BFJ Comments on Zoning for Quality and Affordability

LANDMARK WEST! asked BFJ Planning to review Mayor De Blasio's City Planning proposals "Zoning for Quality and Affordability" and "Mandatory Inclusionary Housing".  Click here for a copy of their full critique.

Below are some of their key findings:

Both ZQA and MIH affect the whole city and raise the question as to why the administration is not pursuing a more deliberative process for a zoning initiative that purports to address the important issue of creating affordable housing.

It would seem not only prudent but good government to engage in more careful analysis of these proposals rather than to discover once it is a "done deal" that many unintended consequences or collateral damage has resulted.

The initiative itself is city-wide and raises the question of whether "one size fits all." ...the Upper West Side is a neighborhood that will be more greatly impacted by these proposals than others.

The impact of these changes will affect more than the height or bulk of buildings. It will ultimately result in new development that could eliminate existing affordable housing and small businesses through rising rents.

ZQA and MIH set proposed building density and height changes on a collision course with not only contextual zoning district protections, but also landmark and historic district protections.

The proposed amendments would impact CB7 with height (up to 40 feet) and FAR [square footage] (averaging 20 percent) increases that are far above technical adjustments. Instead, they present much more substantial height and density increases.

ZQA effectively erases differences in allowable heights between wide and narrow streets.

ZQA would allow encroachment into the rear yard. Extensions of buildings are not desirable as a matter of public health, safety and quality of life.

ZQA exempts affordable housing from the Sliver Rules that limit the heights of buildings on lots less than 45 feet wide. This may encourage the demolition of existing, relatively small, residential buildings that contain dwelling units that are currently affordable. In addition, it may result in new, narrow buildings that are significantly taller than their neighbors and out of character with their built context.

[Special permit and variance processes] may lead to developments that enjoy increased bulk and density without providing the promised affordable housing.

Testimony in Support of the Designation of the IRT Powerhouse & St. Michael's Episcopal Church Complex

In preparation for the November 5 & 12, 2015 Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) hearings, we have received many written statements in support of designating the former Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) Powerhouse and the St. Michael's Episcopal Church complex, including letters from Professor Andrew S. Dolkart, included below.

We hope that you will join us at the LPC on Thursday, November 5, starting at 9:00am, for a special public hearing on the former Interborough Rapid Transit Powerhouse and on Thursday, November 12, starting at 9:00am, for a special public hearing on the St. Michael's Episcopal Church complex.

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UPPER WEST SIEGE! Neighborhood Character Under Fire

UPPER WEST SIEGE!

Mayor de Blasio's rezoning plan will raise height limits.

The Upper West Side among the neighborhoods hardest hit!  

Thanks to the efforts of neighbors like you, the Upper West Side's character is protected by hard-won Historic Districts and contextual zoning - in other words, rules that ensure any new development maintains the existing character of our neighborhood.  

Mayor de Blasio wants to increase height limits in some cases by 20-30%.  Under this proposal, swaths of landmarked mid-block brownstones (including 88th Street, above) within our West End Historic districts could rise twenty feet -- two full stories taller.  Skylines along Central Park West and Riverside Drive could rise forty feet.   Nearly every block of the Upper West Side would be affected.

PARTICIPATE!

Come to the public hearing at Community Board 7 on

Wednesday, October 21, starting at 7pm

at 250 West 87th Street, 2nd Floor

Learn more about how this plan would affect YOU!

 

 

Maps released by City Planning this year show corridors where Inclusionary Housing would allow heights to rise by 20-40' [translation: two to four additional stories] in height over current zoning (blue areas, map left) and where Senior Housing use would allow developers to bypass existing envelope restrictions in form and/or height (rose areas, map right).

[Zoning for Quality & Affordability] appears to move toward the idea of FAR [i.e., development rights] as an entitlement by which developers are now trying to build to full floor area ratio in a building envelope. This risks incentivizing redevelopment with no protection of existing affordable units and no requirement for on-site replacement of those units. [emphasis added]  Click here to read the full report

Make no mistake - the Mayor's plan is a massive give-away to developers who have been trying to "unlock" the Upper West Side by overturning our neighborhood's hard-won zoning and historic district protections for decades.  The result will be higher, bulkier, out-of-character new buildings.   And, because this is part of a citywide zoning plan, there has been no careful study or disclosure of the impacts these new buildings would have.  What is clear is that our neighborhood will bear the burden of new development, with no guarantee that anyone - except big-money real-estate interests - will benefit.

Here's what you can do right now:

Write to Manhattan Community Board 7!

Email:  mail@cb7.org

Phone: (212) 362-4008

ATTN:  Richard Asche & Page Ayres Cowley, Land Use Committee Co-Chairs, and Nick Prigo, Housing Committee Chair

Here is a sample:

I support efforts to defend our neighborhood from Mayor de Blasio's plan to weaken zoning protections and allow height limits within Community Board 7 to be raised by 20-30%. I am deeply concerned about the disproportionate impacts the proposed "Zoning for Quality & Affordability" plan would have on the Upper West Side, toppling our community's hard-won zoning and historic district protections, with no serious study or disclosure of how the changes would affect our neighborhood's human scale and unique sense of place. This is not the way to ensure affordability, architectural quality, and quality of life in our city. 

Write to your City Council Member, Community Board, and Borough President Gale Brewer (contact info below).

 

Hon. Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President 

Email: info@manhattanbp.nyc.gov

Phone: (212) 669-8300

Hon. Helen Rosenthal, City Council District 6

Email: Helen@HelenRosenthal.com

District Office Phone: (212) 873-0282

Hon. Mark Levine, City Council District 7

Email: District7@council.nyc.gov

District Office Phone: (212) 928-6814

 

If you have questions, please contact us at:

LANDMARK WEST!

45 WEST 67 STREET

NEW YORK, NY 10023

(212) 496-8110

landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org

 

The New York Landmarks Conservancy supports two pending UWS Landmarks

Check, and Check! The New York Landmarks Conservancy has released its position on two Upper West Side items, both calendared with upcoming LPC hearing dates.

Regarding the IRT Powerhouse, which will be heard on Thursday, November 5th, the Conservancy reminds us how Stanford White's work serves as a "reminder of the great pride that cities can take in their own achievements" and further, recognizes this largely intact civic structure as "a soaring tribute to the urban experience".

As for Robert Gibson's St. Michael's Episcopal Church Complex, which will be heard on Thursday, November 12th, the Conservancy recognizes the parish as excellent stewards of their three-building complex and cites the LPC's recent history: "The commission has consulted closely with the leadership of St. Michael's on its development plans over the last decade, and has held off on designation of the church complex, pending the completion of these plans.  However, this designation has now languished for 35 years; it is time to designated this significant church complex."

We at Landmark West! couldn't agree more! 

We thank the Conservancy for its stance on these two items and its continued support of New York City landmarks- those already designated and those which are deserving.