Council plan for 5,000-plus homes would give Staten Island’s North Shore a downtown
North Shore NYC would allow apartment buildings as tall as 14 stories in St. George, Tompkinsville and Stapleton, close to the ferry.
Staten Island’s North Shore could get upward of 5,000 new apartments under a plan the City Council unveiled on Friday. The goal is to turn the waterfront neighborhoods of St. George, Tompkinsville and Stapleton into a downtown for the borough.
Named North Shore NYC, the proposal pictures housing, stores, restaurants and open space near the Staten Island Ferry. Councilmember Kamillah Hanks, a Democrat from Staten Island, said she hopes to repeat what happened in Jersey City, Hoboken and Bayonne, where former industrial waterfronts became dense residential neighborhoods. The zone proposed for rezoning covers about as much ground as Hoboken.
What the North Shore rezoning would change
Near the water today, the streets are lined mostly with two-story businesses and three-story houses, plus a few apartment buildings as tall as 10 stories. On land carrying commercial or manufacturing zoning, no housing can be built at all. Letting developers put up bigger apartment buildings, some reaching 14 stories, would give Staten Islanders who now have to search elsewhere more choices close to home, according to Hanks. She joked that plenty of residents who head over the Bayonne Bridge end up staying in New Jersey, where homes are cheaper and more plentiful, and never return.
Past attempts to draw tourists and shoppers, among them an outlet mall and a Ferris wheel, fell flat. According to Hanks, the 2006 and 2008 rezonings did little for housing because they did not go far enough. She previously led a Staten Island economic development nonprofit and has argued for remaking the North Shore for 20 years. “The pace of change has not matched the potential of the North Shore,” she wrote in a message attached to the report.
Why the City Council is drafting its own housing plans
A growing number of Council members are drawing up development plans of their own. Ballot measures passed during former Mayor Eric Adams’s tenure took away much of their control over development in their districts. A panel that includes the mayor can now reverse Council votes on land use, and in some cases developers seeking to rezone lots for more housing do not need the Council at all.
Council Speaker Julie Menin described the new plans as part of a “proactive land use agenda.” Her aim, she said, is a true downtown on Staten Island’s North Shore.
Quick answers
Which neighborhoods are in the North Shore NYC plan?
St. George, Stapleton and Tompkinsville, the waterfront neighborhoods around the ferry terminal.
How many apartments would the Staten Island North Shore plan add?
Upward of 5,000, with apartment buildings as tall as 14 stories allowed.
Why is the City Council writing its own development plans?
Ballot measures passed under former Mayor Eric Adams took away much of the Council's control over land use. Speaker Julie Menin called the plans part of a proactive land use agenda.
