Bell Boulevard rezoning controversy

From the Times Ledger:

Community Board 11 will vote next week on whether to approve a proposal by Bayside’s Briarwood Organization to rezone a portion of Bell Boulevard that would allow for the conversion of an existing home on the street into office space.

Seven members of the board’s zoning committee voted against the proposal in a meeting last week, while another five abstained, CB 11 District Manager Susan Seinfeld said. The entire board will vote on the proposal at its June 15 meeting.

The Briarwood Organization, a development group at 36−35 Bell Blvd., has proposed creating a C2−2 zone, which is a commercial overlay in a residential district, in the existing R4 zone, which is a residential district that allows all housing types, at the corner of Bell Boulevard and 36th Avenue. This would enable the group to purchase a house next door to its site, where they could expand their operations. The proposal would also involve purchasing Redeemer Lutheran Church, which owns the home, and rezoning its property for commercial use.

[Seinfeld] said the board would likely be more amenable to the proposal if it merely called for rezoning the house’s property, but not the church.