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QUESTION
How will the city ensure home businesses comply with health and zoning regulations, and is the Department of Buildings adequately staffed for enforcement?
2:08:44
ยท
6 min
The Department of City Planning Director explains that most home businesses are already permitted under current zoning, except for a restrictive list that needs updating for the modern economy.
- Existing zoning allows most home businesses, with only specific exclusions due to outdated, rigid lists
- Examples like kennels and telehealth pharmacies highlight the need to revise zoning to adapt to current business operations
- The Department of Buildings is responsible for enforcement and compliance, emphasizing the importance of the department's capacity
- Proposed changes aim to better define allowed operations without altering the ULURP process, creating pathways rather than rezoning districts
Linda Lee
2:08:44
And so how do you balance all these things, but also make sure And then the question is who who's gonna regulate all of this and make sure that these businesses are in compliance, and then also if there's costs involved.
2:08:56
Right?
2:08:56
How is that gonna work if there's any added cost to the city?
2:08:59
So I wanted to focus first on my question on the home occupation, and I just wanna list out so that the city of Yes would potentially allow in home occupation businesses some of which you mentioned advertising peer agencies, barbershops, beauty parlors, depository or electrolysis offices, interior decorators, canals are stables, which I'm very curious about.
2:09:22
Because I'm wondering who lives in a place that can have a stable or unless I'm misunderstanding the meaning.
2:09:27
Ophthalmic dispensing, pharmacies, which is I'm gonna come back to pharmacies, real estate or insurance offices, stock brokers, and vets offices.
2:09:36
So I understand that you're saying that there have to be separate entrances and all of this, and it's gonna be separated out.
2:09:41
But understanding and having worked in healthcare facilities, and the regulations that are involved with, for example, ventilation systems and things like that.
2:09:49
Right?
2:09:50
How are we going to make sure that these owners are in compliance, and I know that some of them require state licenses, which obviously automatically or other licenses, which makes them subject to those requirements, but others that may not.
2:10:04
Those are the things I'm worried about.
2:10:06
And as chair of the mental health disabilities and addictions committee.
2:10:09
We have seen a huge jump in opioid crisis in this city.
2:10:13
And my concern not to go so far as to being facetious to say it.
2:10:17
The first thought I had was, oh my god, breaking bad.
2:10:19
You know?
2:10:20
Like, this and and I don't think it's gonna go to that extent, but I'm but the point is is that there's a lot of, as we've seen, unregulated or illegal businesses that do open.
2:10:32
And we have to answer to that as council members and people who speak for the people in our districts.
2:10:38
And so as someone who's very concerned about that, we all know that we can buy over the or drugs.
2:10:43
We can do things that will alter the effects of those things to create different opioids.
2:10:49
And so my question is, how are we gonna regulate for those types of businesses?
2:10:53
And that's my concern is that with this as well as the laboratories, Right?
2:10:59
It seems like what is the deeper dive or study or anything that you all have done in terms of the potential impacts health wise as well.
2:11:06
Not just environmental, but if I'm living next to a business like this, what kind of impact would that have?
2:11:12
And for the home occupations.
2:11:16
So that's one part of the question is how do sort of regulate or or or monitor that.
2:11:21
Right?
2:11:22
Because we all know that DOB is is short on capacity.
2:11:26
And then also, I just wanted to confirm.
2:11:28
So The the the instances, for example, could you explain what kind of zoning violations or fines would ensure compliance, I guess, is my question.
2:11:39
And there's been a number of instances in my constituency where a bad neighbor refuses entry, like someone one of the other colleagues of mine mentioned, twice in the case and was just automatically closed.
2:11:50
The case was closed.
2:11:51
So how do we account for that?
2:11:53
And also, What does this mean for us in terms of the Euler process?
Christopher Leon Johnson/Shaun Abreu
2:12:00
And
Linda Lee
2:12:00
then I have just one last question after that.
Dan Garodnick
2:12:02
Great.
2:12:03
Okay.
2:12:03
Thank you.
2:12:04
I appreciate all of these questions.
2:12:06
So on Home Businesses and I appreciate where you started.
2:12:10
I think it's important for us to start with what's already allowed because that's everything Mhmm.
2:12:17
Except for that shortlist that you just described.
Linda Lee
2:12:20
Right.
Dan Garodnick
2:12:20
So that list is the outlier.
2:12:23
Everything else is allowed.
2:12:27
And those businesses have customers that come in, the vast majority of time, these exist without complaints.
2:12:38
It's the fact that there is a list that is so specific and so prescriptive itself is out of whack.
2:12:44
Now let's talk about some of the examples you gave on that list because I think they're really good ones, and I'm glad you called them out.
2:12:49
A kennel.
2:12:50
Why would that be in a in a home business?
2:12:52
It it cannot.
2:12:54
But it is called out in zoning for reasons that don't make any specific sense.
2:12:58
There's lots of rules.
2:13:00
That have to be applied for a kennel, cannot exist as a home business whether we allow it in zoning or not.
2:13:06
Similarly for pharmacist, You know, we have pharmacists in New York City who are doing telehealth medicine who are working out of home on a computer screen in front of a video monitor.
2:13:18
Who are working in that context.
2:13:21
Zoning should not be the the district prohibition from that person being able to operate out of their own home.
2:13:31
If they are part of a broader operation where drugs are being dispensed out of another place.
2:13:38
These are the sorts of things where When we put the list in zoning, it has all of the unintended consequences over time, which has limited our adapt stability and flexibility to enable this, but it is the list which no longer makes sense.
2:13:56
And I to the question about you know, how to ensure compliance.
2:14:01
Yes.
2:14:01
There is a enforcement mechanism through the Department of Buildings.
2:14:05
It is it is important that they have the capacity to be able to go out there and do their job.
2:14:11
That is an important conversation for all of us to have It's not a zoning question, but it is an important question about the apartment buildings and to make sure that they have everything that they need.
2:14:22
As it relates to Uler, You know, we're not changing the zoning in any district here.
2:14:29
We're not, you know, even in the in proposals 15 to 18 where we're creating a process for a thing to happen.
2:14:36
That does not change Uler, it just creates a pathway.
2:14:40
Everything else is a better definition, we think, for a modern 21st century economy about where things can happen in existing zoning districts.
Linda Lee
2:14:48
Okay.
2:14:49
I I would request that we take a look at that because telehealth is something I'm familiar with from my previous life.
2:14:54
And so I think that should be categorized separately because it makes it's if we could be more specific about some of these, I think that'd be great.
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