Councilmember Donovan Richards. Image credit: William Alatriste/NYC Council
Donovan Richards was elected to the City Council from the 31st District in February 2013. When you speak with City Council member Donovan Richards, two things become readily apparent: an encyclopedic knowledge of the needs of his Southeast Queens Council district and the drive to pursue solutions for each of those needs simultaneously.
Mapping tool provides range of zoning and land use information for individual properties and City at large. On August 25, 2011, the Department of City Planning and the Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications announced the release of the publicly accessible zoning and land use web application known as as ZoLa. The web-based Geographic Information Systems tool provides up-to-date maps with zoning and land use information for New York City properties.
ZoLa is a part of NYC Simplicity, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan to use technology to make government more transparent, customer focused, innovative, and efficient.
ZoLa is based on the same platform as the City’s online NYCityMap application and allows users to find land use information in “interactive, highly-readable map layers.” Users can review land use and zoning information for specific properties, neighborhoods, and the City at large. ZoLa’s map layers provide data on zoning designations, area land uses, landmark designations, and boundaries for historic districts and City Council and Community Districts. Users can also highlight locations where the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program, Lower Density Growth Management regulations, and FRESH food store incentives apply.
IDA approved $8.6 million in real estate and tax benefits for the first two supermarkets under the recently-created FRESH program. On February 9, 2010, the New York City Industrial Development Agency, a component of the City’s Economic Development Corporation, approved tax incentive packages to assist in the development of two new Bronx supermarkets. The financial incentives are the first awarded under the City’s Fresh Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) program approved by the City Council in December 2009. The City created the FRESH program to provide zoning and financial incentives to encourage the development of supermarkets in areas identified as being under-served by stores offering a full range of fresh produce, meats, and dairy products. 6 CityLand 152 (Nov. 15, 2009).
The IDA awarded $3 million in real estate and tax benefits to Foodtown Supermarkets in order to build a new grocery store at 283 East 204th Street in the Norwood section of the Bronx. The 11,000 sq.ft. store will replace a 7,500 sq.ft. store destroyed by a fire in December 2009. The IDA approved incentives consisting of payments in lieu of City real property taxes, exemptions from City and State mortgage recording taxes, and exemptions from City and State sales and use taxes. (read more…)
FRESH program would create incentives to encourage developing full-line grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods. On October 26, 2009, the City Council’s Zoning & Franchises Subcommittee heard testimony on the City’s proposed Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) program. The program would provide zoning and financial incentives to encourage grocerystores in neighborhoods identified in a 2008 study as being underserved by stores offering a full range of fresh food. These neighborhoods are located primarily in northern Manhattan, southern Bronx, central Brooklyn, and areas of Queens.
The program would apply to manufacturing and commercial districts within the underserved communities. Stores qualifying for benefits would be required to provide at least 6,000 sq.ft. of space for food and non-food products, and at least 2,000 sq.ft. or 30 percent of space, whichever is greater, for perishable goods. Currently, grocery stores up to 10,000 sq.ft. are permitted in M1 districts, but under the proposal stores up to 30,000 sq.ft. would be permitted as-of-right. (read more…)
Program would create floor area bonus and other incentives in effort to increase number of grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods. On August 5, 2009, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on the City’s proposed Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) program. The program, a joint effort by the Department of City Planning and the City’s Economic Development Corporation, is a response to a City-sponsored study from 2008 finding that low- and moderate-income neighborhoods had been underserved by grocery stores offering a full range of products, including fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables. As part of the program, Planning proposed a text amendment that would create zoning incentives to promote the creation of full-line grocery stores in these neighborhoods.
Among the incentives, mixed-use buildings would receive one square foot of additional residential floor area for every square foot used to provide a FRESH food store, up to a maximum of 20,000 sq.ft. To accommodate the extra floor area, the Commission would be authorized to increase the building’s maximum height by 15 feet. The proposed amendment would reduce the parking requirements for grocery stores and also allow as-of-right grocery stores up to 30,000 sq.ft. in M1 zoning districts, eliminating the need for a special permit. Under the program, FRESH food stores would be eligible for financial incentives from the City’s Industrial Development Agency, including breaks on real estate and sales taxes. (read more…)
