For residents attending a presentation on the feasibility of downzoning two neighborhoods in the northwest Bronx, tech-heavy jargon such as “Floor Area Ratio,” “compliance,” and “sky exposure plane” admittedly caused confusion for a topic focusing on the size of buildings.

“Is this too complicating?” asked Paula Caplan, an independent urban planner hired by Community Board 7 to study the possibility of downzoning the two neighborhoods and present her ideas to the city.

Residents answered “no,” with some shrugging their shoulders. A handful responded “yes.”

Such is the subject of zoning, a topic that, if presented dryly, can confound and perplex the general public, leading many adrift. But zoning serves as a blueprint for the size and type of building, posing serious implications to the overall look of a neighborhood and how many people it can accommodate. Zoning amendments, or codes on how wide and tall buildings can be in given neighborhoods, blanket the five boroughs.

So the question, when stripped of its arcane phrases is simple: How tall do you want buildings in your neighborhood to be? Do you want more high-rises? Low-rises? Do you want to see more apartment buildings? More stores?

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“All I could say in plain English is we do not want any more buildings,” Lynette Arroyo, a Community Board 7 member and Kingsbridge Heights resident, who prefers to see more commercial establishments, said.

The rest of the audience hasn’t wrestled much with the topic: they want zoning rules changed so that any new buildings don’t overstuff the neighborhoods. It’s that kind of stratagem that drove CB7 to commission the study in the first place. Over the last few years, Bedford Park has attracted a litany of developers largely due to its abundance of transportation and nearby amenities, contributing to what residents believe is congestion in a narrowly constructed neighborhood.

Any more construction, residents suspect, can put more strain on neighborhood schools and trains, which have become severely overcrowded. Those observations ran counter to Caplan’s findings, which saw the population decrease in the last five years, according to US Census data Caplan compiled of Bedford Park.

Kingsbridge Heights, intended to be the neighborhood home of the impending Kingsbridge National Ice Center, is still a way from new development, but weary residents believe development is waiting in the wings. Caplan zeroed in on three blocks that comprise the side streets near Kingsbridge Road. Caplan told the audience, based on preliminary findings she presented to the community on April 19, that yes, it’s possible to downzone.

Bedford Park
The studied area of Bedford Park—a baseball mound-shaped neighborhood covering the Grand Concourse between East 201st and East 204th streets, and extending east toward Mosholu Parkway service road–is largely zoned as an R8, which allow for 8- to 10-story buildings. Caplan proposed any new buildings, where detached private homes make up a chunk of the properties within the neighborhood, should only be three or four stories, which translates to R5B and R5D zoning distinctions.

The commercial area included in the Bedford Park study, concentrated at the Grand Concourse and East 204th Street, could house more commercial space, according to Caplan, who based her recommendations on testimonials by residents at a brainstorming session last November. She proposed keeping that area an R8 so it that new commercial buildings can be taller, changing the zoning distinction from its current C1-3 to a C2-3, which allows for buildings as tall as nine stories.

Kingsbridge Heights
The studied area of Kingsbridge Heights hasn’t undergone too much change, but residents are hedging their bets and believe the neighborhood will become a critical construction area given its proximity to the Kingsbridge Armory, which will be home to the Kingsbridge National Ice Center. Caplan and her team focused on Kingsbridge Road between Sedgwick and Creston avenues, and the streets between West Kingsbridge Road and East 190th Street. The area, with R6, R8, and C1-2 zoning distinctions, makes up a mix of detached homes, six-story residences, and low-rise commercial stores.

Caplan presented options for the studied area broken down into three areas. While the residential blocks between West Kingsbridge Road and East 190th Street would see reduced zoning requirements, going from seven-story properties to four-story properties max, or in technical terms changing the zoning from an R6 to an R5B or R5D, Caplan proposed two options that called for taller commercial properties along the area of East Kingsbridge Road between Jerome and Creston avenues. West Kingsbridge Road between University and Jerome avenues should have taller commercial properties, according to Caplan.

Neighborhood Feedback
When it comes to rezoning, most residents the Norwood News spoke with were unaware of the study, along with its subject matter. Of the nine residents approached to be interviewed for this article, three had opinions, though there was little understanding of zoning. Indeed, zoning, its terminology, or principles, is not exactly taught anywhere.

Fatima Komoni, who’s been living on Briggs Avenue in Bedford Park for 12 years, has found conditions to be “regular” pointing to nothing that’s inconvenienced her quality of life. The Albanian-born resident said music is kept to a minimum, making it a “nice neighborhood.” A block and a half up, Wendell Davis, a 22-year resident of Bedford Park, hopes the community “stays the same,” and would not want to see too much development in the area.

But one Bedford Park resident, a retiree from the hotel trade who did not want to give his name, welcomed more development in the neighborhood, adding this is how neighborhoods “grow up.” He conceded that should more high-rises make their way into Bedford Park, that an underground parking facility come with it.

“What Happens Now?”
Community Board 7 will get the results of the final study sometime in the summer, and present it to the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP), which enforces zoning distinctions. While the community was sold on downzoning the neighborhoods, much of their strategy was given away to the agency since the DCP representative, Shawn Brede, was there to hear it out. His position, as conveyed and formed by DCP in May 2016, was that rezoning the studied Bedford Park area is impossible since it would put the bulk of the buildings “out of compliance.” When it comes to downzoning Bedford Park, Brede emphasized that DCP does “not think a downzoning in that area makes sense based upon the standards for which we’ve gone through many times.”

At a news conference announcing a plan to allow three-year-old children to enroll into Universal Pre-K, Mayor Bill de Blasio pointed to a “free market” that dictates where developers build, which puts a strain on city services, such as school seats.

“[A]lthough we don’t control exactly what type of development happens everywhere against, sort of popular understanding, I think a lot of New Yorkers think we literally can choose where every building goes,” de Blasio said. “No. It’s a free enterprise system. There’s a lot of opportunity for people to make those decisions within the zoning. But we watch the trends and we adjust to where we put the school space.”

Editor’s Note: The Norwood News has a video presentation recapping the meeting on its website, www.norwoodnews.org.