CB9 Gets First Look at Rezoning Proposal by Lisa Fraser - Leader-Observer

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Members of Community Board 9 along with residents of the Woodhaven, Ozone Park and Richmond Hill neighborhoods got a first look at the proposed recommendations of the Department of City Planning’s new plan to rezone the area.

Over 30 attendees gathered at the Emanuel Church of Christ on 91st Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard last Wednesday to hear the department’s proposed study, which aims to preserve the architectural character while also bringing more development to Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and parts of Ozone Park.

The meeting was the first of a few being held by the department’s Queens office, where residents have a chance to voice any concerns.

“We want to do a better job than the current zoning of protecting the character of Woodhaven and stabilizing development pressures,” said John Young, Queens director of the City Planning.

The rezoning encompasses 248 blocks bounded by Park Lane to the north, 103rd Avenue to the south, the Van Wyck Expressway to the east and Eldert Lane to the west.

The rezoning has three main goals: to protect neighborhood character within low-density zones, to promote higher density residential and mixed use development along busy corridors like Jamaica Avenue, and to reinforce commercial districts to support economic development.

The meeting focused mainly on low-density, residential zones, which allow housing and community facilities to be built. Even though the study area stretches broad, two current residential zoning districts in Woodhaven and Richmond Hill were looked at primarily – the R3-1 district which is north of Atlantic Avenue and stretches to Park Lane South and the R5 district, which is south of Atlantic Avenue and extends to Liberty Avenue.

The R3-1 district permits one family detached and semi-detached buildings.

“The single family character is predominant in this district but what has been happening in recent years is that new development has been popping up and some of it is out of character,” said Brendan Pillar, a city planner.

The department plans to rezone 14 blocks in the current R3-1 district in Woodhaven with a new R3A recommendation, which will ensure that only one- or two-family detached buildings be built. Semi-detached buildings would no longer be permitted.

This new zoning, if adopted, would extend from 88 Avenue to 91st Avenue and run between 88th Street and Woodhaven Boulevard and is set up to reflect the current building style.

Fourty-four other blocks within the R3-1 district have received a new R3X recommendation, which will also allow only one- or two-family detached buildings. The R3X districts are recommended north of Jamaica Avenue and extend to Park Lane South on both sides of Forest Parkway to 89 Street, and also from 91 Street to 97 Street and south of Jamaica to 91 Avenue between the east side of 98 Street and Woodhaven.

Recommendations along wide streets like Jamaica and Atlantic avenues will ensure that buildings permitting retail and office uses be built as well as wider varieties of retail service establishments.

“It will help reinforce the already strong commercial corridor in this area, it will better reflect the height and bulk of these buildings,” Pillar said, as buildings in this area rise two and three stories.

The current R5 district allows for all housing types. But the predominant character of the neighborhood consists of one- and two-family detached and semi-detached homes. New developments like multi-family buildings have popped up in the area and if the rezoning goes into effect, they will no longer be allowed.

The department is recommending R4A zoning in the area, which encompasses Richmond Hill and a small part of Ozone Park. The R4A zoning will allow only one and two family detached buildings, helping to protect the character that is predominant in the area.

The zoning districts will receive their first change since 1961 when the Zoning Resolution was adopted. The rezoning was undertaken in response to community concerns that the current zoning allows out-of-character development.

“One thing we’re trying to do is stabilize these area and take development pressure off of them,” Young said.

The effort will complement the zoning changes that occurred in 2005 in Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens.

The department plans to do more outreach to community groups and hold more meetings in December and the early part of 2011. The next meeting will be held on December 15 at Royal Indian Palace on

The department will make the final recommendations by the end of winter. After the finalizations, reviews and approval by the Borough President’s office, the state planning commission and the City Council, the zoning changes could take anywhere from four to seven months to be implemented.

Community Board 9 Meeting on City Planning Rezoning of Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and Ozone Park - Meeting on December 5th

On December 5th Community Board 9 hosted Dept of City Planning at a meeting on the scheduled rezoning of Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and a small portion of Ozone Park...

Queens Commissioner of City Planning John Young and Brendan Pillar of his staff  presented the information about the present zoning and highlights of the new rezoning to the 20-30 attendees at the meeting...

Existing Zoning Map - Click on Map to enlarge

Proposed Zoning Map - Click on Map to enlarge

There will be a second informational meeting with CB 9 and the Department of City Planning on December 15th at Royal India Palace - 118-06 Atlantic Ave, Queens, NY 11419.

