70 The QUENS Courier • REAL ESTATE • may 21, 2015 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com BP KATZ APPROVES ZONING AMENDMENT TO SPEED UP POST-SANDY RECOVERY BY LIAM LA GUERE [email protected] @LiamLaGuerre More help is on the way for Queens residents affected by Hurricane Sandy trying to rebuild their homes. Borough President Melinda Katz recently approved amendments to citywide zoning codes, which will allow more Sandy-affected homeowners to rebuild their homes faster and to return them to how they were before the storm instead of having to alter them to fit current regulations. The zoning change is a result of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s overhaul of the city’s Build it Back program, which has started construction ▶ real estate on 412 homes in Queens to date, and completed construction on 222. “This is a vital text amendment that will finally relieve the red tape that had burdened entire neighborhoods and prevented thousands of homes from fully rebuilding since Hurricane Sandy,” Katz said. “Thanks to joint inter-agency collaboration, home and property owners will soon be able to rebuild their homes to their original form prior to the storm, with improved flood resiliency elements.” The amendment was also approved by Sandy-impacted community boards 10, 13 and 14. It would allow, among other things, more residents to rebuilt their homes faster by waiving document requirements. Under current laws, before reconstruction can begin on residences, homeowners are supposed to provide documents to show changes made to homes since 1961, which is difficult for most people since their homes probably traded hands since then or documents were destroyed in the storm. Also, some homes could be required to be constructed much taller than others in the neighborhood because of current zoning. The amendment will create zoning pockets, which will allow homeowners to build shorter and wider homes, which are prevalent in surrounding neighborhoods. Now with support from Katz, the amendment must be approved next by the Department of City Planning and then the City Council before it can go into effect. THE COURIER/File photo Homeowners affected by Sandy will be able to rebuild their homes more easily after zoning amendments. REPORT: Jackson Heights rents jump in April, borough sees overall decline BY LIAM LA GUERE [email protected] @LiamLaGuerre Many Queens renters probably didn’t realize it, but average rents in the borough fell in most neighborhoods, according to the April MNS Real Estate Queens Rental Market Report. Renters were likely to pay an average of $2,074.17 per month in April, which was down .41 percent from March, the report found. However, while most neighborhoods saw decreases, overall rents in Jackson Heights saw an average rental price increase of 7.45 percent from March to April. Jackson Heights two-bedroom apartment prices saw the borough’s largest increase of 17.44 percent over the month, or $356 more, to $2,395 per month. The report indicated that the price jump is a result of very low inventory in Jackson Heights, which had just six two-bedroom rental apartments in April. To compare, Astoria had the most available two-bedroom units in the borough in April with 115 apartments, according to the report. Astoria was the only other neighborhood in the survey that saw an increase in average rents, although it was just .2 percent more. The increase was due to rising prices in one- and two-bedroom apartments in the neighborhood caused by high demand. But despite the overall increase, studio rents in Astoria actually dropped nearly six percent to an average of $1,748 per month.
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