OneLIC Neighborhood Plan will update outdated zoning and expand access to the waterfront. Image Credit: DCP.
April 30, 2025 By Shane O’Brien
Council Member Julie Won has announced a slate of “community-driven” priorities for the OneLIC neighborhood plan, which officially entered the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) following certification by the City Planning Commission on April 21.
The sweeping rezoning proposal aims to transform a large portion of Long Island City by creating nearly 14,700 housing units—including 4,300 affordable homes—alongside 14,400 jobs, more than 3.5 million square feet of commercial and industrial space, and expanded East River waterfront access.
Covering 54 full or partial blocks from Gantry Plaza State Park to the Queensbridge Houses and north to the Long Island City Industrial Business Zone, the plan’s eastern boundary extends to Court Square and 23rd Street. It would revise outdated zoning to allow for more mixed-use development, increase housing, and improve infrastructure and resiliency.
Courtesy of the office of CM Won
Won laid out key priorities for the plan after 18 months of community engagement that included 2,300 survey responses and more than 5,700 public comments. These “minimum requirements,” she said, must be met for the plan to gain her support during ULURP.
Won is calling for a commitment to permanently affordable housing at a range of income levels, including family-sized units, using a combination of public sites and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) on private sites.
She also stressed the need for a connected waterfront esplanade from Queensbridge Park to Gantry Plaza State Park. Won called on Con Edison and the New York Power Authority to provide at least 40 feet of waterfront space for public access as part of a contiguous shoreline.
Additional priorities include the creation of new public open spaces—especially beneath the Queensboro Bridge and its ramps, currently used by the DOT and Parks Department for maintenance. Won said redeveloping these sites would restore public land and better connect Queensbridge Houses to the broader LIC community.
To address what she called a “critical” need for school seats, Won urged the city to site and build new schools and complete those already underway, such as the Court Square and Hunters Point South Parcel C K-8 schools.
She also called for new capital funding for sewage and plumbing infrastructure to address current flooding and support future development. At Queensbridge Houses, Won pressed for immediate maintenance and upgrades, including the rehabilitation of vacant, deteriorated units.
Won additionally urged the city to prioritize community use of public land, such as affordable housing and homeownership opportunities, and to ensure a community-led process for the future of the 672,000-square-foot Department of Education building at 44-36 Vernon Blvd.
“I will fight to ensure the final OneLIC Neighborhood Plan delivers resiliency, sustainability, and longevity, through commitments on deeply affordable housing, pathways to affordable home ownership, thousands of additional school seats, a connected waterfront, new green spaces, and more,” Won said in a statement.
She encouraged residents to testify at a special hearing co-hosted by Community Boards 1 and 2 at LaGuardia Community College’s Mainstage Theater on Wednesday, May 21.
Mayor Eric Adams and City Planning Chair Dan Garodnick announced the plan’s certification on April 21, marking the fifth neighborhood plan to enter public review under Adams’ administration.
“In order to make New York City the best place to raise a family, we need more affordable homes and more good-paying jobs, and the OneLIC Neighborhood Plan will help create both,” Adams said.
OneLIC Neighborhood Plan would unify the waterfront from Gantry Plaza State Park to
Queensbridge Park, creating a consistent public space for the neighborhood. Image Credit: DCP.
Community Boards 1 and 2 will issue advisory recommendations within 60 days, followed by a non-binding recommendation from Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. The City Planning Commission will then hold its own hearing and vote, before the plan goes to the City Council for final approval. The mayor may veto the plan within five days of the Council’s vote.
According to city officials, the plan reflects input from over 1,600 participants across 15 public meetings, in addition to the thousands of comments and surveys submitted. Partners included the Queensbridge Houses Tenant Associations, Long Island City Partnership, Community Boards 1 and 2, and the Hunters Point Parks Conservancy.
The rezoning would mandate affordable housing in LIC under MIH for the first time. Of the 4,300 affordable units proposed, about 4,000 would be developed through MIH: 25% at 60% AMI, 30% at 80% AMI, and 20% at 40% AMI. Public sites such as the DOT facility at 44-59 45th Ave. would also be used to build additional income-restricted housing, including a planned 320-unit project.
Garodnick noted that the plan would create more housing units than any other neighborhood rezoning in New York City in the past 25 years.
The plan also includes roughly nine acres of new public open space, enhanced streetscapes, safer pedestrian crossings, and a unified Waterfront Access Plan linking Gantry Plaza to Queensbridge Park.
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