WESTERLEIGH — Staten Island's Community Board 1 became the latest in the city to reject Mayor Bill de Blasio's rezoning plans Tuesday — suggesting the proposals will be opposed by every one of the five boroughs.
The island's CB3 has already voted against the plans, and CB2 meets on Wednesday — the last to consider the rezoning.
The borough board will then consider the proposals Thursday.
If Thursday's vote goes against de Blasio, Staten Island will join every other borough board in the city in saying no.
► Here's What You Need to Know About the Mayor's Citywide Rezoning Plan
CB1 rejected the proposed zoning changes aimed at creating and preserving 200,000 units of affordable housing because members felt the plans were more beneficial to developers than residents and didn't address the residents' needs.
"We had people that needed the low-income housing, and they can't even afford this," said Nicholas Siclari, chairman of Community Board 1.
"My commute to Manhattan is 13 miles. It takes me an hour-and-a-half. Is anybody saying that the MTA is going to put more buses, more trains on the North Shore? There's not one mention of that."
On the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing plan, which would require future developments to build affordable units, the board voted 28 to 1 against the plan. For the Zoning for Quality and Affordability, which aims to create more affordable senior housing and care facilities in the city, board members voted 27 to 2 to reject it.
In its resolutions against the Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA), the board said it didn't think creating lower density affordable senior housing without any future input by the board would be good for Staten Island and it didn't think the flexibility to increase height available to builders would be helpful.
"This doesn't help anybody but the developers," said board member Linda Eskenas. "These prices are not affordable."
The ZQA plans also call for cutting the amount of parking spaces needed to build developments in St. George. The board said it would be against any proposals that reduce or eliminate parking in the borough.
While several members of the board said they agreed the city needs more affordable housing options, they echoed other advisory boards in the city which didn't think a "one-size-fits all" approach represented individual neighborhoods' needs.
De Blasio's plan to change the zoning regulations in the city to create or preserve affordable housing has been met with almost universal rejection by community boards around the city. The boards' role is solely advisory.
The Staten Island votes had been delayed by Borough President James Oddo, who asked the boards to push them back until he had had a chance to fully scrutinize the plans.
