NYC Council reaches deal to pass contentious Bronx rezoning backed by Mayor Adams

A contentious rezoning proposal for an East Bronx neighborhood is expected to breeze through the City Council — after the area’s councilwoman threw her support behind the plan Thursday following months of tense negotiations and pushback from her constituents.

The zoning change plan, proposed by a group of local property owners, opens the door for constructing four new buildings with 349 apartment units, 168 of which will be income-restricted, as well as a new grocery store on a stretch of Bruckner Blvd. in Throgs Neck.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (left) and New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, D-Queens (right) at City Hall in lower Manhattan, New York on Friday, June 10, 2022.

The proposal has been up in the air for months, as the neighborhood’s Council rep, Marjorie Velazquez, remained opposed to it, pitting her against Mayor Adams, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) and housing activists who have supported the project.

But at a Council zoning subcommittee hearing Thursday morning, Velazquez, a Democrat, announced she’s had a change of heart and plans to support the rezoning.

“For me, the priority has been and will always be building for my community locally and also giving them the opportunity to work there. It has always been for me about my district and meeting their needs, and I would like to say, thankfully, we’ve gotten there,” she said before the subcommittee unanimously approved the zoning change measure.

The plan was rubber-stamped by the Land Use Committee later in the day, sending it over to the full Council, where sources said it is set to pass next week — the final step before shovels can hit the ground.

New York City Councilmember Marjorie Velazquez (D-Bronx) (Pacific Press/)

Velazquez’s about-face came after Throggs Neck Associates, the property owner group behind the rezoning application, locked in a deal late Wednesday to contract with the carpenters union for developing the plan’s “Site C,” as first reported by the Daily News. The site will become an apartment complex for seniors, and Velazquez has previously said her opposition was centered on the property owner group’s failure to include the carpenters union in the deal.

The other element Velazquez pinned her opposition to was what she described as Throggs Neck Associates not going far enough to reserve apartments for local military veterans. Under the current rezoning framework, 22 units will be set aside for veterans.

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In addition to the mayor’s thumb on the scale, Speaker Adams urged fellow Council Democrats during a private meeting earlier this week to vote for the plan, according to Council sources. The speaker’s team also worked behind the scenes to broker the deal between the carpenters union and the property owners, the sources said.

With the speaker onboard, the plan likely would’ve passed even if Velazquez opposed it, said a Council member who spoke on condition of anonymity. “In the end, she will deliver what her community and this city needs,” the member said of Velazquez.

Bruckner Boulevard Rezoning (NYC Dept. of City Planning/)

The Council deal marks a win for Mayor Adams, who threw his weight behind the Bruckner rezoning this summer, arguing it’ll bring much-needed housing to a neighborhood that has only produced 58 affordable units in the past decade.

“Today’s vote is a victory for the Throgs Neck community, the Bronx, and the entire city,” the mayor said Thursday. “The housing crisis impacts all of us, and every community has a responsibility to be part of the solution and help us provide safe, quality homes to all New Yorkers.”

The project has attracted much criticism in Throgs Neck, though.

In addition to Velazquez’s complaints, some community members have raised concern about the financial histories of the building owners behind the project, as first reported by The News on Wednesday. Other opponents have claimed the rezoning would alter the “character” of the neighborhood, a criticism supporters say is rooted in racism.

The Bruckner dilemma put a test to the “member deference” concept the Council traditionally practices, under which members get outsize say on zoning issues in their districts.

In the subcommittee hearing, Velazquez said that, all in all, she believes the Council tradition remains unscathed.

“Member deference is not dead,” she told her colleagues, “and I love you for that.”