As Columbia breaks ground on its Manhattanville campus expansion, the city is pushing forward with a rezoning that will place new limits on neighborhood development.
Officials from the Department of City Planning presented a preliminary plan to rezone most of West Harlem to around 200 local residents Thursday night. The plan, which does not include the 17-acre expansion zone, would restrict building heights for 90 blocks from 126th Street to 155th Street and between Riverside Drive and Edgecombe Avenue in the first large-scale rezoning project in the area since 1961.
For Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who organized the forum at the Manhattanville Community Center, the rezoning is a chance to define the area’s growth in the wake of Columbia’s new campus.
“When Columbia’s expansion was heading our way, we had to make sure the community would get the kind of rezoning … that would preserve and protect it in the future,” Stringer said. “The goal here for me is that Columbia gentrification stops at the line that they own.”
Melissa Cerezo from City Planning said that the new plan will limit most building heights to 12 stories and how far buildings are from the curbs. The plan also includes a mixed-use zoning district which will allow for increased commercial space.
Edwin Marshall, Upper Manhattan planner for the DCP, said the project is the product of a two-year study of the West Harlem area that began in April 2008. In the study, the DCP looked for ways to preserve the existing character of the residential neighborhoods of Manhattanville, Hamilton Heights, and Sugar Hill while exploring new options for manufacturing, commerce, and affordable housing.
“This is a very key point in realizing this collaborative dream we have for West Harlem,” he said.
To address housing shortages, the zoning plan supports additional permanently affordable housing units, which would be exempt from the area’s height limit and could be up to 17 stories high.
That concerned some residents, who worried that such exceptions would create more problems than they solve.
“This is not good planning, and it’s not appropriate,” said Walter South, West Harlem resident and Community Board 9 member. “We need down-zoning, not 17-story complexes.”
The plan is still in a preliminary stage and will face a review of its environmental impact and a separate, multi-step public review process. Some residents, though, were wary of long-term consequences, citing the need for more medical facilities if there were any increase in traffic congestion or population.
“We already have a sewer treatment plant, air quality issues,” Manhattanville resident Mary Goodman said. “I have many concerns.”
The meeting became contentious at points, especially surrounding Columbia’s perceived role in the area’s ongoing gentrification.
Before DCP director Amanda Burden’s speech, Tom DeMott, CC ’80 and co-founder of the Coalition to Preserve Community, accused Stringer of “cutting a deal” with University President Lee Bollinger and was escorted off the premises by police.
“Harlem is a treasure,” said resident and CB9 member Vicky Gholson. “Between the expansion of Columbia University and this, it’s just too much, too fast.”
But CB9 chair Larry English was more optimistic. “The rezoning plan is just a tool. … It is not the end-all, and it cannot solve all of the problems. We are not just going to do a rezoning and walk away.”
Addressing the audience, English said, “This is a new attitude in Harlem. Don’t be afraid of change.”
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