Proposed rezoning. Image credit: CPC.

City expected to appeal Judge’s decision invalidating the Inwood Rezoning. On December 10, 2019, Judge Verna L. Saunders of the New York State Supreme Court, New York county ruled in favor of the Northern Manhattan is Not For Sale’s Article 78 petition challenging the legality of the Inwood Rezoning. The rezoning was proposed by the city’s Economic Development Corporation and was set to up-zone 59 blocks in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan. Approval of the rezoning would permit property owners to build mixed-use commercial and residential developments up to thirty stories tall, where predominantly one to two story-buildings and warehouses previously existed. The plan also included nearly 1,600 new affordable housing units. Northern Manhattan is Not For Sale is an unincorporated association of individuals and organizations alleging the City failed to study the critical impacts of the rezoning before City Council approved the application on August 8, 2018. In large part Northern Manhattan is Not For Sale believes that the rezoning will displace longtime Inwood residents.

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Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and other City Officials celebrated the progress of the Inwood NYC Action Plan. Image Credit: NYCEDC

The Plan will use over $200 million in public investment. On October 2, 2019 Deputy Mayor Vicki Been, NYCEDC President and CEO James Patchett and City Officials from NYC Parks, Department of Cultural Affairs, Department of Education, Department of Small Business Services, Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), New York Public Library, and Council Member Ydanis Rodríguez shared an update on the Inwood NYC Action Plan. (read more…)

Intersection of Broadway and Dyckman Street in Inwood. Image credit: Daniel Case.

On August 8, 2018, the City Council approved the Inwood Neighborhood Rezoning amidst resident concerns and disapproval. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez celebrated the rezoning approval. The rezoning was developed over the course of three years and affects 59 city blocks in the northern Manhattan neighborhood. The Economic Development Corporation, together with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, and the Department of Small Business Services, proposed the land use actions to implement a comprehensive rezoning plan in accordance with the goals of the Mayor’s Housing New York: Five-Borough, Ten-Year Plan and began to implement the Inwood NYC Action Plan. (read more…)