Queens Borough Board votes in favor of resilient rezoning

The rezoning approved by the board would ease reconstruction in low-lying areas after disasters. Photo via nyc.gov

By Rachel Vick

Members of the Queens Borough Board voted near-unanimously in favor of a city-backed rezoning proposal that would shore up coastlines threatened by routine flooding and storm surges.

The Zoning for Coastal Flood Resiliency, put forth by the Department of City Planning in October, would amend local land use rules in order to fortify coastal buildings and infrastructure as sea levels rise. 

“The ZCFR was shaped by very real lessons learned on the ground with the impacted communities after Hurricane Sandy and furthered by analysis of resilient construction practices in the flood plain,” said DCP Deputy Director Alexis Wheeler.  

The Queens Borough Board includes Borough President Donovan Richards, Queens’ city councilmembers and the chairpersons from each of Queens’ 14 community boards.

Only officials from Community Board 14, which covers the Rockaway Peninsula, voted against the plan, which includes a provision to limit the construction of new nursing homes in areas at a high risk for flooding, including most of the Rockaways, and parts of northern Queens near Flushing Bay.

CB14 Chair Dolores Orr said the restrictions don’t go far enough.

“We should be expanding the definition of vulnerable populations in this particular floodplain to include adult homes, assisted living, group homes and homeless shelters,” Orr said.

Wheeler said the city singled out nursing homes because research suggests residents “suffer significantly from the process of being moved,” while other vulnerable populations are better suited to shelter in place or evacuate.

“I want to make sure we’re distinguishing between some of the types of vulnerable residents,“ Wheeler said. “Vulnerable populations’ is a really expansive term. There are [categories] where people are still relatively independent in their living.”

The plan outlines four recommendations to improve resiliency: expanding the area that is designated as part of New York City’s floodplain; updating resilient building standards; amending zoning to allow for the relocation of essential equipment like electrical systems; and updating laws to facilitate faster rebuilds in case of future disasters.  

The plan, considered by borough boards elsewhere in the city, will next go before the City Planning Commission and the City Council.