If you live in Kensington, Ditmas Park, Borough Park, Prospect Park South, or Midwood, your neighborhood is at the center of New York City’s first major rezoning initiative under Mayor Zohran Mamdani. On May 20, 2026, the mayor and the Department of City Planning (DCP) officially launched the South of Prospect Plan — a community-driven rezoning effort targeting the commercial corridors of Coney Island Avenue and McDonald Avenue south of Prospect Park.
This is not a done deal yet. What the city announced is the beginning of a public planning process — community engagement events, a neighborhood survey, and a series of conversations with residents that will shape a formal zoning proposal expected next year. But the direction is clear: the city wants to build more housing, more affordably, in neighborhoods that have strong subway and bus access but outdated zoning rules that have blocked growth for decades.
What the South of Prospect Plan Is
The plan focuses on portions of Coney Island Avenue and McDonald Avenue, stretching roughly from Caton Avenue and Fort Hamilton Parkway down to Avenue I. According to the official announcement from the NYC Mayor’s Office (verified May 20, 2026), the plan aims to:
- Update outdated single-use zoning that has blocked mixed-use development along these transit corridors
- Enable more transit-oriented development — taller buildings with ground-floor commercial uses near bus and subway lines
- Require permanently affordable housing as part of new development
- Expand jobs and services along the corridors
- Improve public spaces and neighborhood infrastructure
- Prepare the area for the MTA’s future Interborough Express (IBX), which will connect these neighborhoods to other boroughs
The planning effort was announced in partnership with City Council Members Shahana Hanif (Kensington), Rita Joseph, Farah N. Louis (Flatbush/Midwood), and Simcha Felder.
Why These Corridors?
Coney Island Avenue and McDonald Avenue are among Brooklyn’s most-used commercial streets — busy with pedestrians, served by multiple bus lines, and near several subway stations. Yet much of their zoning was set up for car-oriented, single-use retail, which means the low one- and two-story commercial buildings you see along these corridors today often cannot be replaced with mixed-use buildings that include apartments above stores.
Mayor Mamdani, who has made creating 200,000 new units of affordable housing a central policy goal, said at the announcement: “New Yorkers are being pushed out of the neighborhoods they built because our city has spent decades refusing to build enough housing where people actually want and need to live. These plans are about changing that.”
How to Participate
The city has launched a neighborhood survey to collect input from residents before drafting any zoning proposals. DCP will also hold a series of in-person public engagement events in the coming months — walking tours, community workshops, and open houses in neighborhoods along the corridor.
A formal zoning concept map is scheduled for release in 2027. That concept map will then go through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), which gives community boards, the borough president, the City Planning Commission, and the City Council the opportunity to weigh in and modify the proposal before any vote.
Council Member Hanif, who represents Kensington, said: “This planning process is an opportunity to hear directly from residents about how we can create permanently affordable housing, strengthen our commercial corridors, improve public space, and prepare for future transit investments like the IBX, while ensuring the people who call this part of Brooklyn home can continue to thrive here for generations to come.”
The Interborough Express Connection
A key piece of context for this rezoning is the MTA’s planned Interborough Express (IBX) — a new transit line that would run along an existing freight rail corridor from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to Jackson Heights, Queens, connecting multiple neighborhoods that currently have no direct rail link. The South of Prospect Plan is partly designed to get these communities ready for the transit upgrade and the development pressure it will bring. Planning ahead, rather than scrambling after the fact, is explicitly part of the city’s stated goal.
What This Means for Current Residents
Rezoning processes often raise legitimate questions about displacement — whether new development benefits the people who already live in a neighborhood or prices them out of it. Council Members Hanif and Louis both emphasized that permanently affordable housing requirements will be part of any zoning proposal, not an afterthought.
Nothing changes on these streets today. The current zoning stays in place until the ULURP process is complete, which will take at minimum 12–18 months from when a formal proposal is submitted — and we are still in the community engagement phase before a proposal even exists. Residents, small business owners, and community organizations have real leverage to shape what gets proposed.
What You Need to Know
- The South of Prospect Plan was officially launched May 20, 2026 by Mayor Mamdani and the Department of City Planning
- It targets Coney Island Avenue and McDonald Avenue corridors in Kensington, Ditmas Park, Borough Park, Prospect Park South, and Midwood
- The goal is more transit-oriented housing with permanently affordable units, better public spaces, and small business support
- Community engagement is underway now — a neighborhood survey is open and public events will be announced in coming months
- A zoning concept map is expected in 2027; no vote has been taken and no zoning has changed yet
- The plan is partly designed to prepare for the future MTA Interborough Express line
- Council Members Hanif, Joseph, Louis, and Felder are partnering with the city on community engagement
For more context on NYC housing policy, see our HPD tenant complaint guide and our CityFHEPS rental assistance guide for Brooklyn residents facing housing cost pressures.
Primary source: NYC Mayor’s Office, May 20, 2026
