The first neighborhood-wide rezoning plan of Mayor Adams’ administration, which aims to bring thousands of new apartments to the East Bronx, was approved by a key City Council committee Tuesday — a move that came after a local Council member with a record of advocating against housing development in the area came around to supporting the initiative in just the past few days, the Daily News has learned.
Another step that contributed to the “Bronx Metro-North Station Area” rezoning getting through the critical step was the Adams administration agreeing on investing nearly $500 million in various infrastructure upgrades in the areas where the new housing will be built following months of negotiations with Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ office, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The plan, first proposed by the mayor in 2022, would rezone nearly 50 blocks in Parkchester, Van Nest and Morris Park in order to allow for buildings to be made taller in those neighborhoods so an estimated 7,000 new apartments can be constructed. Under the city’s mandatory inclusionary housing rules, at least a quarter of those homes would be affordable, and the mayor as well as the speaker have said that’s a welcome development as the city continues to reel from the worst housing shortage in decades.
The Council’s Zoning Committee was expected to overwhelmingly pass the plan, which rezones areas in the proximity of two new Metro-North stations — Morris Park and Parkchester/Van Nest — the MTA plans to build in the area as part of the $3 billion “Penn Access” project.
The Council’s Land Use Committee was set to next approve it later on Tuesday and send it to the City Planning Commission, which is also expected to green-light it in coming days, according to the sources familiar with the matter. Once passed by City Planning, the blueprint will be sent over for final approval from the full Council, which is also expected to happen this month, the sources told The News.
Spokespeople for the mayor and the speaker didn’t immediately return requests for comment Tuesday.
The rezoning, the largest advanced by the mayor since he took office, spans the districts of Council members Amanda Farias, a Democrat, and Kristy Marmorato, a Republican, with a majority of the new housing construction planned for Marmorato’s 13th District.
Marmorato, a first-term lawmaker, was elected last year after campaigning against housing development in her district, which includes both Van Nest and Morris Park as well as Throggs Neck, Pelham Bay and other East Bronx neighborhoods. Specifically, she vehemently opposed a rezoning on Bruckner Blvd. that paved the way for 350 mostly affordable apartments — a project the district’s former Council member, Democrat Marjorie Velazquez, faced lots of local pushback for supporting before being ousted by Marmorato.
In contrast to her past opposition to local housing development, Marmorato informed the speaker’s office as well as members of the zoning and land use committees in the past few days she is in favor of the more sweeping neighborhood-wide rezoning, multiple sources familiar with the matter told The News.
Kristy Marmorato
Marmorato was expected to speak at the the vote. She didn’t immediately return a request for comment on how her support for the East Bronx plan squares with her previous opposition to other development in her district. However, at a May public hearing about the plan, Marmorato said allocating money for infrastructure upgrades was important for her to get around to backing the rezoning.
Marmorato doesn’t sit on either the zoning or land use committees. However, her support was critical for the survival of the rezoning project, given the Council’s tradition of respecting “member deference,” the concept by which lawmakers get large say over whether development projects in their districts should move forward.
The initial plan floated by the Adams administration didn’t include significant infrastructure investments for the areas that are slated to be rezoned.
According to Council sources, securing such investments became a prominent goal for the speaker’s team in negotiations with the mayor’s side.
Though documents for the finalized plan weren’t immediately available, the sources said the plan comes with a $490 million commitment for infrastructure upgrades in the area, including money for expanding and repairing sewer systems and sidewalks. Also contained in the price tag is $10 million for repairs of the NYPD’s 49th precinct house in Morris Park, about $12 million for repairs at several local public schools and nearly $100 million for improvements of local parks and playgrounds, the sources said.
The Bronx plan is part of the mayor’s City of Yes for Housing Opportunity blueprint, which proposes various citywide zoning changes and legal reforms to supercharge housing development. He says adoption of “City of Yes” is key to his “moonshot” goal of building 500,000 new housing units across the five boroughs by 2032 as a remedy for turning the tide on a trend of skyrocketing rents and a historic dearth of vacant apartments.
Though the speaker and the mayor have clashed on a number of fronts in recent months, housing remains an issue where they remain largely in agreement, with both of them favoring more development, especially in neighborhoods with few affordable options.
The City of Yes plan has faced pushback in some more moderate and conservative-leaning corners of the five boroughs, though. Those are areas the mayor, who faces multiple challengers in his race for reelection next year, relied on for support during his first successful City Hall run in 2021.