I would urge all concerned parties to attend.

Reconsidering-Gowanus? by Daniel Bush - QueensLedger

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Planning the redevelopment of an urban industrial neighborhood as promising and complex as Gowanus takes time. Luckily, everyone involved in the effort has ten to 12 years to figure it out.

That's the length of time the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated it will need to carry out a Superfund cleanup of the Gowanus Canal. The timetable-inspired fierce debate from Superfund opponents lasted through most of last year, however, now that the EPA's plan is in place a new consensus is emerging around the redevelopment prospects of the gritty canal-side neighborhood.

Yes, uncertainty over the scope and logistics of the Superfund cleanup will delay the long-sought-for transformation of the area, which is sandwiched between several affluent neighborhoods. But that might not be such a bad thing, after all.

At a recent CUNY forum aptly-titled “Reconsidering Gowanus,” public policy makers, real estate experts, and community groups that are taking the long view described the ten-year pause brought on by the Superfund cleanup as an opportunity to reassess the neighborhood's future before moving forward with plans to change it.

The high-profile conference was the first large meeting of stakeholders since the EPA announced its Superfund listing last month.

Its timing, and the sweeping report on the neighborhood unveiled at the forum, were intended to shift the focus of public discussion from the science of cleaning the canal - which is now firmly in the hands of the federal government - to the surrounding community.

The report identifies Gowanus, population 28,000, as an area bounded by Bergen Street to the north, Fourth Avenue to the east, the Gowanus Expressway to the south, and Court Street to the west.

The data on business, housing, and demographic trends shows the tiny community - which is defined by the canal and its industrial heritage, as well as by its proximity to transportation and desirable communities such as Carroll Gardens and Park Slope - is poised to explode, if new residential and commercial development can successfully be mixed in with the neighborhood's existing industrial base.

After a steady post-war decline, Gowanus experienced a major resurgence in the 1990's, according to Harry Schwartz, one of the co-authors of the report, which relied mostly on data from the 2000 Census. Since then, property values have increased, and the neighborhood's residents as a whole have become increasingly prosperous and better educated.

And thanks to an influx of creative young professionals and artists, the community has gained a reputation for its under-the-radar arts scene; Marty Markowtiz, Brooklyn's borough president, called the area the “indie adjunct” of Brooklyn's better-known BAM cultural district.

But is Gowanus a true “Soho in the making if left alone” in the coming years, as Staurt Pertz, a former member of the City Planning Commission, suggested at the forum. And how will it respond to the development boom that is sure to follow the Superfund cleanup?

“Gowanus is going to become more like its wealthy neighbors like Park Slope and Boerum Hill and so on,” if the current wave of gentrification continues, said Schwartz. However, he said, “there's a chance we can change that trend.”

That's the challenge facing community groups, which will use the next several years to argue for a comprehensive neighborhood rezoning that includes plenty of affordable housing, space for local businesses and artists, and public parkland along a revitalized canal corridor.

The city drafted plans to rezone 25 blocks inside of Gowanus several years ago, but put them on hold last year after the EPA became involved with cleaning the canal. The plan would have set aside more land for manufacturing uses, while creating broad swaths of low and high-density mixed-use zones to encourage development.

“We believe that we've come up with a pretty balanced approach,” Purnima Kapur, the director of City Planning's Brooklyn office, said at the forum. She said the city is “waiting to see how the Superfund will affect the city's plans” before resuming the rezoning process.

Whenever it does, the city must also contend with the neighborhood's growing polarization along racial and socioeconomic lines. While Gowanus has improved in general in the past two decades, several sections of the neighborhood have been left behind.

For example, the CUNY report found that in the two largely Hispanic census tracts situated in the rougher pockets of Gowanus east and southeast of the canal, the number of people living below the poverty line rose 32 and 62 percent, respectively, between 1980 and 2000.

In contrast, during the same time period, poverty declined by 38 percent in the two mostly-white census tracts northwest of the canal, situated in affluent Carroll Gardens,

Overall, the data shows the richer, whiter areas of the neighborhood have become wealthier, while the southeast section of Gowanus is home to a growing number of low-income Latinos.

A third of the mostly African-American residents in the neighborhood's public housing developments live below the poverty line, according to the report.

