A rendering of the rezoning proposal looking north along Eastchester Road outside the site of the new Metro-North Morris Part station.
Rendering via NYC Department of City Planning
The city council voted with a large majority for a Ambitious plan to rezone the Bronx This will create thousands of new homes on Thursday in the areas surrounding the four new Metro-North stations being built at Boogie Down.
The approved zoning plan for the Bronx Metro-North Station was a landslide victory when the council voted 44-0 in favor of the proposal at a State Council meeting in New York City.
The vote comes as no surprise, as the Council’s Zoning Subcommittee and Land Use Committee already approved the proposal on August 6.
The MTA plans to build new commuter rail stations in Hunts Point, Parkchester/Van Nest, Morris Park and Co-Op City – areas often referred to as “transit deserts.” It is part of a larger, Years-long plan called “Penn Access” to bring Metro-North trains from Connecticut to Penn Stationusing railroad tracks currently used for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor service.
This is the first major rezoning of a neighborhood by the Adams administration and involves the construction of 7,000 housing units around the Parkchester and Morris Park stations, with 25% of the units to be considered affordable.
The vote comes as the Adams administration seeks to address the housing crisis with the passage of its “City of Yes to Housing” proposal.
“The Bronx is saying ‘yes’ to more housing in our backyards, communities and neighborhoods, and serving as a model for the rest of our city on how to lead from the front,” Adams said in a statement. “With our administration’s neighborhood plans and our ‘City of Yes’ proposal, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build our way out of this housing shortage and affordability crisis. I urge our partners on the City Council to join us in this fight and deliver on the promise that working families are asking us to make: to build more and make this city more affordable.”
The mayor also said the plan would “provide more public space and improved transportation” in the Bronx.
Kristy Marmorato, a New York City councilwoman representing the 13th district in the northeast Bronx, was once skeptical of the proposal but dropped her support for the plan after some changes.
“I am proud to have led this initiative for the people of our district. From the moment this proposal was introduced, I have been committed to ensuring it meets the needs and desires of our communities,” the council member said during the meeting. “In response to your concerns, we have pushed through important changes to this plan. These include limiting building heights, reinstating parking regulations and protecting our sparsely populated neighborhoods.”
In a written statement after the council meeting, Marmorato called the bipartisan vote a “significant milestone” for her district.
“This success underscores our commitment to effective compromise and achieving our housing goals while upholding the values of our community,” she wrote.
The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027.
