Experts Debate Desirability Of Density

New York City planners are beginning to acknowledge the inconsistency between a citywide policy of promoting affordable housing and Staten Island's "downzoning" efforts, reported Governing Magazine. Ten proposals to limit housing density have been approved or are in the works for the Island's affluent South Shore area. Complaints that townhouse developments and other high-density projects have clogged roads and crowded schools are sparking the proposals, the article said. But efforts to preserve neighborhood character have "run smack into the fact that Staten Island is considered by many New Yorkers of modest means to be their entree into the housing market," the article said. Although some planning commissioners support balancing downzonings with greater density allowances in some areas, political leaders have failed to start building a constituency for such action, the article said.