City Plans to Cut Front Yard Paving, Promote Planting by Stehen Geffon - Queens Chronicle

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Thomas Smith of the Department of City Planning explains the proposed new rules to CB 10 members. Photo by Stephen Geffon

Regulations proposed by the Department of City Planning that would restrict single- and two-family homeowners from paving over their front yards to create parking spaces, as well as new curb cuts, were the subject of a Community Board 10 hearing last week in South Ozone Park.

The Residential Streetscape Preservation amendment addresses the concerns of residents and elected officials that parking in front yards and inappropriate curb cuts disrupt the character of a neighborhood, according to the DCP. The proposal would also close loopholes in front yard planting requirements, establish new curb cut rules in medium- and high-density districts to preserve on-street parking spaces and clarify parking obligations for new and existing buildings. Homeowners who have already paved over front yards would not be subject to the proposed new regulations.

Thomas Smith of City Planning explained the goals and objectives of the proposed new rules to board members. Smith said the amendment would ensure that adequate parking is provided for new units added to existing buildings.

The amendment applies stricter parking rules to one- and two-family homes by prohibiting new parking pads in front yards and new curb cuts at row house buildings less than 40 feet wide with planted front yards and no front yard parking, as well as introducing curb cut rules to preserve streetscape character and on-street parking spaces. It would require owners of certain existing residential buildings to add parking spaces to their property when adding new residential units.

Frank Dardani, president of the Ozone-Tudor Civic Association, said after the meeting he felt the proposed rules would slow or stop the conversion of single family homes into two-family residences because of the requirement that homeowners provide additional parking spaces on the property.

According to DCP, the primary benefits of the proposed amendment in the CB 10 district are in the tighter planting area requirements, since many Queens neighborhoods are prone to flooding and natural ground absorbs water that pools on pavement. Requiring parking for additional units created in existing buildings in some low-density districts such as Howard Beach, Ozone Park, South Ozone Park and Lindenwood is also a priority.

For the Community Board 9 area, the amendment would benefit one- and two-family zones, such as those established as part of the city’s 2006 Kew Gardens-Richmond Hill rezoning, the department said.

Mary Ann Carey, district manager of CB 9, said the board is concerned about the paving over of front lawns in the area. “There’s no green space,” Carey said.

The board is considering a resolution pressing City Planning to go further, stating, “We urge City Planning to look again at what their regulations do not accomplish. It is not just our streetscapes that are at risk. The proliferation of uncontrolled lawn pave overs, with resultant flooding of sewers and pollution of drinking water, threatens our habitability.”

Carey said she expected the resolution to be passed by the board.

After the community boards’ review of the proposed amendment it will go to the borough president, the city Planning Commission and the City Council, which can modify the rules before approving or rejecting them.

City Plans to Change Law on Streetscaping by Howard Koplowitz - YourNabe.com

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Tom Smith of the city Department of City Planning goes over the Residential Streetscape Preservation text amendment with Community Board 10. Photo by Howard Koplowitz

Community Board 10 was updated last week on the Department of City Planning’s Residential Streetscape Preservation text amendment that proposes new rules on curb cuts and front yard planting requirements for new housing.

Tom Smith of the DCP said the text amendment has six goals, including strengthening regulations on how much space must be designated for planting in front yards in R1 through R5 districts, applying stricter rules for curb cuts and front yard parking in R3, R4 and R5 single- and two-family districts and ensuring adequate parking for new dwelling units.

Under existing rules, narrow planting strips can count toward the minimum planting requirements for R1 through R5 districts, including strips on either side of a driveway.

R1 through R5 are types of zoning, with R5 allowing for larger buildings than an R1 zone.

Smith said such plantings are problematic.

“It doesn’t really alleviate the problem of storm-water runoff,” he said.

Under City Planning’s proposed rules, planting strips must be at least 1 foot wide. Planting areas on the sides of driveways will still be allowed, but they cannot be used to fulfill front yard planting requirements, Smith said.

City Planning sent out information about the text amendment to Queens community boards, the borough board and Borough President Helen Marshall Nov. 16. A public comment period runs until Jan. 25, after which time City Planning will hold a public hearing on the text amendment. The rules need to be approved by the City Council.

The board also heard from state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) and a representative for state Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Rockaway Beach) about Gov. David Paterson’s promise to select a winning bidder to operate video lottery terminals at Aqueduct Race Track.

