New Yorkers will decide in November whether to overhaul the city’s land use review process. If passed, these changes would provide some projects a speedier path to approval and shift the power dynamics for affordable housing projects, previously at the mercy of reluctant City Council members.
The Charter Revision Commission on Monday voted to approve five questions to be placed on the ballot in the upcoming general election. Four of the questions focus on land use and one asks if local elections should be moved to even years, coinciding with presidential elections, in an effort to increase turnout.
A few of the proposed amendments to the city charter take aim at the City Council’s tradition of member deference, under which members align their vote on land use issues with that of the local Council member.
One of the proposals would create a land use appeals board, which would replace the mayor’s ability to veto City Council decisions on actions that go through the city’s months-long land use review process known as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or Ulurp.
The board, which would consist of the mayor, applicable borough president and City Council speaker, would only be able to act on land use applications that would result in affordable housing and that affect one borough. A previous version of this proposal applied more broadly to land use actions, but leaders of the Charter Revision Commission indicated last week that they further limited its applicability following community input.
If at least two of the three members agree, the board would reverse City Council decisions. The board could not, however, make additional changes to a land use application.
Member deference has long been considered a barrier to new, often affordable developments. Consider the Adams administration’s recent reversal on building housing at the Elizabeth Street Garden site. First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro touted the decision to leave the garden intact as a win, overall, because the administration was able to make a trade: The garden in exchange for Council member Chris Marte’s approval of three other rezonings. Marte opposed housing projects in his district and was the only Manhattan Council member to vote against the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. Without member deference, Marte likely wouldn’t have had this kind of leverage.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has pointed to the mayor’s abandonment of the Elizabeth Street Garden as proof that the Charter Revision Commission ignores “the role mayoral administrations play in obstructing new housing for New Yorkers.”
During a media briefing on Friday, Alec Schierenbeck, executive director of the Charter Revision Commission, said the commission focused on the “structural reasons why we are in this situation,” rather than targeting individual Council members.
“The structure of land use review that we have today puts Council members in an impossible position,” Schierenbeck said. “Many of them are under intense pressure to say no to housing projects, even ones that they know, and will tell you privately, that they would love to see happen, because their jobs depend on it.”
Another proposal allows publicly funded affordable housing projects to get zoning waivers from the Board of Standards and Appeals through a “fast track zoning action” process. A separate fast track process would be available for affordable housing projects proposed in the 12 community districts with the lowest rates of affordable housing construction over a five-year period.
Such projects would go through a condensed version of Ulurp that bypasses City Council review, ending instead with a City Planning Commission vote. This builder’s remedy-type option wouldn’t take effect until 2027, and builds on the housing goals laid out in the Fair Housing Framework, which was approved by the City Council in 2023. The framework set five-year housing production targets for each of the city’s 59 community districts, without repercussions for those who failed to meet them.
Another question posed to voters will be whether a shorter version of Ulurp, dubbed the Expedited Land Use Review Procedure or Elurp, should be applied to “modest” housing projects. Elurp would apply to projects in medium- or high-density districts that increase residential capacity by no more than 30 percent or to housing projects in low-density districts that are no taller than 45 feet. Approvals of such projects would either avoid review by the City Council or City Planning Commission, depending on the type of application.
The final land use question pertains to consolidating and digitizing the City Map, the official street map of the city. The map consists of more than 8,000 pieces of paper, administered across five borough presidents’ offices. This proposal would create a single, digital map overseen by the Department of City Planning. The fragmented nature of the map, according to the Charter Revision Commission, has made city map changes “perhaps the most feared ULURP actions among private applicants.”
If approved, the proposal to move elections to even years will require state approval. The commission also considered asking voters to decide whether the city should hold non-partisan primaries, but ultimately did not move forward with placing that issue on the ballot.
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