CIVITAS Intern Spotlight: Sarah Zimmerman

Sarah Zimmerman is a sophomore at Columbia University, majoring in Urban Studies, and concentrating in history and sustainable development.  She is particularly interested in the urbanization and its impact on sustainability.  

Sarah joined CIVITAS as the Columbia Communities in Action intern in spring 2013, where she has been working on a wide range of advocacy and development projects.  She has been especially involved in researching and planning new initiatives for the trees committee, along with contributions to the CIVITAS newsletter, and planning for the 2013 annual benefit. To learn more about Sarah’s work with the trees committee, and upcoming tree stewardship events, visit www.civitasnyc.org/trees.

Although she is still exploring potential career paths, Sarah hopes to pursue her professional interests in planning, architecture, and law when she graduates from Columbia in spring 2015.  In the meanwhile, she spends her free time exploring the city on foot, or hiking and backpacking outside the city. 

Update: CB11 Approves Zoning Recommendations for East Harlem

On Tuesday, Community Board 11 (CB11) approved the rezoning recommendations for East Harlem developed by CIVITAS and CB11’s Zoning Task Force.  The study area for the rezoning includes Madison, Park and Lexington Avenues between 115th and 132nd Streets.   To see the proposed zoning map and recommendations, visit www.civitasnyc.org which will include ongoing updates on the rezoning.

The next step for the rezoning recommendations is the formal review, additional public outreach and adoption by the NYC Department of City Planning.

This is a joint project with CIVITAS and Community Board 11 (CB11), whose zoning task force is led by Lashawn Henry (committee chair) and Diane Collier (vice chair).  The recommendations were developed to encourage the following goals in the community: affordable housing opportunities, economic development and job creation, new buildings that are contextual in scale with their surroundings and the revitalization of Park Avenue.  The area has not been rezoned in its entirety in over 50 years.

The Park Avenue Metro North Viaduct

To gauge the community’s needs, the CIVITAS and CB11 team convened hundreds of East Harlem residents at community meetings and roundtable discussions in 2012 to discuss their visions for the future of this area.  The zoning recommendations have been designed to be fine-grained and site specific (unlike much of the current zoning) and to address needs across a diverse section of East Harlem.   This area includes the neighborhood shopping corridor on 116th Street; lots alongside Park Avenue’s elevated Metro North viaduct: and quiet, low-rise side streets.

Breakout Session at the July 2012 Community Meeting

Throughout the process, the team has met with 

elected officials and government agencies including the Department of City Planning, Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the NYC Economic Development Corporation.  Through fundraising among CIVITAS members and the support of the Greve Foundation and New York Community Trust, CIVITAS and Community Board 11 were able to hire Insight Associates (Ethel Sheffer, principal) and George Janes Associates, professional planners, to develop the zoning recommendations. 

The complete recommendations and zoning maps and ongoing project updates are linked to www.civitasnyc.org/east-harlem.  They include some of the following: R7-D (medium density, contextual) around 116th Street to allow for affordable housing incentives; C4-4L (commercial) to encourage commercial activity and guide urban design along part of Park Avenue; R6-A (medium density, contextual) was selected to protect the historic scale of upper Madison Avenue; an MX district to encourage a mix of light industry and housing along Park Avenue and C6-2 (commercial zoning) near the 125th Street corridor and Metro North rail station.   The study area does not include the 125th Street corridor itself which was rezoned in 2008.

In The News

News reports from December 2012: DNAInfo "East Harlem Community Board Favors Hybrid Zoning Plan."

News reports from October 2012: DNAInfo: "East Harlem Plans for Future With Rezoning Proposals"](http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20121025/east-harlem/east-harlem-plans-for-future-with-rezoning-proposals#ixzz2AQqGizUl) and The Daily News:["New zoning eyed for East Harlem’s desolate 17-block gasoline alley"

Upcoming Meetings

The CB11 Landmarks, Land Use & Planning Committee meets monthly.  Check this calendar for updates: http://www.cb11m.org/event

Community Engagement Study Closed March 18

Thank you for participating in our Community Engagement Survey!

CIVITAS, working with NYU’s Capstone program at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, administered a Community Engagement Survey to take stock of community needs and priorities for the present and future of East Harlem and the Upper East Side.

The purpose of the project is to evaluate what community stakeholders view as the future needs of the neighborhood in the key areas that CIVITAS addresses through our work: land use and zoning, transportation, environmental quality and streetscapes.

The survey closed on March 18, 2011. For updates on the project, visit:
www.civitasnyc.org/live/publicneedssurvey