Board 1, DKCA Ask For Zoning Plan Review
BY RICHARD GENTILVISO

The Department of City Planning says it will certify the long-awaited Dutch Kills rezoning in May. But a group of commercial property owners, calling themselves the "Dutch Kills Purple People", are saying they have not yet been heard.

Inhabiting the purple and blue shaded area of the rezoning map, the group says rezoning, as is, will cause a loss of 826,000 square feet of industrial space, 2,066 jobs and millions of dollars in annual tax revenues to the city.

Eric Palatnick, an attorney representing the "purple people", said they are concerned about a reduction of floor-to-area ratio (FAR) in the proposed rezoning from its current FAR 5 to FAR 2 on their ability to grow.

"They can no longer expand," said Palatnick at the March meeting of Community Board 1 about the affected businesses. "They are stuck where they are."

The Dutch Kills rezoning has been on the drawing board for years. When the Department of City Planning (DCP) introduced a final plan in May 2006, it looked like a reality. Joy Chen, DCP liaison to Community Board 1, said the plan should be certified and ready for review by the board in late May.

It would rezone a 40-block area that is now mostly zoned manufacturing into more mixed-use residential zones. But Palatnick said the R5 and R6 zoning it would introduce was more appropriate in Bayside or Little Neck.

"[We want] to ensure that the continued growth of businesses located in Dutch Kills is not prohibited by reducing the permitted extent of commercial and manufacturing development," he said. "[We ask] to review the reasoning and analysis of the proposed Dutch Kills rezoning to confirm that the final plan is well considered."

Dominic Fortino, a commercial property owner in Dutch Kills for 35 years, said he was concerned about "down-zoning". "The [rezoning] plan, although welcome, needs review," said Fortino.

George Stamatiades, a board member and member of the Dutch Kills Civic Association said commercial owners have been invited to previous Dutch Kills meetings on rezoning and that some have even become members.

Looking ahead to the May board meeting, Board Chair Vinicio Donato asked Chen if any more meetings were scheduled with the Dutch Kills Civic Association between now and certification in May.

Chen said no, but that DCP could schedule one.

"I would suggest strongly that [DCP] do so," said Donato. "That would be the board's position- to meet again with the business owners and the residents to get some meeting of the minds."

"I really don't want to slow down the CIS [zoning certification]," said Gerry Walsh, president of Dutch Kills Civic Association.

"We're not asking to delay the process to June, July, August," said Donato. "The intent is to give another voice."

Stamatiades said FAR 5 is the problem. "Any piece of property in Dutch Kills can be used [to FAR 5]," he said, citing an example of two single-family homes in Dutch Kills that have had a nine-story building constructed between them. "The urgency here is to get the FAR dropped so the residential properties are not impacted," Stamatiades said.

Palatnick said the commercial group would work with Dutch Kills residents "to find ways of preventing out-of-scale developments that do not fit the context of the existing community".

In other business, applications for unenclosed sidewalk cafes were approved for Wave Thai at 21-37 31st St. (7 tables, 14 seats) and Romano's Famous Pizza at 32-21 Broadway (13 tables, 26 seats).