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TESTIMONY

Carol Rosenthal from Fried Frank Law Firm on residential conversion regulations in the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal

8:52:09

·

156 sec

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Carol Rosenthal, counsel with Fried Frank Law Firm and member of the Remedy zoning and design committee, expresses support for the residential conversion regulations in the City of Yes proposal. She highlights how the proposed text would eliminate many zoning issues that currently hinder the conversion of commercial buildings to housing.

  • The proposed text broadens the geographical area for special conversion rules, allows buildings up to 1990 to be converted, and eliminates or reduces the dwelling unit factor.
  • Rosenthal notes that the new tax benefit, Affordable Housing from Commercial Conversions (AHHC), aligns with the conversion rules and encourages the delivery of affordable housing.
  • She requests clarification on the elimination of required parking for conversions, especially in buildings with existing accessory commercial parking.
  • Support for residential conversion regulations in the City of Yes text
  • The proposed text eliminates most zoning issues for commercial to residential conversions
  • The text broadens the geographical area for special conversion rules
  • Allows buildings up to 1990 to use the conversion rules
  • Allows existing building floor area and bulk for conversions
  • Allows conversions to supportive housing and dormitories
  • Eliminates or reduces the dwelling unit factor
  • New tax benefit (AHHC) aligns with conversion rules, requiring 25% affordable units
  • Suggests clarification on elimination of required parking for conversions
  • Supports the opportunity to convert underutilized space to needed housing

[EXPERIMENTAL]

Which elements of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity were discussed in this testimony?

  • Residential Conversions
  • Parking Mandates

The following are AI-extracted quotes and reasoning about which elements of the proposal were discussed in this testimony.

This is a quick, close approximation. Occasionally, the connection between a testimony's transcript and specific elements of City Planning's proposal is tenuous.

Read about this AI-generated analysis here.

Residential Conversions

"My testimony is focused on the residential conversion regulations that are part of the proposed city of yes text."

This quote directly states that the speaker is discussing the residential conversion regulations, which is a key element of the City of Yes For Housing Opportunity proposal.

"The proposed text would eliminate most of those zoning issues. And will be eminently useful for increasing the production of much needed housing in the city."

This quote shows that the speaker is discussing how the proposed changes will make residential conversions easier, which aligns with the City of Yes proposal's goal to facilitate the conversion of non-residential buildings to housing.

"Importantly, the tax broadens the geographical area that can use the special conversion rules, allows buildings up to 1990 to use it, allows existing building floor area and bulk for conversions, allows conversions to supportive housing and dormitories and eliminates or reduces the dwelling unit factor."

This quote directly describes several aspects of the residential conversion element of the proposal, including expanding eligibility to buildings through 1990 and allowing conversions to various types of housing.

Parking Mandates

"The we do ask the revenue committee asks that the new tax clarify the elimination of required parking for conversions, especially in buildings where there had been existing accessory commercial park parking. In order to put conversions on par with the parking requirements for residential new construction."

This quote indicates that the speaker is discussing the removal of parking mandates, specifically in the context of residential conversions. They are requesting clarification on this aspect of the proposal, which aligns with the City of Yes plan to remove parking mandates for new housing.


About this analysis:

This analysis is done by AI that reasons whether or not a quote from the testimony discusses a particular element of the proposal.

All the prompts and data are open and available on Github.

You can search for testimonies that mentioned a specific element in the table on the main meeting page.

When an element is explicitly stated in the testimony (e.g. "Universal Affordability Preference" or "UAP"), the analysis is accurate.

But the connection between a quote from the testimony and an element of the proposal is sometimes implicit.

In these cases, the AI might eagerly label a testimony as discussing a proposal when the connection is tenuous, or it might omit it entirely.

↗ Why are there transcription and diarization errors?
Carol Rosenthal
8:52:09
Thank you.
8:52:10
Hi.
8:52:10
Thank you, Cher.
8:52:12
Good evening, commissioners.
8:52:14
I am Carl Rosenthal.
8:52:16
I'm counsel with the law firm free, Frank.
8:52:18
And I'm speaking today for the Remedy zoning and design committee.
8:52:22
First, I need to say you guys are each heroic for sitting through this whole day.
8:52:27
And it's much appreciated by the rest of us in the city.
8:52:33
My testimony is focused on the residential conversion regulations that are part of the proposed city of yes text.
8:52:41
For a few years now, I and others have been reviewing commercial sites with their clients to determine if they can be converted to housing.
8:52:50
And a number of these buildings are in high density areas.
8:52:54
Where the residential unit per building yield would be quite high.
8:52:58
Conversions, however, have been tricky because of the commercial floor plates sizes, light and air needs, and a variety of zoning and code issues.
8:53:07
The proposed text would eliminate most of those zoning issues.
8:53:11
And will be eminently useful for increasing the production of much needed housing in the city.
8:53:17
Importantly, the tax broadens the geographical area that can use the special conversion rules, allows buildings up to 1990 to use it, allows existing building floor area and bulk for conversions, allows conversions to supportive housing and dormitories and eliminates or reduces the dwelling unit factor.
8:53:37
The new tax benefit, affordable housing from commercial conversions or AHHC, aligns with the conversion rules it requires 25 percent of rental units to have a weighted average of 80 percent AMI.
8:53:50
And with that, This will encourage conversions to deliver affordable housing as well.
8:53:57
The we do ask the revenue committee asks that the new tax clarify the elimination of required parking for conversions, especially in buildings where there had been existing accessory commercial park parking.
8:54:10
In order to put conversions on par with the parking requirements for residential new construction.
8:54:16
The COI or COI tax provides a rare opportunity to right size the zoning and land use priorities for the city specifically with conversions to take underutilized space and convert it to critically needed housing and simultaneously meet the and all objectives of reuse.
8:54:36
So with the minor clarification we noted, we urge adopting these conversion rules and support the text generally.
8:54:44
Thank you.

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