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QUESTION

How does the zoning amendment balance allowing bakeries and small artisan producers to expand while preventing heavier industrial uses like tobacco, metal, and pharmaceutical manufacturing in residential neighborhoods?

2:03:26

·

4 min

The zoning changes allow clean and quiet manufacturing uses that meet strict environmental standards to locate in commercial districts, while continuing to restrict heavier industrial uses to manufacturing districts.

Current zoning predates most environmental regulations and separated manufacturing into zones away from other uses
Technology changes enable safely regulating more manufacturing uses
Newly allowed uses in commercial zones must be clean, quiet and meet environmental standards around emissions, hazardous materials, etc.
Examples of newly allowed uses include pottery studios, bakeries, carpentry; pharmaceuticals may include cutting-edge therapeutics development
Heavier industrial uses that cannot meet the environmental standards are still restricted to manufacturing districts

Christopher Marte

2:03:26

I just wanna touch on production uses in residential districts.

2:03:31

Before this text amendment, virtually no production uses were allowed outside of CA and M districts to now allow almost all production uses in all commercial districts would mean a massive shift, particularly in our mixed use districts that are primarily residential, like in my district.

2:03:48

Many commercial areas throughout the cities are overlaid on residential areas to provide much needed local businesses meant to support healthy residential communities Examples, laundromats, corner store groceries.

2:04:00

This proposal would now allow the manufacturing of tobacco, woods, and meadows pharmaceuticals, medical equipments, and other heavier production and commercial overlays.

2:04:11

Storefronts, below residential apartments in these residential neighborhoods.

2:04:17

I understand that there's a need for flexibility to allow bakeries and small artisan producers to have these uses for their business, especially to expand.

2:04:27

But I highlighted some things that are major red flags.

2:04:30

So how do you balance allowing bakeries to expand, but not allowing tobacco uses, metal, and pharmaceutical medical equipment being established in these locations.

Dan Garodnick

2:04:44

Yes, thank you for that.

2:04:45

I mean, our our current zoning was written at a time when most manufacturing was done in large factories and was meant for mass production and global distribution.

2:04:56

And our current zoning also predates most environmental regulations.

2:05:01

So at the time, it made sense to separate many of the manufacturing businesses into m zones and locate them in places where you just couldn't be anywhere near anything else.

2:05:14

But what has happened over time.

2:05:15

As you know, Councilman, is that technologies have changed and so has our ability to safely regulate a number of businesses across a wide range that have a production component.

2:05:27

The only types of uses that would be newly eligible, newly eligible for location and commercial zones are those clean and quiet, sorts of things like pottery studios, bike repair, bakeries, craft making, carpentry and other sorts of protection, include environmental review, which looks at factors like noise and traffic and DOB inspections, But they're strict environmental standards that they need to meet here.

2:05:55

I'm gonna have Matt talk about those a little bit.

2:05:57

But we certainly understand the point.

2:05:59

It is an expansion, but it is a timely expansion because Manufacturing is not today what it was back in 1961.

2:06:08

And as a result, we need to make these changes.

Matt Waskiewicz

2:06:11

Thank you.

2:06:12

And thank you for your question, council member.

2:06:14

Just to go into a little bit more technical detail, you all have a one pager on your desk It's also on our website that provides a lot of this information.

2:06:22

But what what kinds of businesses would be able to locate here are ones that meet environmental standards Many of which are not new.

2:06:30

They've been on the books since the nineties and ensure that in any place in any building that allows for light industrial and residences in that same building that environmental standards must be met around air quality emissions, around potentially hazardous materials.

2:06:46

And around all of the other potential hazards that our zoning defines as such.

2:06:51

And if any of these businesses wanted to locate, they have to meet those standards prior to get that CFO.

2:06:57

So these are these are all going to be a change of use.

2:06:59

They all require going through a process to get a new certificate of occupancy.

2:07:03

And you mentioned something like pharmaceuticals.

2:07:06

That might be developing Cutting Edge Therapeutics.

2:07:09

New York City and parts of your district have a growing life sciences presence in an office setting that kind of production, which we see in other leading life sciences economies across our country, is really important for the continued innovation for spinning out new products that then get developed at scale in other places.

2:07:27

So it's part of the the innovation ecosystem for that particular use, but that's the distinction that we're drawing, things that are are clean and quiet, are allowed in commercial areas, things that cannot meet those strict environmental standards, are appropriate to locate in our cities and districts.

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