At its monthly meeting on Monday, Community Board 1 approved the contextual rezoning for Greenpoint and Williamsburg. The rezoning will bring height limits, restrictions on the use of the community facility bonus provision and some inclusionary housing to 180 or so inland blocks running roughly from Grand Street north to Newtown Creek.

The rezoning was the result of a two-and-a-half year collaboration between CB1 and the Department of City Planning, and followed a push by the community board and local council members following the 2005 waterfront rezoning to end the “finger building” and community facility abuse that has been so rampant these past few years. And while there was tremendous cooperation between DCP and CB1, there was not unanimous agreement. CB1 would like to see still lower height and density on Grand Street (between the BQE and Bushwick Avenue), slightly higher commercial density along Metropolitan (in the same area) and more commercial use allowed on the southern portion of McGuinness Boulevard. All of these changes are outside the scope of the current rezoning, and therefore will have to be addressed in future actions.