
An example from the Dept. of City Planning’s presentation, highlighting how a change to a facade for better insulation may be hindered by floor area ratio restrictions. Click to enlarge. Image Credit: NYC DCP.
Commissioners raised early questions about implementation and funding issues. On January 30, 2023, the City Planning Commission held a review session and overview discussion for the proposed Zoning for Carbon Neutrality amendment, one of the three City of Yes amendments proposed by Mayor Eric Adams last year. The Zoning for Carbon Neutrality amendment aims to reduce or eliminate unnecessary restrictions within the zoning text that inhibit a developer or building owner from using sustainable technology and design in their properties. While the official text of the amendment is not finished at this time, this hearing provided an overview about the goals of the amendment and highlighted common issues to be addressed by the amendment. Department of City Planning Director of Zoning Frank Ruchala presented the overview of the amendment to the commission. (more…)

Image of current districts under the FRESH program. One of the Mayor’s proposed zoning amendments will expand the FRESH program in outer boroughs. Image Credit: NYC DCP
Commissioners raised concerns about the removal of special permits as a way to vet out illegitimate massage parlors. On October 20, 2021, the City Planning Commission voted to approve two applications proposed by the City to support small businesses and promote healthy food options and fitness. The two applications, the FRESH Program Expansion and the Health and Fitness Text Amendment, were part of a series of zoning proposals proposed earlier this year. (more…)

Illustrative rendering of applicant’s proposed five- and twelve-story development between West 22nd and West 23rd Street, Coney Island, Brooklyn. Image Credit: CPC.
City Planning voted no in part to questions regarding alleged comments made by project attorney at Community Board hearing. On January 9, 2019, the City Planning Commission voted to disapprove a proposed rezoning of the northern portion of a block situated between Surf Avenue to the north, Reigelman Boardwalk to the south, West 22nd Street to the east, and West 23rd Street to the west, in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The rezoning would have allowed for a new five- and twelve-story mixed-use building with retail and 78 dwelling units, 20 of which would have been permanently affordable. A public hearing on this application was held on December 5, 2018. (more…)

Carl Weisbrod, Chairman of the City Planning Commission. Image credit: CityLand
The program would amend generation-old zoning regulations to encourage construction of efficient mixed-use buildings and affordable senior housing. On September 21, 2015, the City Planning Commission issued a press release revealing two of the major programs to be implemented under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York plan. The programs, which are currently making their way through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure process, are the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Program and the Zoning for Quality and Affordability Program. The latter proposes zoning text amendments that relax Inclusionary Housing building regulations and parking requirements to enable the construction of high-quality mixed-use buildings that utilize the full amount of buildable residential space and to encourage the construction of a diverse range of affordable senior housing and long-term care facilities.
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Credit: The Department of City Planning
City Planning Commission certified 140-block Bed-Stuy North Rezoning and 90-block West Harlem Rezoning: included in the Brooklyn proposal is a text amendment that would also apply Citywide and to areas of the Bronx. At City Planning Commission’s review session on May 7, 2012, the Commission certified the Department of City Planning’s contextual rezoning proposal for the northern half of Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. The Bedford-Stuyvesant North Rezoning plan would impact a 140-block area generally bounded by Flushing Avenue to the north, Quincy Street to the south, Broadway to the east, and Classon and Franklin Avenues to the west. The proposal was requested by Brooklyn Community Board 3 and local elected officials after the City rezoned the southern half of the neighborhood in 2007. (read CityLand’s coverage here).
Bedford-Stuyvesant is a residential neighborhood characterized by late 19th- and early 20th-century rowhouses, small and medium-sized apartment buildings, and several large, tower-in-the-park NYCHA (more…)