Community Board 3 voted almost unanimously last night to adopt guidelines for the development of give parking lots along Delancey Street, collectively known as the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA).

In 1967, the city razed 14 tenement buildings on the sites, displacing about 2,000 residents, but development plans were paralyzed by deep disagreements on how the sites should be redeveloped, according to an article by Cara Buckley in today's editon of The New York Times.

The new guidelines call for the sites to be development with about 1,000 housing units, about half of which would be allocated to middle- and low-income earners, plus retail, green space, and possibly a school.

"On Monday," the article said, "after a subcommittee approved the guidelines, the State Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, whose district includes the land, gave the plan crucial support. 'The final guidelines that were approved by the committee tonight strike an appropriate balance between the needs and concerns of all stakeholders,' Mr. Silver said in a statement, 'and will result in a development that will ensure our neighborhood continues to thrive.'

David McWater, chairman of the task force, said at the meeting that the dispute over the sites has "for 40 years...has divided this community."

"Few local residents like the parking lots; one has called them 'psychological and physical barriers' isolating the neighborhood. Community leaders began tackling the development issue anew in 2008, having won a rezoning campaign to restrict the height of buildings in a 110-block area of the Lower East Side," the article continued.

"At a public hearing that preceded the vote, community members and advocates affirmed their hope that the housing be allocated solely for low- and middle-income families, a concept that others described as economically unfeasible. According to Mr. McWater, the site would house 1,500 low- and middle-income earners and create jobs for up to 700 people. The Essex Street Market sits on one of the sites, and could be moved as the parcels are developed, a prospect greeted with much local dismay," the article said.

State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, whose district includes the site, said it would probably be a year and a half before the City Council would vote on the plan, the article said, adding that "a unanimous vote on the Lower East Side may be a first."

The guidelines call for mixed-use, mixed-income development with local service and convenience retail uses predominated at street-level along Broome, Grand, Ludlow, Norfolk and Suffolk Streets with "mid-box" retail encouraged on the second floors of major streets such as Delancey and/or Essex Street.

They also said that "if the existing Essex Street Market is to be relocated, it should remain public and be moved to a superior site on a major street to accommodate a larger market with more goods and services and that every effort should be made to accommodate existing tenants.

The guidelines also maintain that "non-retail, commercial development - including office, hotel and/or a movie theater - should be provided," adding that "a movie theater is a priority; this use could be a component of a multi-purpose performance space, including one in connection with civic uses."

An article by Lincoln Anderson in the December 20, 2010/January 5, 2011 edition of The Villager said that "C.B. 3 is also adding the Essex St. Market buildings, between Delancey and Rivington Sts., into the SPURA mix for possible redevelopment, though they weren't part of the original renewal area."