Addabbo said the process has been so delayed that he does not care who the governor picks, as long as he picks a bidder.

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He said a staffer for Paterson called him about two weeks ago.

“I said to the gentlemen, pick somebody,” Addabbo said, noting the governor said one week ago that he would pick a bidder within the week. But that, like other deadlines, have come and gone.

Addabbo said “whoever will be chosen will be good for our area,” noting the community could use jobs associated with redeveloping Aqueduct.

Larry Love, an aide to Pheffer, said she had a similar conversation with the governor, but was pickier than Addabbo.

“She did tell them there were certain groups she preferred over others, but also the same thing: pick somebody.”

CB 10 Chairwoman Betty Braton said the process was “kind of ridiculous at this point.”

“Don’t everybody hold your breath waiting for [Friday’s] papers, because I don’t think [Aqueduct is] going to be in there.”

She was right.

Call Boro New Boomtown - Population Grew by Nearly 3% Since 2000, Census Data Shows by Brendan Brosh - NY Daily News

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AMERICA'S MOST diverse county is booming in the new millennium.

Queens' population increased about 2.9% between 2000 and July 2008 - meaning 63,628 more people now call the borough home, according to figures released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

That far outpaces the growth projected by the city, which estimated in 2006 that Queens would grow by 50,295 people by the end of the decade.

New Yorkers who may have considered moving to Sunbelt locales such as Florida, Nevada, California and Arizona chose to stay because those areas have borne the brunt of the recession, the Census report shows.

"We're seeing something remarkable in Queens - more immigrants are coming in than domestic migrants are leaving," said Joseph Salvo of the City Planning Department. "Even though we have foreclosures and other problems, it's not as bad as in other parts of the country."

The city as a whole has 355,432 more people than it did in April 2000, the report states.

Some of the city's projections are still on pace. The Bronx is slated to grow by 68,544 people by 2010.

Some locals hope the city will use the numbers to increase infrastructure funding.

"Queens is bursting at the seams - and a lot of that has to do with infrastructural issues," said Paul Graziano, president of the Historic Districts Council and an urban planning consultant.

"It's always been 'build first, ask questions later' in New York City," he said.

The Census report notes Queens grew by some 15,000 people between July 2007 and July 2008. Much of the growth was in the Rockaways, where hundreds of homes were built.

"In the last four years, our population went up at least 10,000 people because of all the building," said Jonathan Gaska, district manager of Community Board 14.

The peninsula is slated for even more construction.

"In a few years, Rockaway could have another 25,000 to 35,000 people," Gaska said.

Despite the growth, Queens recently lost two hospitals - Mary Immaculate in Jamaica and St. John's Queens in Elmhurst - which concerns local civic groups.

"Between Jamaica Bay and the Grand Central Parkway, we are extremely underserved in the number of hospitals," said Corey Bearak, head of the Queens Civic Congress, an umbrella organization for community groups.

"It's clear that we need to be focused and prioritized on infrastructure."

Willets Point United Challenges City’s Environmental Review

FILES ARTICLE 78 AGAINST MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL AND CITY AGENCIES

(March 11, 2009) Twenty-two members of Willets Point United Against Eminent Domain Abuse filed an Article 78 petition yesterday with the NY State Supreme Court against Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the New York City Council, the City Planning Commission and Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber challenging the environmental review that was completed by the City of New York.

The main points of the filing are as follows:

• Petitioners are challenging the Deputy Mayor’s Office appointing itself as the lead agency on the project. Under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) this office does not “have jurisdiction to fund, approve or directly undertake an action,” and therefore cannot be a lead agency.
• The Deputy Mayor’s Office failed to identify and report many of the environmental impacts it was required to under a SEQRA review, including impacts on traffic and highways, emergency response, the city’s water supply and the likelihood of plan approval by federal and state highway authorities.
• The plan takes private property without a public purpose. The current plan is simply a theoretical possibility and the Kelo decision stated that condemners must have a concrete plan in place and a “carefully formulated economic plan” in order to seize property.

