The “Special Downtown Far Rockaway District” established in this Resolution is designed to promote and protect the public health, safety and general welfare of the Downtown Far Rockaway community. These general goals include, among others, the following specific purposes:

(a)        to strengthen the commercial core of Downtown Far Rockaway by improving the working and living environments;

(b)        to support the development of vacant and underutilized parcels in Downtown Far Rockaway with a mix of residential, commercial and community facility uses;

(c)        to encourage the design of new buildings to blend into the existing neighborhood fabric by providing a transition in height between the downtown commercial core and the lower-scale residential communities;

(d)        to establish a center to the downtown with lively new gathering and civic spaces along Mott Avenue that complement and strengthen the existing neighborhood;

(e)        to encourage the development of affordable housing;

(f)        to expand the retail, entertainment and commercial character of areas around transit nodes to enhance the area’s role as a local transportation hub;

(g)        to integrate new roadways into an improved pedestrian and vehicular network with key north-south and east-west connections;

(h)        to ensure the provision of adequate accessory parking that reflects both the automobile ownership patterns of the neighborhood and public transit access;

(i)        to enhance the pedestrian environment by relieving sidewalk congestion and providing pedestrian amenities; and

(j)        to promote the most desirable use of land and building development and thus conserve and enhance the value of land and buildings, and thereby protect the City’s tax revenues.