Who:          S.A.V.E. 1-Family New York (the Statewide Alliance Vs. Elimination of 1-Family Zoning in New York) and allied organizations
What:            A major press event with our coalition members and allies in opposition to Mayor Adams’ City of Yes package of proposals, currently going through the ULURP process.
Where:          City Hall Park (southern end)
                        New York, NY 10007
 
When:           Friday, May 31st, 2024 at 11am
 
Summary:   Mayor Adams is attempting to radically change the land use and zoning policies in New York City through the adoption of the City of Yes package of proposals. These proposals are going through the ULURP process despite a purposefully misleading and legally deficient Environmental Impact Statement filed by the Department of City Planning.
Mayor Adams would achieve this through an extensive list of proposals, including but not limited to:           

• Elimination of one and two-family zoning, which makes up a total of 25% of NYC

 

• Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) on all one- and two-family lots, including basements, attics, additions, garage conversions and backyard houses up to 800 sf

 

• Staggering increases in density within ½ mile of rail and subway stations in R1 through R5 zones with Transit-Oriented Development (TODs) Overlays

 

• Creation of “Town Center” Zoning on all Commercial Overlays in R1 through R5 zones, allowing for up to four floors of residential above commercial storefronts

 

• “Campus Infill” which will allow for high-density development on green spaces and all religiously owned properties across the city

 

• “District Fixes” which will destroy the basic zoning regulations of NYC

 

• Elimination of all parking requirements for all new residential development in NYC
  
  

Contrary to Mayor Adams’ tagline of “just a little more housing in every neighborhood,” should the City of Yes one-size-fits-all package of proposals become law, the resulting development free-for-all will cannibalize all of our communities, lowering our quality of life and affecting property values, and exacerbating the strain on neighborhoods without any increase in infrastructure or agency staffing. Finally, the City of Yes is a blatant giveaway to Mayor Adams’ donors and developer friends. It will not create more affordable housing; instead, it will replace homeownership, owner-occupied housing and what’s left of the middle class in New York City with market-rate rental units, exponentially increasing the unaffordability of our housing stock.

 All –
The NY State Legislature finalized their negotiations and voted on Governor Hochul’s omnibus budget bill at the end of April. The outcome of the issues that we are concerned about was, to put it mildly, a mixed bag. One thing that I didn’t mention before was the push to get rid of the Statewide FAR (Floor Area Ratio) cap which has long been at a 12.0, meaning that if you have a 10,000 square foot property and are in a zone that allows for a 12.0 FAR, you can have 120,000 square feet of building space. The budget bill included legislation to change that number to a maximum 18.0 FAR which is a massive increase in buildable square footage wherever this would be adopted. This dovetails with the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal, which would introduce to new zones above the current maximum – R10 – and allow a 15.0 FAR at R11 and an 18.0 FAR at R12. These zones would have to be mapped in order to allow this, but clearly this is the intent.
That being said, here are the outcomes for the three other pieces mentioned above:
-ADUs – the State Legislature agreed to create an “opt-in” incentive program to allow all municipalities throughout New York State to have the ability to create local legislation with a small amount of state funding connected to it. While this program was created with the intention of helping smaller communities upstate that are interested in legalizing ADUs, we already have reports from places in Westchester, including the City of Yonkers, that are looking to tap into this program. In addition, New York City, while not interested in the funding stream connected to it, has ADUs as a centerpiece in the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity.
 
-Basement / Cellar Apartments – hand in hand with ADUs, Governor Hochul and her allies in the State Legislature placed great pressure on legislators to support a blanket legalization of basement and cellar apartments in New York City. The basement / cellar apartments, along with ADUs, are a key component of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity and Mayor Adams and Department of City Planning Chair Dan Garodnick were lobbying hard for citywide adoption. However, numerous Assemblymembers from areas all over the city balked at this, particularly outside of Manhattan. Therefore, a compromise was reached: a pilot program was created and was only mapped in Community Boards where an Assemblymember was in favor. In addition, it could still be overturned if the Community Board itself and/or the representative Councilmember were opposed to it and voted against the pilot program within 90 days. Currently, the Community Boards where it is mapped (but not yet implemented) are: Bronx CBs 9, 10, 11 & 12: Brooklyn CBs 4, 10, 11 & 17; Manhattan CBs 2, 3, 9, 10, 11 & 12; and Queens CB 2. If you are opposed to basements and cellars having the ability to be legalized and are located in any of these boards, we urge you to contact your Community Boards and Councilmembers to vote NO.
 
-High-Density Development for Religiously-Owned Property in Low-Density Areas of NY – this proposed bill was removed from Governor Hochul’s budget bill one week prior to adoption, as (once again) she attempted to violate the New York State Constitution by creating zoning mandates that would allow any property owned by any religious organization to build housing at a higher density than whatever local zoning it was located in throughout the state. While this action was withdrawn at the state level, it has been reintroduced into the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, which will allow all property owned by religious organizations in lower density zones to build at Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) zoning densities and heights, regardless of whether they are located in one. Giving preferential treatment to properties based upon ownership may violate the New York City Charter as well as violate the New York State Constitution.
All of this now-active legislation is specifically geared towards the densification of lower-density neighborhoods in New York City, dovetailing directly with the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. In order for our communities to survive, we must stop Mayor Adams and his administration from passing and implementing these proposed changes to our existing zoning.