The City Council this week overwhelmingly passed the proposed DUMBO rezoning.
The vote was 47-1 with only Queens City Councilmember Tony Avella voting against the plan.
“It’s an exciting day for DUMBO and will allow for modest growth in the neighborhood, particularly east of the Manhattan Bridge,” said DUMBO Business Improvement District (BID) Executive Director Kate Kerrigan following the vote last Wednesday.
The rezoning plan area is bounded by Bridge Street to the east, the Manhattan Bridge to the west, John Street and the East River to the north and Front Street to the south.
It establishes two corridors, with the one along Jay Street allowing a maximum building height of 120 feet, and the Bridge Street corridor allowing a maximum height of 80 feet.
Under the proposal, around two thirds of the area – the eastern portion of the rezoned area – would receive an R8-A designation.This enables construction of buildings up to 120 feet high, or around 12 stories.
The western portion of the rezoned district would receive an R7-A designation, which allows buildings of up to 80 feet high, around eight stories.
City Planning officials estimated that the rezoning would bring 891 new apartment units into the area.
The rezoning would also do away with the current M1-2 and M3-1 manufacturing classifications, which allow for light and heavy industry.
In their place would be a uniform M1-4 classification, which allows only for light manufacturing.
Under the proposal, developers would be able to get a 33 percent density bonus if they set aside 20 percent of their units for affordable housing available to those earning $56,700 per year or less.
These affordable units could either be on-site in the new buildings or off-site, where they can be placed anywhere within Community District 2 or a half-mile away from the building itself.
City Planning officials estimated that around 11 percent of the new units constructed because of the rezoning would be “affordable.”
Recently, the area was designated a historic district, meaning that any new buildings will need to aesthetically fit into the neighborhood’s existing character, as determined by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The plan had some opponents, most notably the DUMBO Neighborhood Association, which had backed a compromise rezoning plan that Borough President Marty Markowitz put forth.
That plan reduced some of the size and scope of the plan along Jay, Water and Pearl streets.
However, even City Councilmember David Yassky, who voted against DUMBO’s controversial Dock Street project rezoning, backed the neighborhood rezoning.
“The DUMBO rezoning has been a long time coming and will help both residential and commercial development so this great neighborhood can fully realize its potential,” he said.
