City Agency Reveals East Harlem Rezoning Plan

EAST HARLEM, NY — East Harlem residents got their first look at a city plan to rezone the neighborhood Tuesday when the Department of City Planning unveiled its East Harlem Neighborhood Plan during a Community Board meeting.

The new neighborhood plan calls for zoning changes in East Harlem in two parts of the neighborhood. The first part spans from East 104th Street to East 126th Street between Park and 2nd avenues and the second part spans from East 126th Street to East 132nd Streets between 5th and 2nd avenues.

The rezoning plan had five main goals, according to the Department of City Planning website:

• To create new housing opportunities by creating zones to construct new affordable developments while preserving existing housing;
• To emphasize job creation and economic development particularly around the 125th Street and Park Avenue transit hub;
• To improve pedestrian access to streets through enhanced urban design, commercial storefront guidelines, and zoning to maintain and strengthen the neighborhood’s rich retail corridors;
• To guide new development to corridors with rich transit access while ensuring that areas with cohesive low-scale character are respected;
• To identify and prioritize capital investments benefiting existing neighborhood residents.

In order to achieve these goals some areas of East Harlem will be zoned for high-density capacities which would allow developers to build as high as 35-stories, according to the plan unveiled Tuesday night.

But the plan revealed Tuesday is nowhere near a done deal. The Department of City Planning still needs to go through a public scoping process and Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, both of which allow community members ample opportunities to air any potential grievances about the plan.

The full East Harlem Neighborhood Plan presentation can be viewed below:

Photos: Courtesy of Department of City Planning