BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — The Department of City Planning unveiled a rezoning proposal Monday that would keep Bed-Stuy's 19th century rowhouses safe from overgrown condos by shepherding new developments—and new residents—to major thoroughfares.
The proposed rezoning would impose strict height limits for buildings across a 140-block swath northern Bedford-Stuyvesant, capping new buildings along some residential blocks and nudging larger developments onto the neighborhood's major arteries.
The area is bounded by Lafayette Avenue and Quincy Street to the south; Classon and Franklin Avenues to the west; Broadway to the east; and Flushing Avenue to the north.
“Bedford-Stuyvesant is a beautiful, vibrant community experiencing new growth and investment," Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden said in a statement, "but we must ensure that new development is in a form that complements the neighborhood context while preserving the neighborhood’s historic brownstones, rowhouses and small apartment buildings."
Burden said the proposal would "ensure that future development is predictable and consistent with the unique and distinguished built character of the community."
The changes, which will be presented to community members this summer, come on the heels of a similar intiative in the southern half of the neighborhood in 2007. If adopted, they would mark the first significant rezoning in the area since 1961.
