U.S.: City of Yes advances in the City Council

We have been closely following the Adams administration’s signature policy initiative to combat the housing crisis in New York, a zoning change known as City of Yes for Housing Opportunity.  City Planning Commission Chair Dan Garodnick has touted the proposal as having the potential to create “a little more housing in every neighborhood.”  The fate of the proposal will soon be known.  In the latest chapter, bolstered by a $1 billion commitment of support from Governor Kathy Hochul, the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and the full Land Use Committee, chaired by Councilman Salamanca of the Bronx, voted to approve the proposal with significant modifications, including: 

1. The parking mandate elimination was changed to be a three-tiered system of elimination, based on proximity to Manhattan and access to mass transit: 

2. Ancillary dwelling units (ADU), which sparked controversy from all sides of the housing debate, are still permitted citywide, but subject to conditions that effectively prohibit them in certain areas (primarily the lowest-density, suburban areas unless they have good access to mass transit).  The Committee also created a requirement for the owner to live on the same lot where the ADU is constructed.  

3. The affordability level for the Universal Affordability Preference—which allows a 20% increase in floor area for housing in exchange for making 20% of the dwelling units affordable—was reduced from 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) to 40 percent of AMI.  

4. Transit-oriented increases in density would apply within ¼ mile of a train station (CPC would have allowed the increase within a ½ mile).  

One assumes that these modifications reflect the will of the Council, but we won’t know for sure until the matter is to put a full Council vote in December.  Between now and then, the City Planning Commission will undertake a formal review of the modifications to determine whether they are within the scope of the environmental review that was conducted in connection with its approval in September.  In truth, CPC and Council staffs have likely been in close communication about the changes and there is little doubt CPC will find them, at least from an environmental review perspective, acceptable.  Notwithstanding that the modifications will undermine the “every” in “every neighborhood” of Chair Garodnick’s mantra, our view is that City of Yes will make a great many more projects possible and help put a dent in the city’s housing crisis.  

Authored by Ross Moskowitz and John Egnatios-Beene.