HISSES FOR HIZZ ‘ZONER’
Eric’s biz plan blasted
CITY OF YES
Mayor Adams’ “City of Yes for Economic Opportunity” plan would remove bureaucratic hurdles for business by:
■ Allowing bodegas and other businesses to open on corner properties in residential neighborhoods.
■ Permitting barbers, pharmacies and other businesses to operate above residential units in mixed-use buildings.
■ Eliminating bans on live music, dancing and comedy acts in restaurants and venues that serve under 200 people.
■ Letting “clean manufacturing” businesses — like breweries and 3D printers — open in commercial districts.
Mayor Adams wants the Big Apple to become the “City of Yes” but he’s facing plenty of no’s.
Many left- and right-wing members of the City Council expressed serious concerns this week over Adams’ “City of Yes for Economic Opportunity” proposal aimed at boosting business and job growth by overhauling more than 60-year-old zoning regulations.
The sticking points among council members include Adams’ push to allow bodegas and other businesses to open on residential corners, and a bid to allow barber shops, pharmacies, ad agencies and other lines of work on the upper floors of mixed-use buildings above apartments, provided they have separate entrances.
Council members also fear the city doesn’t have enough staff to enforce the new rules, and that the changes would let more illegal marijuana businesses and other rogue shops pop up.
Planning Director Dan Garodnick and other officials pushing the plan maintain it would ease workloads by clarifying “outdated” rules. Some council members have said publicly they intend to reject the plan as-is.
However, the consensus among more than a dozen members informally polled by The Post is the council will likely approve it by the end of May, as long as the Adams administration agrees to modify, and in some places gut, parts.
Protecting quiet nabes
At a Monday hearing, Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) said New Yorkers who purchased homes in quiet neighborhoods weren’t banking on the bustling activity the plan could bring.
“We cannot see our residential areas transformed into commercial strips,” said Ariola, adding she’ll vote against the plan unless “significant” revisions are made.
Allowing businesses above residences “is just going to completely devolve quality of life . . . . There’s going to be extra movement, extra waste, an extra influx of people in and out,” she said.
The plan would neuter much of the power that council members — and to a lesser extent, community boards and civic groups — have over which new venues come to their neighborhoods. It would leave final say on zoning with the city Planning Commission, whose members are predominantly appointed by the mayor.