Space and Community at Sunnyside
Part 3. Deregulation and Designation
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Sunnyside Gardens interior courtyard, where onetime
common space has been fenced in by current property owners
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For the eight years following 1966, every common
court in Sunnyside Gardens experienced some dissipation through backyard
fencing. In a few instances, courts were nearly completely appropriated
by private residents. Walkways and mews, protected by permanent easements,
remained largely unobstructed, but access to subdivided courts held increasingly
less appeal for neighborhood residents. Several owners also took advantage
of their newly acquired artistic license and renovated their houses in
styles ranging from Californian and Mediterranean to imitations of the
White Castle fast food restaurant. These alterations created startling
contrasts to the English country houses built by CHC and left many members
of the community aghast. Furthermore, although the original plan had provided
parking garages for Sunnyside residents at the edge of the development,
a number of residents preferred driveways in front of their houses. Those
who felt this way were free during this period to cut the curbs in front
of their houses and pave areas previously used for front yard gardens.
Battles over preservation and property rights polarized
the residents of Sunnyside Gardens. Debates took on overtly political
overtones, pitting “liberal” preservationists against “conservative” property
rights advocates, the result being a further breakdown of any cohesive
sense of community.
As these disputes became more intense, the City Planning
Commission came under increasing pressure to take action. Rather than
analyzing Sunnyside Gardens’ problems specifically, however, the CPC opted
to include the neighborhood in a zoning resolution which applied to four
separate communities around New York City, communities bound only by their
perceived historical value as feats of early twentieth century planning.
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"The
objectives of the Special Planned Community Preservation District
are to preserve communities which are superior examples of town-planning
or large-scale development; to preserve and protect the character
and integrity of these communities which by their existing site
plan, pedestrian and vehicular circulation systems, balance between
buildings and open space arrangement and landscaping add to the
quality of urban life; to preserve and protect the charity of neighborhoods
and communities that presently exist which contribute greatly to
the uniqueness and livability of the city; to maintain and protect
the environmental quality that these communities offer to their
residents and the city-at-large, and to guide future development
within these areas consistent with the existing character, quality,
and amenity of the Special District."
New York City Planning Commission, “Zoning Text
Amendment to Permit the Mapping of Special Planned Community Preservation
Districts,” Comprehensive
City Planning Calendar of the City of New York, CP-22501 (New
York, June 12, 1974).
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The other three areas dubbed Special Planned Community
Preservation Districts were Fresh Meadows Housing Development in Queens,
Parkchester in the Bronx, and Harlem River Houses in Manhattan. Like Sunnyside
Gardens, these three developments each boasted unusual site plans; unlike
the CHC project, however, these three later plans were characterized by
an emphasis on large-scale apartment buildings rather than single-family
houses. Many Sunnyside Gardeners thus immediately criticized the resolution
as inappropriate to the needs of a more suburban-style development.
The restrictions imposed by the 1974 zoning resolution
required the issuance of special permits by the Board of Estimate prior
to almost any property alteration. The law was not retroactive however,
and therefore did little to restore the common courts in Sunnyside Gardens.
Furthermore, as Havelick and Kwartler point out, “the city was [not] able
to enforce the new law effectively, since it had difficulty with, among
other things, distinguishing between old legal fences and new fences built
after the zoning ordinance.” Curb cuts represented a particular
sore spot among many residents, and by 1978 an organization called the
Concerned Citizens for Sunnyside was created to lobby the City Planning
Commission to allow as-of-right driveway installation. These efforts were
not successful however, and the driveway issue remains a point of contention
to this day.
In the wake of the 1974 zoning ordinance, preservation-minded
Sunnyside Gardeners were compelled to devise new methods for restoring
the original character of the community. While the CPC’s action had largely
staunched the building and fencing activities which had run rampant during
the previous eight years, it did nothing to encourage the upkeep and restoration
of the neighborhood. Frustrated
by the divided spaces and social networks of the community, a number of
residents took it upon themselves to revive a demoralized Sunnyside Gardens.
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