (Photo: QueensPost)
March 16, 2010 By Christian Murray
If the New York City Planning Dept’s preliminary recommendations for Sunnyside and Woodside go through be ready for some large buildings to go up on Queens Blvd. when the real estate market picks up.
Tom Smith, from City Planning, outlined all the different zones that would apply to the Sunnyside/Woodside neighborhoods at the local United Forties meeting in Woodside Tuesday.
A bamboozled audience were told about R7As, R5ds, C4-4As, R5bs, R7-1s, etc.
However, upon review, it would appear that between 39th Place and 48th Street on Queens Blvd. the changes would make way for some significantly bigger buildings.
A new zone, called a “C4-5X,” would apply to this 10-block stretch of Queens Blvd. What that means is that a developer would be able to erect a building that is 5 times the size of the zoning lot area. For example, a property owner with a 10,000 sqf. zoning lot would be permitted to construct 50,000 sqf of building space.
Currently, Queens Blvd between 39th Place and 41st is zoned an R5. In this zone, a developer can build a structure that is only 1.25 the size of the zoning lot. Between 41st and 44th Street, the existing zoning is a R7-1 enables a builder to develop a structure 3.44 times the zoning lot space. And property located between 44th and 48th street (excluding community centers) is currently zoned a “c4-2”, allowing builders to go only 3 times the zoning lot size.
Unfortunately, City Planning has not uploaded its preliminary recommendations to its website.
However, residents still have time to provide their feedback. The Community Board 2, which is representing the interests of the community, is interested in hearing from the public.
For further information, go the City Planning website at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/home.html
For the existing map, click on this link and scroll to the bottom right hand corner.