Michael Gerrard, attorney for WP United, stated the following in the petition:

“Here, the Deputy Mayor’s Office has only its starry-eyed vision. The Deputy Mayor’s Office sets forth this vision in the first page of the FGEIS [Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement] executive summary: ‘The proposed Plan’s main goal is to transform a largely underutilized site with substandard conditions and substantial environmental degradation into a lively, mixed-use, sustainable community and regional destination.’ This might be a lofty aspiration, but aspirations alone cannot provide grounds for condemning -- and ruining -- the 61 acres of vital businesses in Willets Point.”

WP United President Jerry Antonacci said, “We are confident that the courts will dismiss the findings of the environmental review submitted by the Deputy Mayor’s office and that the City Council’s November 2008 vote authorizing the redevelopment will be rendered null and void.”

For up to date information about the Willets Point fight, please visit our blog: www.willetspoint.org.

Proposed Downzoning Plan to Protect Mid-Queens by Ben Hogwood - Queens Chronicle

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Tom Smith, with the Department of City Planning, presented a proposal to downzone parts of three neighborhoods on Thursday to the Juniper Park Civic Association. (photo by Ben Hogwood)

Residents in middle Queens may soon get some relief from overdevelopment in the area.

The Department of City Planning is moving forward with a proposal to rezone sections of Middle Village, Maspeth and Glendale to protect them from out-of-character, and usually unwieldy, growth.

The Juniper Park Civic Association widely welcomed the proposal, presented by planner Tom Smith, during a meeting held Thursday in Our Lady of Hope School in Middle Village.

Residents have been calling for the rezoning for years in an attempt to thwart the breakneck pace of development taking advantage of the lax zoning in the neighborhoods.

That zoning, said Smith, is not limiting enough to protect their character and as a result, large, incongruous structures have gone into one- and two-family residential neighborhoods.

“Just ride around the neighborhood, you can see them,” said Bob Holden, president of the JPCA.

One of the main problems with the zoning is that it allows for infill — the use of land within a built-up area for further construction — which enables a developer to build a structure 1.5 times the size of what it should be.

The JPCA even took on Paul Graziano, an urban planning consultant, to help survey the area and draw up a common-sense proposal.

The zoning for the 300-block project area has remained unchanged since 1961. The new zoning, if implemented, would be far more area-specific, reflecting the type of development on each block, than the current zoning, which applies blanket restrictions to the district.

Most in attendance were pleased with the proposal, but some were concerned that about 40 blocks in the study area weren’t included.

Smith said the majority of that area is composed of rowhouses that don’t fit in to zones the city already has. He also doubted that further growth would take place in these neighborhoods.

“We don’t foresee much development there,” he said. “They are built out.”

But Graziano questioned the wisdom of such a decision. He said that if the included areas get rezoned, it would push further development onto the other blocks. Like several in attendance, he wants the city to create a single-family rowhouse district, something it doesn’t currently have.

Still, he was pleased with the planning department’s proposal and said it corresponds closely to the one he drew up. “At first glance it looks pretty good,” he said. “Hopefully they keep to it.”

The plan must now go through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure before it can be enacted. The planning department intends to go before Community Board 5, which oversees the three neighborhoods, sometime in the spring, starting the process.

The board will make a recommendation on the proposal, which will then move on to the Queens Borough President’s Office, the City Planning Commission and finally the City Council.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), who took up the project even prior to being seated this year, said she hopes to make it law by May, beating the current downzoning record held by Park Slope in Brooklyn.

The area included in the proposal has been divided into four sections.

The first section, in Maspeth, is bounded by 59th Street, Mount Olivet Cemetery, the Queens-Midtown Expressway and Admiral Avenue.

The second section, in Middle Village, is bounded by the Queens-Midtown Expressway, Woodhaven Boulevard, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, 80th Street, Juniper Boulevard and Lutheran Avenue.

The third section, in eastern Glendale, is bounded by Woodhaven Boulevard, 76th Avenue, 88th Street, 77th Avenue, 80th Street and Cooper Avenue.

The fourth section, in western Glendale, is bounded by the Long Island Railroad, 70th Avenue, 69th Place, Myrtle Avenue, 73rd Street and Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

Position Letter of Council Member Elizabeth Crowley on the Maspeth By-Pass Project...

Mr. Uchenna Mada

New York City Transportation Coordinating Committee

c/o New York State Department of Transportation

47-40 21 Street

Long Island City, New York 11101

January 13, 2009

Dear Uchenna Madu,

As the City Councilmember for District 30, I wholeheartedly support the Maspeth By-pass Project. The Maspeth By-pass Project is vital for our community. It makes our streets safer for pedestrians and motorists, decreases emissions from commercial vehicles, and improves the efficient flow of traffic while reducing congestion throughout the city.

