The City Planning Commission is expected to present a revised draft of its rezoning plan for the Lower East Side/East Village next month to Community Board 3 and last night David McWater, the chairman of board and its 197 Task Force committee of the board, told a crowded meeting at the University Settlement at 273 Bowery that recent discussions he had with the commission?s staff had no ?bad surprises.?

Mr. McWater maintained that while the proposed rezoning that seeks to eliminate ?community facility? overdevelopment ?allowed under the current zoning? that has resulted in some large educational housing facilities in the area, and to ?establish a district more in keeping with current planning principles of contextual design,? was not perfect, it is ?light years better than what we have.?

Andrew Berman, the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and a member of Community Board 3, said that his organization, one of the most active civic groups in Lower Manhattan, considers the draft rezoning ?largely very good and necessary,? but is still entirely supportive of a request that the rezoning include Third Avenue from 9th to 13th Streets.

Mr. McWater, however, said that the commission ?is not going to do it,? adding that ?they?re afraid it would delay the rezoning too long.?

Mr. Berman said ?someone is trying to block? the expansion of the rezoning area to Third Avenue and he said his organization would provide interns to survey the area and the committee unanimously passed a resolution to recommend that the Borough President?s office appoint an intern to help the committee get data on the Third and Fourth Avenue rezoning as a ?priority.?

His organization has criticized as ?grossly out-of-scale? and ?out-of-character? plans by New York University to build a 26-story dormitory on East 12th Street that would be the tallest building in the East Village.

Mr. McWater said that ?soft-site? data of sites that have significant redevelopment potential was still not compiled.

He said that his understanding now was that the rezoning would not impose a ?commercial overlay? on St. Mark?s Place.

In July, the board sent a letter to the commission stating that ?we find the current zoning for the area, which has no height limits, allows unlimited transfer of air rights, encourages towers on plazas, and so heavily favors hotel and dormitory development in what is largely a residential area, to be entirely inappropriate.?

That letter also indicated the board was ?unsure why City Planning limited the ?inclusionary zoning? bonus to Houston, Delancey and Avenue D,? suggesting that IZ ?should be used extensively throughout the district so long as we maintain appropriate scale and character.?

Many members of the committee indicated they would like lower floor-to-area ratios (F.A.R.) in the area to be rezoned with higher bonuses for ?inclusionary zoning? that would give priority to residents of the area, be on-, rather than off-, site and that the rezoning should also provide anti-harassment and anti-demolition regulations similar to those provisions included in the Clinton Special District.

One committee member remarked that ?people of color are disappearing on the avenues.?

Mr. McWater indicated said his ?fear is that IZ is not great enough to encourage affordable housing, adding that the East Village was ?under siege? and gentrifying new residential construction is occurring.

The boundaries of the proposed rezoning now being studied are shown at the right and are the north side of East 13th Street, the west side of Avenue D, the north side of Houston Street, the west side of Pitt Street, the north side of Delancey Street, the east side of Essex Street, the north side of Grand Street, the east side of Bowery, and the west side of Third Avenue.