Saturday, August 25/ Day 158, originally uploaded by JolieNY

Interesting story out of Brooklyn about unintended consequences, The Big Front Yards That Rob the Streets:

IN 1846, the City of Brooklyn passed a law requiring that front yards along certain streets in Carroll Gardens be 33 feet 5 1/4 inches deep.
In time, the big yards were responsible for the name of the neighborhood, and for its reputation as a fine place to view Christmas lights during the holidays. But most recently, those trademark gardens have stirred up a bit of controversy.
Although the yards serve as leafy margins to the streets, creating ample open space between the rows of brownstones arrayed on either side, they also put those streets into the “wide” category for zoning purposes. This means developers can build structures on those streets that are taller than would otherwise be allowed.

The streets in question are below:

For more information please see Carroll Gardens Narrow Street/Wide Street Zoning Text Amendment and the street map. The Problem, from the city’s perspective is thus:

In response to concerns about out-of-scale development from Community Board 6, local civic groups and elected officials, the Department of City Planning is proposing zoning text amendments to define certain streets in Carroll Gardens as narrow streets for zoning purposes. The text amendment would limit the size and configuration of new buildings and enlargements to more closely match the area’s prevailing built character.
Certain streets in Carroll Gardens are mapped on the City Map with widths of 100 to 130 feet. On these streets in Carroll Gardens, the mapped street therefore includes the characteristic deep front yards of homes as well as the sidewalks and roadbeds. The Zoning Resolution has more liberal floor area and height and setback rules for streets that are mapped at widths of 75 feet or more (“wide streets”).

And the solution is to consider for zoning purposes 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Places, and 2nd Street, Carroll Street and President Street between Smith Street and Hoyt Street to be “narrow streets,” thus limiting the total FAR for those locations.
Which is what should happen in order to not create finger buildings in those small blocks.