The city Planning Commission has signed off on a plan to create residential districts for new infill housing developments and projects focused on construction of new buildings in vacant or underutilized parcels in the city.

The city Development Department is proposing an ordinance that would allow for the creation of Pilot Residential Districts to allow for flexible zoning standards for infill housing development on eligible publicly owned parcels, while still requiring site plan review and ensuring compatibility with surrounding neighborhoods. During a recent meeting of the city’s Planning Commission, Crystal Surdyk, city development director, showed the commission a map of the districts where infill housing projects are planned to take place for this pilot project, saying the districts specifically have been picked as they are the ones known to be in need of help.

“These have all been identified through the process of being identified as neighborhoods that need some strategic intervention,” Surdyk said. “That might be by virtue of demolition; that may be some rehabilitation projects with housing; we may have some 19A properties in those neighborhoods, and I know that we do in some of these.”

The neighborhoods have been identified as needing holistic revitalization, Surdyk said, which can come in a number of different ways. She gave an example of Cross Street, specifically where there is a dead end portion with a number of houses that Surdyk said cannot be saved and are already planned for demolition.

Funding from the state for these types of projects and other housing initiatives has been received through New York State Pro Housing Communities. Surdyk added that they have applied for other funding through the state Homes and Community Renewal for some pre-development activities as well, such as site preparation, demolition, infrastructure replacement and everything else that would need to be replaced in neighborhoods where these infrastructure problems exist.

“So it completely ties in with the proposed pilot districts and achieving all of those goals,” Surdyk said.

The Planning Commission approved a resolution to move forward with these proposed Pilot Residential Districts zoning overlay. A resolution for the adoption of the ordinance and a negative environmental impact SEQR are set to be voted on next at the next city council voting session.