Inwood Rezoning Public Comment Period Extended

INWOOD, NY — The city has extended the public comment period for a controversial Inwood rezoning proposal in order to give the local community board more time to discuss and comment on the plan's draft scope of work.

The city will now accept public comments on the Inwood NYC rezoning proposal until Friday, Oct. 13, a spokeswoman for the New York City Economic Development Corporation told Patch. The new Oct. 13 deadline represents the second extension of an original deadline of Sept. 25.

The original deadline was first extended from Sept. 25 to Sept. 29 so Community Board 12 — which represents Inwood and Washington Heights — could vote on a resolution on the rezoning plan's draft scope of work during its Sept. 26 full board meeting, according to a letter sent to the board's chair. No resolution was voted on, so the board requested a deadline extension to Oct. 31, according to the letter.

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The city decided to extend the deadline to only Oct. 13 because all of the community board's committees will have time to comment on the rezoning plan by that date, according to the city letter.

"We acknowledge that the [draft scope of work] is a complex document that requires significant time to review and prepare thoughtful comments. We hope that by extending the comment period by an addition fourteen (14) days, it will enable Inwood residents, small businesses, local organizations, and other interested parties to submit comments," a letter sent to Community Board 12 reads.

The city economic development corporation introduced the current version of the Inwood NYC rezoning plan during a Community Board 12 meeting in July. Almost one full year after being booed out of a meeting, the city Economic Development Corporation returned to the board to present an updated proposal to rezone Inwood both east and west of 10th Avenue.

Due to fears that three special district upzonings east of 10th Avenue would accelerate gentrification in the heavily rent-regulated areas west of 10th Avenue the city EDC decided to take some time to draw up a contextual rezoning plan for the entire neighborhood.

Read more about the plan here.

Photo by Patch