There are several factors that warrant the necessity of the Maspeth By-pass Project. First, there is a heavy concentration of commercial truck traffic at Metropolitan and Flushing Avenues in both eastbound and westbound directions.

Second, the antiquated Grand Avenue Bridge in the center of Maspeth is insufficient to the demands of the 21st century. Its lack of capacity has forced much of the eastbound traffic coming from Brooklyn to continue eastward on Metropolitan Avenue to merge with Flushing Avenue and enter local business areas.

Third, an elementary school, Saint Stanislaus Kosko, a short half block from Flushing Avenue participates in a safe schools to walk program, however, heavy trucks, whenever possible, should not be traveling on streets this close to a school.

Fourth, there are quality of life concerns such as truck traffic shaking buildings as well as environmental issues that warrant the necessity of the Maspeth By-pass Project. The concentration of traffic in this part of my district is unacceptable and needs to be corrected as soon as possible.

Although not part of the Maspeth By-pass Project, I urge the federal government to immediately fund the construction of a new Grand Avenue Bridge that will meet the increasing needs of the 21st Century. A new Grand Avenue Bridge will ease traffic congestion, improve the flow of motorists, make the street safer, decrease harmful emissions and improve the quality of life for the constitutes of my district and the people of New York City.

The necessity of the Maspeth By-pass Project is clear. The immediate community and New York City as whole will substantially benefit from this plan. As the City Councilmember for District 30, I wholeheartedly support the Maspeth By-Pass Project.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Crowley

New York City Council Member, District 30

250 Broadway, Suite 1847

New York City, NY 10007

Weiner, City Reps Tell C.B. 10 of Plans to Help Improve the Economy by Stephen Geffon - Queens Chronicle

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There is consensus among many fiscal experts that the best and quickest way to stimulate the economy is to put people to work, Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-Howard Beach) told the members of Community Board 10 at their meeting last week in Ozone Park.

Photo caption: Congressman Anthony Weiner told members of C.B. 10 that job creation is the quickest way to stimulate the economy. (photo by David Quintana)

Noting that he is in favor of tax cuts for the middle class, Weiner said federal funding for infrastructure improvements, such as roads and bridges, in the Queens community is also necessary.

The congressman said a columnist for The New York Times had posed the question: “Aren’t we just financing our bailout today by moving our debts to our grandkids?” Weiner implied the answer is yes. “The least we can do is leave them something better with the money we are spending — put roofs on schools, improve our mass transit, get ferry service, etcetera,” he said.

To further his point that jobs are the key to economic stimulation, Weiner cited past examples in American history where the federal government funded projects in order to foster job creation.

He noted President Dwight Eisenhower’s push to build the country’s highway system and President Franklin Roosevelt’s creation of the New Deal, a series of economic programs intended to provide relief and take the country out of the Great Depression.

While conceding that too many people now have serious problems paying their mortgages, Weiner said that many of them brought it on themselves. He questioned why a family with a yearly household income of $40,000 to $50,000, for example, would take on an $800,000 mortgage.

He placed a share of responsibility on lenders by faulting the banks for giving such a loan, but said homeowners should be held accountable.

A home in foreclosure can bring down the value of surrounding homes by 40 to 45 percent, Weiner told C.B. 10.

Members of the board also heard from a Department of City Planning representative who told them the agency is proposing to amend a zoning resolution requiring secure indoor long-term bicycle parking in new multi-family residential, community facility and commercial buildings.

Providing bicycle parking and storage, both at home and in the workplace, will not only meet cyclists’ standards, but also provide flexibility that will accommodate the needs of development, the official said.

According to DCP, the proposal seeks to support ridership throughout the city and encourages new cyclists to start riding. The increase of cycling in the city will yield fitness and health benefits for riders, and potentially alleviate congestion, improving air quality.

Bicycling is already on the rise, according to the Department of Transportation. The agency’s annual bicycle counts in Manhattan indicate that cycling has grown by 116 percent between 2000 and 2008, including a 35 percent increase from 2007 to 2008.

The proposed amendment would support New Yorkers who require a secure place to store their bikes at home, seek to commute to work by bike or want to use their bikes for short trips or recreation.