Paula Caplan sat in the Sister Annunciata Bethell Senior Center in Bedford Park, surrounded by a group of concerned community members as they listed gripes for overdevelopment. She listened and watched as her colleague jotted down a vision residents have carved for their neighborhood.

As CEO of the Collective for Community, Culture, and Environment (CCCE) and hired by Community Board 7 at a rate of $25,000 to make a compelling argument for neighborhood preservation, Caplan is tasked to argue for what the residents want. She’s expected to take her findings to the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) and residents are relying on her.

Caplan heard these suggestions at this forum organized by CB 7. The Nov. 16 discussion represented the larger goal of warding off any overdevelopment and gentrification within pockets of Bedford Park and Kingsbridge Heights. It’s a vision that clashes with New York City, now in building mode, thanks to the de Blasio administration’s plan to build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing. Maps of the targeted zones and lists were posted on the center’s walls to begin the review of the neighborhoods.

In the last several years, developers have eyed sections of Bedford Park, zoned as R8, and certain sections of Kingsbridge Heights, zoned as R6, for construction, exploiting the community’s current zoning designations. Residents at the forum proposed downzoning the neighborhood, citing narrow streets already burdened by the current residential landscape. The neighborhood, along with sections of Kingsbridge Heights, is a mixture of co-ops, private homes, and rented apartments. Some sections in the Bronx have already been able to successfully downzone, the most recent happening in one section of Woodlawn early this year.

For Bedford Park, the promise of reexamining the neighborhood for downzoning has been in the works for nearly a decade when talk of rezoning a large portion of Webster Avenue, a street running along Bedford Park and Norwood, was in the works. While Webster Avenue was later rezoned in 2011, Bedford Park was never reassessed for zoning, leaving many residents to think the city had broken its promise.

“This is the city’s attempt to finish what they started five years ago,” said Anthony Rivieccio, former Community Board member, referring to the 2011 rezoning of Webster Avenue. Only 10 percent of Mosholu Parkway was included, according to Rivieccio. “I am very happy they are considering the rezoning of Kingsbridge Heights, but I would like it if they also considered the rest of Mosholu Parkway that is not zoned as R5,” he said.

A prevalent argument against high-rise apartments in Bedford Park was the replacement of single-family private home with an apartment complex that would subsequently bring in an abundance of people. Meaning, a house that would hold one family would be replaced with an apartment complex that could hold 100 families, further congesting nearby subways and schools.

It’ll also congest streets. New zoning laws exempt affordable housing developers from building indoor parking spaces should they build within a so-called Transit Zone, areas where public transportation is in abundance. With Community Board 7 falling in a Transit Zone, finding a public parking spot will be even more problematic.

“The city is in desperate need for affordable housing and we aren’t against it, but they have to pick the right place,” said Sally Dunford, executive director of West Bronx Housing, a tenant advocacy group, referring to the overcrowding issue.

Fears of displacement similar to what has happened to many residents in different parts of New York have trickled their way up to the borough in recent years, stoking anxiety among Bronx residents. According to a 2013 census review on Governing.com, a data analyzing website, gentrification has increased 29.8 percent in New York City since 2000. Currently, there are plans to rezone southern sections of Jerome Avenue, leaving many residents anxious over possible displacement.

For Bedford Park and Kingsbridge Heights residents, the meeting proved somewhat useful.

“This was a good start,” said Fernando Tirado, a former district manager of CB 7 who attended the meeting. “Not sure it will make a difference with the current [de Blasio] administration.” Like him, many share the same thought that it is inevitable for change to happen.

If Bedford Park will actually stay downzoned, it is up to DCP to execute that change. The agency is unlikely to honor the community’s request given their previous statement that downzoning Bedford Park was not an option.

“It was a really helpful meeting. It clarified what we were all thinking, that we are all on the same page,” said Dunford. “I even learned something from it.”

Many considered the forum as progressive and helpful. However there is a long way to go to prevent any change. CCCE will formally present its findings and community input to DCP to take into consideration when making its decision. When asked if the plans were just delaying the inevitable Dunford said, “When people come together they have power, they are hard to ignore.”