Council subcommittee again delays Flushing Waterfront rezoning vote
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A trio of developers organized as FRWA LLC have applied to rezone a patch of waterfront property in Flushing to make way for a mixed-use residential and hotel complex. Photo courtesy of FRWA LLC
By David Brand
A City Council subcommittee again delayed its vote on a contentious rezoning application for a parcel of land along the Flushing Creek waterfront Monday.
The subcommittee on zoning and franchises laid over its vote on the Special Flushing Waterfront District application until Wednesday after first postponing the decision in November. Once the subcommittee weighs in, the full Council will vote on the application to rezone a waterfront manufacturing district for residential use.
The rezoning would allow a coalition of developers organized as FWRA LLC to erect a 1,700-unit housing complex alongside a hotel and retail space on the waterfront site. The parcel included in the rezoning application makes up about a quarter of the proposed project. The rest would rise on adjacent property where developers — F&T Group, Young Nian Group and United Construction & Development Group — can already build as-of-right. They say they will move ahead with the project on that land even if the rezoning application fails
The plan has divided the local community and the city council, with Subcommittee Chair Francisco Moya describing his opposition to the existing proposal in a letter signed by 11 colleagues Nov. 17.
Moya said the plan would create too few affordable housing units — a common criticism among project opponents. FWRA plans to reserve no more than 90 units for families earning below the area median income in the portion of the complex that would be located on the rezoned land.
On Wednesday, Moya told the Eagle that the developers and the city are continuing to negotiate the number of affordable housing units and that there has been “progress and movement happening” in those talks. He declined to give the number of units he needs to see before he would vote in favor of the application.
“We need to ensure there is a change to the number of affordable units that will be coming into this rezoning,” he said. “It is extremely critical that good paying local jobs have been met. We need to make sure those are the issues that we are pushing for are met.”
If the Council rejects the rezoning application, FWRA LLC does not have to build any affordable housing units. Under the city Mandatory Inclusionary Housing rules, rezoning approval requires developers to reserve a percentage of the units for individuals and families earning below the area median income.
FWRA has highlighted other community benefits, such as cleaning the banks of Flushing Creek and facilitating public waterfront access. The rezoning application seems to have the support of local Councilmember Peter Koo.
Koo’s spokesperson Scott Sieber said last month that Koo believes the plan “has many merits that would provide our community with tangible benefits we wouldn't have under an as-of-right scenario.”
