City invites public review on massive Jamaica rezoning.

City Planning Director Amanda M. Burden has announced the beginning of public review for a plan to rezone 368 blocks of Jamaica, Queens, one of the Bloomberg Administration's largest zoning initiatives to date.

The plan would stimulate new housing and office development in Downtown Jamaica while protecting the character of the surrounding lower scale neighborhoods including parts of South Jamaica, Hollis and St. Albans.

The plan would expand the downtown business district with nearly three million square feet of commercial space and add up to 9,300 jobs.

The new zoning would provide opportunities for 3,400 new units of housing to be provided over the next ten years in residential and mixed-use developments at higher densities in and near Jamaica's downtown.

The Department of City Planning (DCP) and New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) are spearheading the multi-agency planning effort for the Administration.

"Jamaica with its pivotal location and transit infrastructure has all the ingredients for success, and we are determined to make it a center of opportunity with far reaching appeal for the community and our city. Queens airports are assets that we need to mine to capture our share of international business and the jobs they bring for New Yorkers," said Burden.

The rezoning, which is located largely in Queens Community District 12 and in part of Community District 8, calls for updating decades-old zoning that has been blamed for impeding development in order to facilitate creation of commercial office buildings and retail development along major corridors such as Sutphin Boulevard, Jamaica Avenue, and Archer Avenue.

The plan would encourage roughly 1.8 million square feet of office, 1.1 million square feet of retail, and 200,000 square feet of hotel space; increased residential opportunities at appropriate densities on corridors with good transportation access in and near the downtown area.

A special downtown Jamaica District will be designated covering 71 blocks in order to achieve specific goals for the Downtown. Among the objectives of the Special District is fostering a mix of expanded retail, cultural, commercial and residential uses around the major transit hubs; and requiring new buildings to provide widened or improved sidewalks, mandatory street tree plantings and active ground floor uses with large windows.

Building on the City's strategy to support industrial firms, increased densities to facilitate industrial development or expansion would be allowed on 32 blocks zoned for light manufacturing.

Last month, public review also began on two city applications to provide roadway improvements on principal streets providing access to the Long Island Rail Road and JFK AirTrain station complex.

The Atlantic Avenue Extension would create a new one-block through road to improve vehicular access to the transportation hub, and the Station Plaza Enhancement project would improve a vital intersection for both vehicles and pedestrians.

In addition, DCP expects to begin the public review later this spring for its proposal to rezone 320 blocks of the larger St. Albans area to preserve the one- and two-family detached character of this neighborhood.