East Harlem eyes brand new zone
Park Ave. in East Harlem is an industrial streetscape best known for vacant lots, fenced-off parking and stalking spots for muggers — but that could change if the city revamps the local zoning, community officials say.
Bold new zoning would lure new residential and commercial development to the darkened, desolate 17-block strip — and create a thriving neighborhood hub in the area between E. 115th and E. 132nd Sts., advocates argue.
A big chunk of the corridor under the elevated Metro-North tracks is now zoned for manufacturing and auto uses. It’s no surprise, then, that the area is dotted with auto-body shops, gas stations, tire repair yards, parking lots, U-Haul rentals and masonry, ironworking, woodworking, fencing and hoisting-and-rigging companies.
There’s a need for many of those services. But Community Board 11, which represents East Harlem, and CIVITAS, an East Side citizens action group, are exploring zoning scenarios that could tempt developers to build housing and retail on some of those low-lying lots and empty parcels.
In addition to Park Ave., CB 11 and CIVITAS are mulling other zoning changes in a 449-lot area between Lexington and Madison Aves. They expect to submit proposals to the City Planning Commission, which must sign off on all city zoning changes, by early 2013.
One proposal would create a special mixed-use zone that would permit a healthy combination of residential, commercial and light industrial activity in an area now zoned largely for auto services and manufacturing.
“Park Ave. needs a vision, it needs creativity, it needs vitality, it needs better lighting, it needs more jobs, and we can combine all those things to improve the life of the neighborhood,” said Hunter Armstrong, executive director of CIVITAS.
It also needs such amenities as bowling alleys, catering halls, movie theaters, groceries that sell fresh food and family-oriented nightlife, most of which is prohibited on swaths of upper Park Ave. under the current zoning.
“I like bowling alleys, I like going to the movies, and so do most of my neighbors,” says Matthew Washington, chairman of CB 11. “Bring them in, and they’d create jobs at a time when we’ve got an unemployment rate of 16% in East Harlem.”
Adds George Janas, a prominent planning consultant working on the rezoning: “Residents should have the opportunity to work close to their homes, and they also need a much wider variety of shops and services in the neighborhood.”
Insiders say the move to reinvent the gritty blocks near the Park Avenue Viaduct could neatly complement two key initiatives already underway in the same corridor: l La Marqueta Mile. The state’s Harlem Community Development Corp. is studying the feasibility of turning a mile-long strip under the tracks into a $50 million, open-air market in which 900 vendors and artisans would present food, arts and crafts and cultural offerings. l Food at La Marqueta Market. The city’s Economic Development Corp. is providing commercial kitchen space to budding small businesses that manufacture food products and has also opened a booming kitchen incubator for start-up firms.
dfeiden@nydailynews.com