Harlem rezoning opponents dig up 110-year-old law

Opponents of the rezoning of Harlem’s 125th Street have unearthed a clause buried in the 110-year-old City Charter that they say supports their cause. The charter says that the City Council must pass a rezoning by a three-fourths vote, instead of by a simple majority, if opposing signatures are obtained from the owners of 20 percent of the affected property, calculated by square footage, in either the area being rezoned or adjacent areas. Members of a group called Voices of the Everyday People are already collecting signatures. The Council’s influential Land Use Committee holds a public hearing today on the rezoning, which would allow the creation of office towers and more than 2,000 market-rate condos.