Council Member Rafael Espinal Jr./Image Credit: John McCarten and New York City Council
The law will help provide more opportunities for small businesses to remain in the City. On February 23, 2020, Introduction 1408-B was enacted into Local Law 35 of 2020. Introduction 1408-B requires developers to set aside affordable retail space for non-chain retailers within large City-funded affordable housing developments. The requirement will apply to certain affordable housing developments of at least 750,000 square feet that receive $15 million or more in City funds. The law, sponsored by Council Member Rafael Espinal, Jr., was proposed in response to the challenges local retailers face to remain in the City such as the recent increases in retail space rent and competition from chain stores.
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Image Credit: explorenewdorp.com
City Council votes to create the City’s latest Business Improvement District on Staten Island. On April 5, 2017, the City Council voted 50-0 to approve the Department of Small Business Services’ application to create the New Dorp Business Improvement District for Staten Island’s New Dorp neighborhood. The BID will consist of properties along New Dorp Lane and adjacent commercial streets between Hylan Boulevard and Richmond Road. The proposed BID contains 146 properties and 180 businesses, most of which are small and family-owned companies. (read more…)
Image Credit: explorenewdorp.com
UPDATE: The City Council’s Committee on Finance has scheduled a public hearing for the New Dorp Business Improvement District for February 15, 2017. The hearing will be held in the Committee Room at City Hall at 10:00 AM, and will be chaired by Council Member Julissa Ferreras-Copeland.
The below report was originally published on January 11, 2017:
Proposal encompasses 180 businesses, 30 residential units and two government-owned properties. On January 4, 2016, the City Planning Commission approved the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to create the New Dorp Business Improvement District for 180 businesses in Staten Island’s New Dorp neighborhood. The BID would consist of properties along New Dorp Lane and adjacent commercial streets between Hylan Boulevard and Richmond Road. (read more…)
The boundary lines of the proposed Greater JFK IBID. Image credit: Urbanomics/BFJ Planning
The proposed IBID’s geographic boundaries do not include the JFK airport itself, which ensures it would serve the needs of the surrounding off-airport community. On April 13, 2016, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on the New York City Department of Small Business Services’ application to create the Greater JFK Industrial Business Improvement District, or IBID, located in Springfield Gardens, Queens. Though the proposed IBID would be the largest IBID in the City, it purposefully does not include within its boundaries the John F. Kennedy International Airport itself, which would ensure the needs of the off-airport community at-large remain the focus of the IBID’s efforts.
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Councilmember Ben Kallos. Image credit: William Alatriste/NYC Council
The proposed Business Improvement District would be the 73rd BID established in New York City. On November 6, 2015, City Council member Ben Kallos issued a press release regarding the launch of a push to create a Business Improvement District on East 86th Street in Manhattan. The press release notes that a “District Needs Survey” was mailed out to community businesses, residents, and property owners last week.
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Councilmember David Greenfield, chair of the Committee on Land Use. Image credit: William Alatriste/New York City Council
City officials questioned on policy to protect New York’s industrial sector. On May 6, 2015 the City Council Committee on Land Use held an oversight hearing on industrial land use policy in New York City with a focus on protecting and encouraging the City’s industrial sector from encroaching alternative uses. In his opening remarks, Councilmember and Land Use Chair David Greenfield emphasized as ineffective the City’s policy of designating Industrial Business Zones without changing the underlying zoning to protect industry from competing commercial uses and pointed out the importance of protecting the City’s industrial sector, comprising 10 percent of the local private sector workforce, frequently made of small businesses employing forty people or less, and paying significantly higher wages than the service sector.
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