Coney Island Timetable: Public Meetings Start Nov. 19, Process Complete in 2009

Yesterday's announcement of a Coney Island zoning proposal was the very first step of what will be a very, very long process of settling land use issues. The process will run through 2009. The first public meeting on the new Coney Island zoning proposal will be held on November 19 at Auditorium, Coney Island Hospital at 6:30. The entire rezoning process is due to be completed during the Summer of 2009, assuming that things like state legislative approval needed to "alienate" current "parkland"--including the KeySpan Park parking lot--occur on schedule and no political wrenches are thrown into the works in Albany. The entire timetable, as laid out last night on the Department of City Planning website is above. The Summer '09 estimate for approval underscores why so many people were upset that Thor Equities began demolition of things in the winter of '06-'07 and was threatening boardwalk business with eviction earlier this year. The timetable is not radically different from what it would have been, even if the city had not decided that it would take charge of development in the amusement district.