City of Yes Zoning for Housing Opportunity
The New York League of Conservation Voters testified in strong support of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, the citywide zoning text amendment also referred to here as ZHO. No vote or disposition was recorded at this hearing; the item drew supportive public comment.
Asks council to vote no on four specific provisions: removal of the sleeve, the Universal Affordability Preference, expansion of landmark air-rights transfers, and the campus infill.
Argues Beverly Road is a non-commercial residential strip of freestanding Victorians providing continuity with landmarked Prospect Park South; cites an 11-story building under construction and a proposed 14-story building, gridlock, and that lifting parking mandates is untenable.
Notes the 2009 Flatbush rezoning already allows ample multifamily housing near transit including mandatory inclusionary housing, and urges the council to carve out the Victorian Flatbush neighborhoods (four-block strip of freestanding homes).
Argues City of Yes lets infill development ignore the residential open-space requirement (developers need only keep 50% of lot open), making roughly 25% of lots like Park West Village developable; current zoning permits 6.5 FAR community-facility use mostly unusable due to required residential open space.
Argues City of Yes changes the space needed for legal windows, yards, and courts so developers can put new buildings closer to existing buildings than current zoning permits.
Argues large apartment buildings on Beverly Road with no parking would be 'bedlam'; notes a five-story building would be only 20% affordable, 80% luxury; asks to build predominantly affordable on main streets and include parking.
Opposes City of Yes on infrastructure (pre-1940s, needs replacement), town-center apartments raising small-business rents, TODs covering half of Rosedale, and ADUs ('people do not belong in garages').
Concern that the proposal does nothing to remove barriers from landmarks that prevent housing expansion; his 1890 building cannot be changed because landmarks says no.
Major ask is substantial mandatory affordable housing in all new construction, recognizing rent stabilization, and addressing how affordability is measured.
Asks to reinstate the say the council and community boards have in land use decisions; democracy is messy but beats the alternative.
- ADU legalization must remain in City of Yes or Reynoso withdraws support
- reduce 10-year sunset provision for off-siting of affordable housing to five years
- Asks the council to change the text, remove the discriminatory exception for M1-5B from Section 15-01 of the rezoning code, and remove the five sentences in Section 143-13 requiring the $100/sq ft fee to fully legalize apartments, making residential conversion equal everywhere.
- retain key component #1: allow basement/cellar apartment conversion in existing footprints without creating zoning noncompliance
- retain key component #2: eliminate additional parking requirement for subgrade unit conversions
- retain key component #3: do not count cellar conversions as creating new floor area
+2 more conditions