Sixty-eight blocks in Springfield Gardens, located in southeast Queens, were rezoned in April 2005 after going through the City’s land use review process, the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). Support for the Springfield Gardens rezoning was initiated from within the community, with the United Neighbors Civic Association actively working to get the rezoning passed.
The triangular rezoning is bounded by Baisley Boulevard, Guy R. Brewer Boulevard and North Conduit Avenue. According to the Department of City Planning (DCP), the rezoning was enacted to “protect the low-scale, residential character of the Springfield Gardens streetscape by allowing only the type of new development that reinforces the neighborhood’s existing physical character.”
The zoning was changed from an R3-2 to a mix of R3X and R3-1, which allows for one and two family homes, both detached and semi-detached. The new zoning is consistent with the homes in the neighborhood, mainly built in the 1990s. A commercial overlay on some of the major streets was not changed with the rezoning.