A comment on Ditmas Park Blog open thread, Landmarking Pro and Con, led me to begin writing a lengthy response, which I thought I'd post here instead.
The area's R1 and R2 zoning already prohibits anything but a detached single-family house.I've written about this issue several times before on this blog.
Only Prospect Park South, Ditmas Park, West Midwood, Midwood Park, and Fiske Terrace - maybe a third of Victorian Flatbush in area, if that - are covered by R1 and R2. The rest is mostly R3-2. The most at-risk are the R6 zones; there have already been several teardowns along Stratford Road in Ditmas Park West that I've seen and photographed.
Zoning only addresses physical properties, such as setbacks, curbcuts, building height, Floor-to-Area Ratio (FAR), and so on. You can still rip off all architectural details, stucco over the entire woodframe house, add faux quoins, brick in the porch, add picture windows, and top it off with a six-foot rolling gate stainless steel barricade. Only landmarking can protect the street character of a neighborhood.
Check DCP for an index of all Zoning Maps. South Midwood is on map 23a; the rest of Victorian Flatbush is on 22c. DCP includes an explanation of basic residential zoning regulations on their Web site.
Related Posts
State of Flatbush/Midwood, October 5Illegal Conversions Kill, September 24
Another reason to loathe real estate brokers, April 6
Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance Recommending Brooklyn Neighborhoods, March 23
Landscape and Politics in Brooklyn's City Council District 40, February 14
NASA Earth Observatory Maps NYC's Heat Island, Block by Block, August 1, 2006
Links
DCP: Residence District Zoning ExplainedDCP Zoning Glossary
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