Bronx Metro-North Rezoning to Enter Public Review as Locals Weigh In

The city’s plan to rezone an approximately 46-block stretch adjacent to the rail line around the future Morris Park and Parkchester/Van Nest train stations is about to turn a corner. The project aims to create thousands of job opportunities and an estimated 6,000 additional homes in the rezoning area.

After a series of public meetings, surveys, and small-group discussions that began in 2018, the city’s plan to rezone an approximately 46-block stretch adjacent to the rail line around the future Morris Park and Parkchester/Van Nest Metro-North train stations is about to turn a corner.

“It is proposed that this project will help to create 10,000 new jobs. You heard it right: 10,000 new jobs,” said Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson at the opening of a virtual information session about the project last week.

“In addition to jobs and economic development, there will be opportunities to create a range of housing types, including housing for our older adults, housing for our veterans, and affordable housing that will really have direct access to regional transit options,” she added.

Being developed in tandem with the Penn Station Access Initiative to build four new Metro-North Stations in the east Bronx, and part of New York City Mayor Eric Adam’s City of Yes plan to spur new housing and sustainability, the project aims to create thousands of job opportunities and an estimated 6,000 additional homes in the rezoning area. At least a quarter of the new units would be income-restricted under the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) program.

The Bronx Metro-North Neighborhood Plan is among the first city-initiated rezonings launched since Mayor Eric Adams took office, and a step in the administration’s goal of building 500,000 new apartments over the next 10 years to address New York’s affordable housing shortage.

Now the Department of City Planning (DCP) said it expects to certify the plan on Jan. 22, which starts the clock on the public review procedure commonly known as ULURP—an approximately seven months-long process that allows community members and city officials to weigh in and push for concessions and compromises, culminating with a final vote by the City Council. 

At last week’s virtual meeting, Kristy Marmorato, the newly seated Republican councilwoman for the 13th District where the rezoning is planned, spoke briefly in support of the project and the positive impact the new stations could have.

“One of the deciding factors of why I moved to Morris Park was that the Metro-North [station] was going to be in walking distance of our home,” she said at the meeting.

Marmorato took office in January, having defeated former Councilmember Marjorie Velázquez in the November general election. Velázquez faced local blowback for her 2022 support of the Bruckner Rezoning, a 349-unit residential project in Throggs Neck. Another proposal for the neighborhood, which would open supportive housing for formerly incarcerated people with health conditions, has seen similar opposition.

The City Council has historically voted on land use applications based on the position of the councilmember or members whose district a particular project is in, a practice known as member deference.

On Tuesday, Councilmember Rafael Salamanca Jr, who chairs the Council’s land use committee, also spoke in support of the proposal. “I’m extremely excited about this opportunity and hearing from the community,” he said.

But he also referenced concerns about parking, ensuring the project spurs new local jobs and, “that housing is truly affordable and that the city is providing the subsidies that they need so we can keep the AMIs [Area Median Income] as low as possible.”

Penn Station Access will establish a direct Metro-North connection from Manhattan’s West side to the Bronx, Westchester, and Connecticut. The four new ADA-accessible stations will be located in the Hunts Point, Morris Park, Co-op City, and Parkchester/Van Nest neighborhoods, and are expected to be complete by 2027.

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