Eric: Yes; Council: Maybe
Lawmakers eye revamp as rally calls for zoning overhaul to aid biz
An array of citywide zoning changes from the Adams administration meant to boost business by overhauling “laughably outdated” red tape got a lift from the mayor Monday ahead of a critical vote later this spring.
At a rally on the steps of City Hall, Mayor Adams and a crowd of supporters touted the “City of Yes for Economic Opportunity” package of 18 business-friendly zoning proposals. Among other things, the changes would ostensibly make it easier for businesses to relocate and expand, fill vacant storefronts, bolster manufacturing and improve access to corner stores.
“A lot of the laws that we see on the books, there are hidden ways of preventing businesses from growing and preventing people from cross-pollinating in different communities,” Adams said. “We must make transformative changes to our city’s zoning code so that our city’s economy can adapt and grow.”
The rally was held shortly before the City Council’s zoning and franchises subcommittee reviewed the proposal at a hearing where several Council members grilled city planning officials.
“Zoning for Economic Opportunity” includes changes intended to bolster the life sciences and urban agriculture industries, enable commercial spaces on upper floors and update rules around home-based small businesses.
The City Planning Department spearheaded the zoning changes, and Director Dan Garodnick has long referred to existing 1960s-era rules as “laughably outdated.” Examples cited include allusions to telegraph offices and typewriter repair shops and vestiges of the repealed Cabaret Law that means dancing is still technically prohibited in some clubs and bars.
“Regulations from the 1960s are clearly out of date. That said, this is a dense, complicated initiative that the administration has undertaken,” subcommittee Chairman Kevin Riley (D-Bronx) said at the hearing, acknowledging there were “a lot of concerns.”
“The scale and complexity of this proposal has created difficulties for effective community engagement,” he added. “Over one thousand pages of zoning text changes is overwhelming for our communities, leading to confusion in the face of complexity of this proposal.”
The plan got a lukewarm reception from local community boards, the majority of which voted against it. Issues raised included concerns that the zoning changes could have unforeseen environmental impacts, alter neighborhood characters or pit housing and commercial needs against each other.
Several Council members echoed those concerns and said worries were most acute among residents outside Manhattan.
“They don’t understand the rules and now we’re changing the rules. And so it’s a complete freakout,” said City Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks, a Democrat who represents Staten Island. “Some of these rules may mean something completely different than it would in a place like Manhattan.”
Economic Opportunity is the second of three “City of Yes” initiatives designed to change decades-old zoning rules deemed outdated by the city. The first, “Carbon Neutrality,” is geared toward ecofriendly fixes and passed late last year; the third and most high-profile is “Housing Opportunity,” Adams’ signature housing plan, which will enter formal review later this year.
A final Council vote on the Economic Opportunity prong is due later this spring.