The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation won a partial victory this week in its 18-month-long fight to restrict development on the West Village waterfront when the Department of City Planning certified the society’s rezoning proposal.

The version of the plan the city approved for further consideration calls for density reduction in about half of the lots in the rezoning area and required contextual bulk controls. It would also restrict commercial enterprises to those that are neighborhood- oriented.

Two changes were made to GVSHP’s original plan. The proposal the city will move forward with would not downzone the Whitehall Storage site on Charles and West 10th streets, and it upzones the site of the current Superior Ink Factory at West Street between Bethune and West 12th streets.

GVSHP’s reaction was mixed, its executive director, Andrew Berman, said.

“Eighty percent of the plan we think is fantastic and involves the kind of changes we’ve been fighting for,” he said. “But the carve-outs for developers are a big disappointment and really contradict what the rest of the plan does and what the community has been fighting for.”

Developer Steven Witkoff and Lehman Brothers are planning a 200-foot-tall, 300,000-square-foot tower for the Whitehall Storage site. The buildings around the tower are all being downzoned to 70- or 80-foot height limits, Mr. Berman said.

Zoning at the Superior Ink Factory site is being changed to allow for residential development. In the new plan, the maximum floor-area ratio – the amount of buildable space relative to the property’s square footage – for development will be increased from 5 to 5.25 FAR.

Related Companies is developing a residential project for the site.

Mr. Berman said the community is bothered by the special treatment the two developers seem to be receiving.

Now that the plan has been certified, it will begin the Uniform Land Use Review Process, and if it is approved, will take effect later this year.

There is also a landmarking proposal moving forward for the area that was jointly presented by City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden and Landmarks Preservation Commissioner Robert Tierney on June 9.

The plan would reduce the allowable density of new development in many areas of the neighborhood and would expand the Greenwich Village Historic District. The plan would also designate several individual landmarks.

It is similar to a GVSHP proposal submitted last year, except it does not include the Superior Ink Factory or the Whitehall Storage building in the landmarking process.