WINDSOR TERRACE — Community Board 7 will vote Wednesday on two key parts of Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to create 80,000 new affordable housing units, and the board could join the list of community boards citywide that have shot down the plan, said District Manager Jeremy Laufer.
"There was a lot of skepticism in the room regarding who is the housing for — whether it's for the people in this community or not," Laufer said of a Nov. 9 hearing where Community Board 7's Land Use Committee reviewed the mayor's proposed zoning changes.
The mayor's proposals — called Zoning For Quality and Affordability and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing — would allow for taller buildings in some areas and would require developers to include affordable or senior units when they build in rezoned areas.
The committee didn't take an officials position on the proposals, but the entire board is expected to either approve or reject the zoning changes at its meeting Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be in the board's office at 4201 Fourth Ave.
Locals are skeptical that the plan will create housing they can actually afford, because rents at affordable housing developments are based on median incomes across the city and in Westchester County, where incomes are higher than in Community Board 7, Laufer said.
"Folks are concerned that although it's considered affordable, it might not be affordable for people in this community,” Laufer said. Community Board 7 includes Sunset Park, Greenwood Heights, Windsor Terrace and the South Slope.
Resident also worry about the impacts new housing could create, especially in Sunset Park, where schools are severely overcrowded, Laufer said.
Locals are wary of zoning changes because large portions of Community Board 7 were rezoned relatively recently: Sunset Park in 2009 and the South Slope in 2005, Laufer said. The city's proposals would undo building height limits that locals fought for during those rezonings, he said.
"Ninety-nine percent of this community has been rezoned, so we've done our part and here just a couple of years later we're being asked to change that," Laufer said.
The City Council has final say on the two zoning changes, but all 59 of the city's community boards get to weigh in with advisory votes. Community Boards in Greenwich Village, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Long Island City have given the proposals chilly receptions.
Brooklyn's Community Board 6, which includes Park Slope, Carroll Gardens and Red Hook, recently approved the proposals despite objections earlier this year from local groups.
Community Board 7 meets at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18 4201 Fourth Ave.
