Date: June 25, 2009
Re: Zoning designation for Norwood Gardens: bounded by 35th, 36th and 37th Streets between 30th Avenue and 31st Avenue.
Dear Queens Department of City Planning, John Carusone, Chair of CB1Q Zoning Committee, Mayor Bloomberg and elected officials:
Norwood Neighborhood Association members and residents have been fighting for R4B zoning since 2002 after a four-story apartment building busted the continuity of a beautiful and architecturally significant row of attached 1-family homes on 36th Street in Astoria. Our fight made The Daily News and all the local papers. Please see our website:
http://norwoodneighborhoodassociation.blogspot.com/
Over the past seven years, NNA members have logged in hundreds of man-hours, working hard behind the scenes on zoning concerns. We've met with residents many times. We’ve also consulted with land use experts, urban planners, civic leaders, community organizations, preservationists as well as our elected officials. We have gone door to door on 35th, 36th and 37th Streets and found that the MAJORITY of property owners (and renters too!) want Norwood Gardens to be zoned R4B not R5B. Do City Planners incorporate the overwhelming needs and desires of the community that will be rezoned and the community’s vision for the future?
NNA applauds this long overdue rezoning initiative and proposal for Astoria. We appreciated Ian Haegerty’s meeting with NNA’s representatives and explaining how an R5B designation would protect Norwood Gardens from commercial overlays, curb cuts, front yard depth minimums and building line up. R5B works well for the residential blocks whose character reflects an R5B zone. We can’t emphasize enough how highly unique our 3 blocks are. Only R4B zoning will give Norwood Gardens adequate protection!! Let the signatures of over 100 property owners speak for themselves! We demand R4B zoning for our 3 unique blocks and the height restrictions (24’) and protection only R4B offers. We invested in the low-rise neighborhood of Norwood Gardens and want to protect our investment! Our Quality of Life is under attack by inappropriate development. Norwood Gardens has had 2 blows to its character. We need R4B protection now. Enough!
Zoning and visionary planning should go hand in hand. Norwood Gardens R4B designation will benefit more than the property owners. An attractive neighborhood with a discernable character (think of Greenwich Village) increases in value over time and offers a high return and many benefits to everyone, residents and businesses alike. 30th Avenue has a vibrant street life, much of this due to the special nature of Norwood Gardens’ attractions and contributions to our area. Astorians love 35th, 36th and 37th Streets’ leafy low-rise setting. It is this character that draws visitors from all over NYC. Let’s not have inappropriate zoning for the next 50 years!
Out of context development has ravaged so much of Queens and is taking its toll on our community. 38th Street between 31st Avenue and 30th Avenue is a sad street, ugly, lacking continuity and stripped of its character. 38th Street will never recover from the destruction and disgrace developers brought and which inappropriate zoning permitted. Shame! Please, we urge you, do no not make the same mistake for Norwood Gardens. R4B is the contextual zone which most closely reflects our community.
Norwood Neighborhood Association members met June 23rd in preparation for the upcoming CB1 zoning that will meet 6/30/09 at Astoria World Manor. Our chief topic of discussion was should Norwood Gardens (35th, 36th and 37th Streets between 30th Avenue and 31st Avenue) accept an R5B designation. The response was a resounding NO – we vote for R4B!
Respectfully yours,
Norwood Neighborhood Association
mailto:norwood.astoria@gmail.com
Norwood Neighborhood Association
PO Box #9102
Grand Avenue Station
Astoria NY 11103
PO Box #9102 Grand Avenue Station, Astoria NY 11103
email: norwood.Astoria@gmail.com
