Kissena Park Civic Association

Kissena Park Area Rezoning Update - February '05

Kissena Park Area Rezoning Moves Quickly

Community Planning Board #7 held its public hearing for the rezoning of the Kissena Park area of Flushing on February 14, 2005 at the Union Plaza Nursing Home. It was so well attended that about sixty people had to stand. Because there were so many speakers the normal allotted three minute speaking time had to be reduced to one minute. Except for three people who admitted buying their property only as an investment tool, everyone was in favor of rezoning the area to prevent any further out of context development. All of those who live in the community expressed that their quality of life was just as valuable an asset to them as the cash that a developer might be willing to pay.

Just three days later, on February 17, 2005 the Borough President had her public hearing. All of the speakers were in favor of rezoning. Borough President Helen Marshall was late getting back from Manhattan but her staff gave a strong indication that she was very much in favor of moving this rezoning along at a quick pace. This is the second step of the ULURP. The next step is the public hearing at City Planning. This is scheduled take place on March 30. The normal elapsed time for these three steps is about six months. In our case it’s all happening in about six weeks. This is truly amazing and reinforces John Young’s promise to help fast-track the process.


At both public hearings I reminded everyone that the only reason we had reached this level in the process is because Paul Graziano provided City Planning with a zoning proposal for our area that was well supported with technical data and is within the context of the area’s development. We expressed our deepest gratitude to Paul for his dedication and hard work to this project. I also asked to go on record that City Planning has promised to rezone blocks 5213, 5214 and 5215, which include Mary’s Nativity School and Church, in a timely manner. I also went on record to remind City Planning that they promised to put Holly and Waldheim neighborhoods up next for rezoning.

Joe Amoroso, Zoning Chairman
Kissena Park Civic Association