By Bill Parry
The $126 million Downtown Far Rockaway rezoning project moved a step closer to approval Monday after the City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises voted unanimously in favor of the plan, 5-0.
City Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton), the chairman of the subcommittee and representative of the Far Rockaway community, said the project will address land use and zoning, economic development, housing, transportation, public space, community services and culture.
“Today, we begin the journey of building on the progress we have made over the past four years by infusing hundreds of millions of dollars into infrastructure, quality jobs, parks streetscape, transit improvements, and both community facility and open space,” Richards said. “These investments will ensure that Far Rockaway benefits from the amenities that so many other communities in the city enjoy.”
If the plan is approved by the City Council Sept. 7, as expected, the project will be the neighborhood’s first re-zoning since 1961, which will activate long-underutilized properties and create more than 3,000 residential units, over half of which will be affordable. It will also lay the groundwork for 250,000 square feet of commercial space, 86,000 square feet of community facility space, and 30,000 square feet of open space. The project’s momentum is the culmination of nearly two years of community meetings and planning and if passed it will be the first Housing New York rezoning to get the City Council’s blessing since East New York.
“Through this plan, Downtown Far Rockaway is finally getting the investment it deserves, with new jobs and mixed-income housing, open space and community facilities,” city Economic Development Corporation President and CEO James Patchett said. “We are proud to have collaborated with Council member Richards and community leaders to develop a vision for a more vibrant and equitable Downtown Far Rockaway, and to now make that vision a reality.”
The neighborhood revitalization plan includes a $77 million investment by the city for sewer infrastructure improvement, sidewalk expansion, public plazas and the DOT has committed to conducting follow-up traffic studies and making the necessary improvements to the 23-block area so it can adequately handle new traffic that will be generated by incoming residents to the area.
Richards said the lack of city investment for nearly 40 years had created cynicism about government, and a life of hopelessness for young men and women, where limited options to educational programming and jobs created a conduit straight into the prison industrial complex.
“This is why today’s agreement to rezone Downtown Far Rockaway is much bigger than just the words density, bulk and height. This rezoning gauges and rectifies the compounding issues that have plagued this community for decades,” Richards said. “Today I’m happy to say it’s a new day for Far Rockaway.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
