Opponents from the controversial rezoning of 125th Street in Harlem, which is bitterly criticized by some community residents, have turned for an obscure provision from the City Charter to attempt to derail it. The Harlem rezoning would allow as much as 2, 500 new apartments inside the a large number of blocks it covers as well as for buildings 120, 160 or 290 feet tall, counting on where they‘re located. The rezoning was approved from the City Planning Commission last month and also the City Council has until finished of April to vote onto it. This is how Page 74, Section 200, Subsection 3 from the City Charter enter into play. It says, per the New York Times :
that in case signatures opposing a rezoning are obtained coming from the owners of 20 percent from the property, as based upon square footage, in one among three different areas — the area to become rezoned, the area adjacent towards the property being rezoned, as well as area “opposite” the property (for instance, across the road ) — probably the City Council must approve the rezoning using a three-fourths vote, rather than using a simple majority.
Since yesterday morning, two emails from Carroll Gardens and Gowanus groups have mentioned the potential of using Section 200, Subsection 3 " on Bond Street " and " the Gowanus sites. " Offered the intensity of opposition among some property owners inside the immediate Bond Street area, the tactic could discover a receptive audience.