Campaigning is one thing, governing something different altogether. One month into office Councilman Stephen Levin, who was recently appointed to several key committees, is making the transition by sticking to the basics.

“I'm meeting with constituent groups on a lot of issues throughout the district,” said Levin, including transportation, parks, and others. He represents the 33rd Council District, which stretches from Greenpoint to Park Slope. “I'm really getting a sense from people [of] what their priorities are.”

These meetings often return to the topic of development, Levin said in an interview arranged to discuss his own legislative agenda. As chair of the Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions and Concessions, the freshman lawmaker will play a fairly important role in the city's land use review process.

Levin faulted the recent housing boom for a period of overdevelopment that resulted in a lack of affordable housing in neighborhoods like Greenpoint and Williamsburg. Too often, he said, developers transforming communities with upscale housing ignore local infrastructure needs.

“What we've seen in the last ten years is a [tendency] to overdevelop,” said Levin. Moving forward, he said, “I am focused on smart, sustainable development.”

The challenge will be working with a Bloomberg Administration known for its aggressive preference for large-scale rezoning and development projects. Though the council often bends to pressure from the mayor on major land use issues, Levin maintained that the city's land review process provides important oversight.

He said the state's landmark 421-a housing legislation is one powerful tool the city has to push developers to build responsibly.

As the chief of staff to Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the Assembly's Housing Committee chairman, a position he left to run for office last year, Levin worked on passing the bill, which provides tax incentives for developers who include affordable units in market rate buildings.

Levin made a special point of crediting Lopez for the law, though he went on to say it does leave room for improvement. Specifically, he said developers have little incentive to go beyond the legislation's 20 percent affordable housing requirement.

“I don't believe meeting the bare minimum of affordable housing is what the community needs,” Levin said, adding that he would support an effort to raise the law's affordable housing requirement.

In the 33rd District's brownstone belt, community groups often battle developers over smaller projects, but in North Brooklyn, housing advocates are still grappling with the impact of the transformative 2005 rezoning, which opened the way for high-rise waterfront development.

Levin said the rezoning set important affordable housing and prevailing wage requirement precedents, but acknowledged it was flawed in other ways. Six years later, a small fraction of the promised affordable units have been constructed.

“Was it perfect? Absolutely not,” Levin said. “It's something that we're looking at trying to improve right now.” He did not give details.

In a brief one-on-one meeting with the mayor, however, Levin said the two focused on development concerns in Williamsburg, and the abundance of empty luxury housing. City and state lawmakers are looking at ways to convert unused market-rate apartments across the city into affordable housing.

Levin said he is also working to secure financing for more senior housing to his district. The need is great, he said, especially as increasing numbers of Baby Boomers reach retirement age.

He also defended his support of the controversial Broadway Triangle rezoning, saying it was based “in the facts and based on the potential benefits” of the project.

A city plan for close to 2,000 apartments - almost half of them affordable - at the south Williamsburg site has been stalled in court by a coalition of community groups opposed to the project.

“What I think is good about this rezoning - and what needs to be made clear - is that [it's] in an area right now that is blighted,” Levin said. “We're looking at close to 1,000 units of affordable housing.”

His predecessor, former Councilman David Yassky, supported the rezoning, which passed the City Council late last year despite outspoken opposition from Councilwoman Diana Reyna and others.

“When looking at this plan,” Levin said, “the potential benefits greatly outweigh any negative impacts.”