More than 100 people packed into Public School 104 on 9115 Fifth Avenue Tuesday night to hear Councilmember Kayla Santosuosso pitch a plan that would reshape one of Bay Ridge's most car-clogged corridors into housing. The area in question, a triangle-shaped stretch running from 86th to 95th streets between Fourth and Fifth avenues, is currently packed with car dealerships, body shops, gas stations and vacant lots — and allows no housing under its current zoning.
A Car-Lot Corridor Gets a Second Look
Santosuosso hosted the launch event to formally introduce her proposal for a community-led rezoning of the Bay Ridge Triangle, an area she and others describe as one of the least walkable parts of the neighborhood, where small businesses struggle to survive amid the auto-oriented sprawl. Her idea covers the stretch between 86th and 95th streets and Fourth and Fifth avenues, according to The City Reporter, which reported on the councilmember's rezoning ambitions ahead of the launch. City Limits, which visited the corridor itself, described it plainly: “The stretch is mostly auto shops and parking lots,” as noted in its coverage of Brooklyn housing news.
Santosuosso called the PS 104 gathering the first of many planned events and urged residents to complete a community survey that will help determine what housing should look like in the corridor and what else the neighborhood needs, per the Eagle's reporting.
Why Bay Ridge Is Under Pressure to Build
The push comes as the community district covering Bay Ridge and neighboring Dyker Heights netted just 580 new homes between 2010 and 2025 — the lowest total of any district in New York City, according to Department of City Planning figures cited by The City Reporter. The same outlet reports that the Department of City Planning is expected to identify the least-productive districts for new housing in October, and that Bay Ridge is expected to land on that list. City Limits, drawing on the same data, put it bluntly: the district is “dead last on the list as of last year” for housing production.
The stakes go beyond bragging rights. Community District 10's population grew 9.2 percent between 2010 and 2020, while its housing supply grew just 1 percent from 2010 through 2024, according to The Real Deal. Santosuosso told The City Reporter that a new fast-track approval process could bring a wave of construction to the neighborhood: “We're talking about probably thousands and thousands of units that are going to come to Bay Ridge,” she said.
A New Fast Track Kicks In Next Year
That fast track stems from new rules taking effect in January 2027 that change how development beyond existing zoning gets approved. Under the change, developers in qualifying neighborhoods can bypass the local City Council and go directly to the City Planning Commission, according to the Eagle's reporting. The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development confirms that starting January 1, 2027, affordable housing projects in the 12 community districts with the lowest rates of affordable housing development can use a shortened process similar to ELURP-CPC.
The New York City Charter Revision Commission notes the fast track applies only to those 12 districts — roughly the bottom fifth citywide for affordable housing production — and that no district will be subject to it before 2027. Bay Ridge voters, however, backed the underlying ballot measure at a lower rate than the rest of the city; just 44 percent of local voters supported it, compared with about 59 percent citywide, per Brownstoner's reporting on the vote.
Other Rezonings Already in the Pipeline
The Bay Ridge Triangle proposal is not the neighborhood's only active rezoning fight. Separately, a proposal for a mixed-use building calls for 292 housing units.
Accounts of that 9305 Fifth Avenue project's exact commercial breakdown differ: New York City's Department of City Planning documents describe 12,093 square feet of commercial space and 1,117 square feet of community-facility space, while The Real Deal reported 12,000 square feet of commercial space and 75 underground parking spots. The Real Deal also reported that the developer behind that project agreed to add more family-size apartments, put a supermarket on the ground floor and cut the building's height from 14 stories to 11 after community pushback. Nearby, Brownstoner reports that BWH Group is pursuing its own rezoning for a mixed-use development with nearly 300 apartments at a Staples store and parking-lot site close to the Triangle.
Concerns Familiar to Other Bay Ridge Projects
Bay Ridge has already seen a string of rezoning proposals aimed at adding housing, and they have consistently raised concerns about traffic congestion and affordability. At a separate project known as Fort Hamilton Mews, residents who showed up to a community board meeting complained the development would bring flooding, congestion, grocery-delivery problems and difficulties for a firehouse located next door, according to The Real Deal.
A community-driven plan leaves room for residents to weigh in on neighborhood needs beyond housing. For now, Santosuosso's office is asking residents to do so through the survey as the Triangle proposal moves through its early public stages.
