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Council Member Salamanca's opening remarks on DCP and LPC budget hearing
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4 min
Council Member Rafael Salamanca provides opening remarks for the fiscal year 2026 preliminary budget hearing for the Department of City Planning (DCP) and Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). He discusses the recent City of Yes zoning initiatives, concerns about DCP's budget and staffing, and the need for increased community engagement and infrastructure planning. Salamanca also briefly touches on LPC's budget.
- Salamanca expresses concern about DCP's 13.3% vacancy rate and the potential loss of federal funding.
- He emphasizes the need for more funding to increase the number of planners at DCP, improve community engagement, and better coordinate with the city's capital strategy.
- The council member welcomes the slight increase in LPC's budget for FY26.
Rafael Salamanca
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Alright.
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Good afternoon, and thank you for attending today's hearing on the committee of Lanus regarding a fiscal twenty twenty six budget and a fiscal twenty twenty five preliminary budget management report.
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I am council member of our Salamanca, Chair of the committee on Lanus.
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I am pleased to be joined in this hearing by chair of the subcommittee on zoning and franchise, council member Kevin Riley, and chair of the subcommittee on landmarks, public sightings, disposition, council member Hanks.
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We've also been joined by council member Moya Ribeira, Brooke Powers, Abreu, majority leader Farias, Hanks, and Hudson.
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At today's preliminary budget hearing, we will first hear from the Department of City Planning DCP, then the Landmarks Preservation Commission LPC at 3PM, followed by the public around 4PM.
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We have also been joined today by council we've been joined by our colleagues who have been introduced.
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Last year, the city council approved modifications three major land use initiatives known as the City Of Yes.
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The third one, city of yes for housing opportunities is projected to add 82,000 more homes over the next fifteen years.
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City of yes is the most ambitious update to the city zoning code since 1961 and we must be vigilant to to make sure that there's adequate funding to realize the vision of the council and the administration.
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For DCP to properly execute this piece of legislation, the agency requires three key things.
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First, proper staffing to assess and implement necessary zoning and planning changes.
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Second, full engagement with communities and third capital funding.
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DCP has a final 2026 preliminary budget of 46,700,000.0 about 2,800,000.0 less than the fiscal year twenty five budget adoption and fiscal year twenty six budget includes 34,800,000.0 for personal services to support 353 full time positions and 11,900,000.0 for the other personal services expenditures known as OTPS.
0:02:43
When we review DCP's budget, I see a concerning disconnect between the central role that the agency has to ensure the future of the city we all care deeply about and DCP's limited capacity to fulfill this role.
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While DCP's budget headcount was maintained in the preliminaries plan, the agency still has a high vacancy rate of 13.3%.
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This vacancy rate needs to come down.
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One of the major issues we saw with the City Of YES is the need for DCP to meaningfully engage with communities before certification and give communities an opportunity to shape the proposal.
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Another major issue we saw is the need to much for a much more effectively coordinated capital planning and with increased housing.
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The city cannot just build housing without the needed infrastructure.
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To make matters more complicated, we are also very concerned about the agency's ability to maintain its current levels of federal funding which comprises approximately a one third of DCP's budget.
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This all points to the fact that we need to increase the funding.
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For the number of planners at DCP to offset potential loss and federal funding, two, to more proactively engage with our communities, and three, to better coordinate with the city's capital strategy and planning initiatives.
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The work that DCP does is critical to our city and in my view this agency needs more funding to do a better job.
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To briefly touch on LPC's LPC's oh, to briefly touch on LPC, LPC's fiscal twenty six preliminary budget totals 8,100,000.0 approximately 207,000 greater than its fiscal twenty five adopted budget.
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Its fiscal twenty six budget includes 7,300,000.0 for the personal services to support 77 full time positions and approximately 863,000 for the other than personal services expenditures.
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This increase is welcome.
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Today, we will look forward to learning more about the preliminary plans changes to both DCP and LPC's budget.
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Additionally, we look forward to learning more about the City of Yes implementation with actions DCP has taken to increase staffing and ensure all five boroughs have the appropriate staffing for rezonings and the agency's engagement with communities across the city.
0:04:55
I would like to thank the committee staff who helped to prepare these hearings today.
0:04:59
I would like to thank Adrian Dripal, the senior financial analysis, Julia Hermes, the finance head unit, Arthur Hugh Williams Vidal and Deborah Kesener, the land use councils Brian Paul and Paris Lauter, land use deputy director and the director and Kathleen Greer, the legislative analysis, and my deputy chief of staff Brian Haiti and all of the staff working in my office and for my two co chairs today.
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Now I will pause and turn it over to our subcommittee chair Riley for his opening remarks on DCP.