New York University has agreed to reduce the scale of its plans for four tall buildings in Greenwich Village by almost a fifth. Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president. The original plan, for dormitories and classroom buildings on land the university owns south of Washington Square Park, was rejected unanimously by the local community board. The plan has also infuriated many faculty members and neighborhood activists, who said its density threatened the quiet, light-filled, low-rise character of the Village. It remains unclear whether the proposed reductions, which leave the broad elements of the plan mostly intact, will placate them. Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, who has spent years negotiating with university officials to reach a compromise, said the deal would allow one of the city's leading academic institutions room to make itself more competitive with rival schools while preserving the neighborhood's offbeat character. "N.Y.U. must coexist with Greenwich Village and not overwhelm the neighborhood," he said in an interview disclosing the deal. The initial plans, he noted, "have gone through multiple changes over the years." "From the beginning," Mr. Beckman said, "our focus has been to achieve an outcome that will meet the university's academic space needs in a way that will keep N.Y.U. strong - and we're comfortable we're still well on that path - while addressing the concerns of our neighbors." The new plan by N.Y.U., which has more than 50,000 students and 17,500 employees, must still be approved by the City Planning Commission and the full City Council because of the zoning changes it requires. Mr. Stringer, who is scheduled to make a recommendation to the commission on Wednesday, said he would urge "conditional approval." The New York Times has seen a draft of his 25-page recommendation. Mr. Stringer's endorsement is considered important because he is planning to run for mayor and has close ties to the liberal activist groups in and near Greenwich Village. He also gained a reputation for successfully working with nearby neighborhoods when Columbia and Fordham Universities put forward plans to expand, in West Harlem and at Lincoln Center, respectively. The plans for the Greenwich Village parcel of land, which is roughly the size of 12 city blocks and is currently home to the seven buildings of the Washington Square Village and Silver Towers apartment complexes, still call for four new buildings. The parcel is on two large blocks surrounded by LaGuardia Place, Mercer Street, West Houston Street and West Third Street. The original plan called for 2,275,000 square feet of new construction - roughly equivalent to the size of the Empire State Building. The university has agreed to trim the size by 370,000 square feet. Mr. Stringer put the overall reduction at more than 19 percent; N.Y.U. said it was closer to 17 percent. The proposed 14-story building on the southern block of the parcel has been cut in half in the revised plan; it is to be a seven-story public school operated by the city. Two boomerang-shaped academic buildings of 14 stories and 8 stories on the northern block would be shortened and reduced in size by 85,000 square feet. A so-called zipper-shape dormitory and academic building, on top of the land where N.Y.U. now has its athletic center, would be set farther back so neighbors across Mercer Street would have more light. Mr. Stringer said another important concession was a decision not to destroy a beloved playground until another is built to replace it. He urged the university to reconsider the need for a hotel in the zipper building.