Zoning and Development was the topic of the day at a recent Queens Chamber of Commerce meeting.
During a presentation on April 22, John Young, Director of the Queens Office of the Department of City Planning (DCP), detailed areas that the city has rezoned during recent years and how it is using the rezoning to position development in key areas.
The presentation, which lasted just under an hour, predominantly focused on business development in three areas of the borough – Jamaica, Long Island City and the Flushing/Willets Point area.
“We really do think that fundamentally to continue to have a vibrant and vital city economy, zoning and land use policies are fundamental,” Young said.
In Jamaica, Young spoke about infrastructure improvement projects and transit-oriented development – some of which is currently underway and others that are planned – that will take advantage of the proximity to the airport and AirTrain as well as other business opportunities in the area.
Moving north and west, Young talked about creating a unifying plan for the central business district in Long Island City that will transform and connect it to the waterfront. He also cited JetBlue announcing its new home in the neighborhood and the new Gotham Center office building that will house the city’s Department of Health as two examples of businesses who want to take advantage of what Long Island City has to offer.
Meanwhile, Young also discussed about the proposed mixed-use developments of Flushing Commons and Willets Point that could position “Flushing as an area that will help capture a lot of retail dollars that the city might otherwise lose to surrounding counties.”
However, Young also talked about how DCP has worked with communities during the 37 rezonings covering 4,500 blocks that it has conducted in Queens since 2002. He said that the agency conducts a number of public hearings with community residents and tries to strike a balance between preserving the character of the neighborhood in certain sections with finding opportunities for development in other areas.
Currently, a proposed rezoning for Astoria is making its way through the Uniformed Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), and Young said that rezonings for Auburndale/Oakland Gardens, Hollis Hills, Rosedale and Sunnyside/Woodside are also on the docket.
