Office of Borough President James P. Molinaro
Staten Island, New York
Growth Management Task Force 2005
Borough President James P. Molinaro, center, hosts the Growth Management Task Force at Borough Hall.
For the first time in 2005, the Staten Island Growth Management Task Force met to expand on its historical accomplishments of last year. The meeting was co-chaired by Borough President James P. Molinaro, City Planning Director Amanda Burden and Department of Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster.
The agenda for the meeting included addressing commercial and manufacturing zoning. Currently, the new text amendment changes approved by the Task Force and the City Council do not apply to residential development in commercial or manufacturing zones. As a result, housing development in these commercial and manufacturing zoned areas is often out-of-character with the surrounding neighborhoods.
Now that the new zoning changes and the Borough President’s downzoning laws have put the brakes on bad development in Staten Island’s residential areas, the next logical step is to make reforms for commercial and manufacturing zoned areas.
Among the developments at Thursday’s meeting, the Growth Management Task Force reviewed the Staten Island Action Plan, and Borough President Molinaro announced that the North Shore manufacturing districts would be added to the West Shore portion of the study. Most importantly, the Task Force adopted a motion proposed by Borough President Molinaro to make finding a solution for residential construction in commercial areas the next priority of the Growth Management Task Force.
The Growth Management Task Force was the vehicle through which the first significant zoning changes in over 40 years were developed.
Last year, the Task Force’s work resulted in new regulations that included extending zoning rules to private streets, additional room for on and off street parking, and mandating 30 foot backyards and 15 foot setbacks. The new regulations also prohibited steeply pitched driveways, require the planting of trees along streets in new developments and encourage the building of garages and more steeply pitched roofs
Staten Island made history last year when the New York City Council passed these new zoning text changes recommended by Borough President Molinaro and the Growth Management Task Force 46-0.