CIVITAS In Action

Community Board 11 Passes East Harlem Rezoning Recommendations 

On January 15, Community Board 11 (CB11) approved the rezoning recommendations developed by CIVITAS and others for East Harlem (Madison, Park and Lexington Avenues). 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 revitalization of upper Park Avenue. The area addressed in the recommendations spans 115th to 132nd Streets and has not been rezoned in its entirety since 1961. CIVITAS and CB11’s zoning task force, chaired by Lashawn Henry, are partners in the initiative, and convened hundreds of East Harlem residents to discuss their visions for the future of their community. The zoning recommendations have been crafted to be fine-grained and site specific. They reflect the existing condition of a diverse section of East Harlem. Throughout the process, CIVITAS and CB11 have met with elected officials and government agencies including the Department of City Planning (DCP), Department of Transportation, MTA, and the NYC Economic Development Corporation. Through fundraising among its members and the support of the Greve Foundation and New York Community Trust, CIVITAS and CB11 were able to hire Insight Associates and George Janes Associates, professional planners, to develop the zoning recommendations. 

The next step for the rezoning recommendations is formal review, additional public outreach and adoption by the DCP. Our goal is for the rezoning of this vital area to take place during the current and next mayoral administrations. The complete recommendations are linked to civitasnyc. org. They include: R7-A (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 (lower 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. 

CIVITAS Works to Improve Recycling Rates In Our Community 

CIVITAS Director Joanna Delson and President Felipe Ventegeat meet at PS/MS 57 with Marc Hendricks (Custodian), Glen Nison (DSNY Outreach Specialist), Jonathan Lee (Assistant Principal & Sustainability Coordinator). 

As part of its three-pronged program to significantly improve the rate of recycling in the Upper East Side and in East Harlem, CIVITAS is going back to school. Based on the principle that good habits learned early can have lifelong impacts, CIVITAS has arranged to work in partnership with two schools in East Harlem—PS/MS 007 at 120th Street and Lexington Avenue and PS/MS 57 at 115th Street and Third Avenue—to improve recycling practices at the schools themselves and to educate students on the importance of recycling at home. In November 2012, Joanna Delson, Janis Eltz and CIVITAS President Felipe Ventegeat met with the principals, sustainability coordinators and custodial staff of both schools to lay the groundwork for a continuing partnership. Responding to the school administrators’ specific requests, CIVITAS contacted the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) and arranged for outreach specialists to come to the schools on January 14 to guide them in correct recycling procedures. One goal of the program will be to eliminate or substantially reduce the use of styrofoam containers as part of the lunch program. The next phase of the school recycling initiative will be to develop a curriculum with the sustainability coordinators, and to make a series of presentations to the children at assemblies and in the classroom. 

The other two prongs of the CIVITAS Recycling Initiative are: (a) extensive outreach to apartment building managers and neighborhood organizations, particularly on the Upper East Side, to promote participation in the DSNY’s Apartment Building Recycling Initiative (see article on p. 6); and, (b) to work with the NYC Housing Authority at one or more sites in East Harlem to facilitate improved recycling efforts through infrastructure changes and education of tenants. The recycling goals are daunting, but CIVITAS is prepared for the long haul. 

Save the Date: 

CIVITAS Executive Director Hunter Armstrong will speak about land use, zoning and community activism on May 14 at 6 pm at House of the Redeemer, 7 East 95th Street. A NYC landmark, the House was designed by acclaimed architect Grosvenor Atterbury and constructed for the Fabbri family between 1914-1916. 

Community News: 

On December 15 the Neighborhood Explorers Program at the Museum of the City of New York presented their ideas for the CIVITAS Esplanade exhibition. The students are enrolled at the East Harlem School on East 103rd Street.
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Hamby.

Joe Wood’s first prize designs from the CIVITAS Reimagining the Waterfront ideas competition will be on display at Syracuse University’s Lubin House in February 2013. Lubin House is a historic landmark mansion at 11 East 61st Street and is open to the public. Photo by Karli Cadel.

To read the complete spring 2013 issue of CIVITAS News, visit http://civitasnyc.org/civitas-newsletters/