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Mayor Bill de Blasio’s contentious citywide rezoning proposal took another halting step forward this week, with the City Council reviewing the plan and raising several red flags that will need to be worked out before it can ultimately be passed.
The Mayor’s Zoning for Quality and Affordability plan would make changes to the zoning code in every neighborhood in NYC, in an effort to further de Blasio’s goal of dramatically expanding affordable housing availability in the city.
The ZQA was opposed by almost every community board in the five boroughs, according to DNA Info, and after reviewing the plan the City Council raised questions of its own.
Parking is one major area of contention. The ZQA would eliminate requirements to provide a certain amount of parking for new senior or affordable housing projects in neighborhoods City Hall deems easily accessible by mass transit, a move several council members opposed.
The ZQA would also allow some senior and affordable housing projects to build smaller, 275 SF micro unit apartments and lift height restrictions for some projects.
Both of those proposals came under fire, with Queens Councilman Donovan Richards saying his grandmother “couldn’t fit her hats in an apartment that size.”
Some council members suggested including a community board review process to alleviate concerns, a solution City Hall balked at, saying it would mean unacceptable delays to new senior and affordable housing projects.
Other council members said the plan would not create truly permanent affordable housing, an accusation de Blasio official Vicki Been called “a lie,” saying “we make it very, very difficult to exit our program.” [DNA]
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