PRESENTATION
City Planning Commission presents overview of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative
0:21:06
·
11 min
The NYC Department of City Planning provides a comprehensive overview of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative, a proposed citywide zoning amendment aimed at addressing the housing crisis by enabling more housing development across New York City.
- The proposal includes changes for low-density areas, such as allowing 'missing middle' housing and accessory dwelling units (ADUs)
- In medium and high-density areas, the Universal Affordability Preference (UAP) would allow larger buildings if they include affordable housing
- Citywide changes include removing residential parking mandates and allowing conversions of non-residential buildings
- Environmental impact estimates project between 58,000 to 109,000 incremental housing units over 15 years
- The proposal is currently undergoing public review, with a City Council vote expected in the fall
[EXPERIMENTAL]
Which elements of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity were discussed in this testimony?
I was not able to tie quotes from the testimony back to specific elements of the proposal. Check out another testimony here.
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.
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Veronica
0:21:06
Oh, this?
0:21:07
Okay.
0:21:08
Okay.
0:21:08
On Monday, the commission heard a full presentation about city of yes for housing opportunity, a citywide text amendment that would change voting to allow for equitable housing development.
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Today, we'll provide a brief refresher on the major elements of the proposal.
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These changes would enable a little more housing in every neighborhood by removing barriers to housing growth.
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Video yes for housing opportunity is a city wide plan.
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We encourage incremental housing growth over a wide geography.
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City of Yes for housing opportunity would affect every part of the city and includes Nuance proposals for the low density areas, our ones, our 5 zoning districts, High density areas are 10 zoning districts as well as a series of city wide changes.
0:21:52
In the load density areas, the proposal would also create more missing middle housing or low rise apartment buildings in our low density areas.
0:22:00
The proposal would also aim to help homeowners' low density neighborhoods by allowing them to add accessory dwelling units or ADUs to their homes and by providing small buildings with additional flexibility to adapt over time.
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In every medium and high density zoning district, the universal affordability preference or UAP would allow bigger buildings for affordable housing.
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And across the city, the proposal would remove residential parking mandates, which are making housing more expensive.
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To also arrange smaller proposals, including enabling conversion of nonresidential buildings, allowing small and shared apartments and allowing for contextual infill.
Christie Peale
0:22:37
In the load into the areas, city of
Veronica
0:22:39
yes for housing opportunity would reintroduce modest buildings that are more naturally affordable than other types of construction, and apartment buildings at a scale in which they could take advantage of existing affordability programs.
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Our town center proposal aims to create more missing middle house in low density areas.
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This proposal aims to relegalize mixed use apartments or buildings with a ground floor commercial use and a few stories of housing on top.
Christie Peale
0:23:04
This is a classic New
Veronica
0:23:05
York City building type that exists along many low density commercial corridors, but overly complex zoning rules, make it almost impossible to build new ones today.
0:23:15
This proposal would streamline zoning rules, including restrictive limits on floor area and height, that it's once again feasible to build 2 to 4 stories of housing above a commercial ground floor.
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Our second proposal for missing middle housing is transit oriented development.
0:23:33
Transit oriented development would allow for low rise buildings 3 to 5 stores depending on the underlying zoning district on sites that are near transit where they meet specific criteria.
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So first, the site must be on a block within 0.5 miles of a subway or rail station.
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2nd, the lot must be over 5000 square feet And finally, the lot must be located on the short end of the block or on a wide street, which zoning defines as over 75 feet wide.
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Community facilities like space based organizations or libraries could also use these rules throughout the city on sites over 5000 square feet where our community facility space is present.
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Our transit oriented development rules would promote missing mill housing while also promoting sustainability by adding housing in areas with good transit access.
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In the rest of the load density areas, the proposal aims to give homeowners more flexibility.
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Under this proposal, a single or 2 family home would be able to add a small accessory dwelling unit or an ADU.
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Are there a range of types of ADUs including backyard cottages, garage conversions and basement apartments.
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These small units could provide important housing options for small households, like a young person moving into their own place for the first time or an elderly resident who would like to age in place.
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Because of their small size, they also serve different income levels than a large single family home.
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Successful ADU programs across
Christie Peale
0:24:59
the country can show us
Veronica
0:25:00
that these units multigenerational families a little more space and help Middle Class homeowners manage their household expenses.
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Only a very small percentage of eligible lots in these locations by choose to add an ADU about 1% per year, but this incremental housing growth has big benefits for homeowners and tenants.
0:25:18
While the zoning text would make zoning changes needed to enable ADUs, other barriers, including rules in the building code would need to be lifted to make ADUs a reality.
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The zoning text would prohibit ADUs in special coastal risk districts, which are the areas of our city with the most severe flood risk.
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And basement ADUs would not be allowed in the 100 year flood plain consistent with other zoning rules.
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Complimentary changes, including changes to the building code, would require local legislation, including rules to address areas sensitive to storm water, coastal flooding.
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Recommendations for these rules are being developed by an Interagency working group that includes the Department of City Planning, the Mayor's Office of Climate Environmental Justice, New York City Emergency Management, the Department of Environmental Protection, the fire department and the Department of Buildings.
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The city looks forward to working with the city council to advance these measures.
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The same rule changes that enable accessories, welding units could also help homeowners who might not want to add an ADU, but just need more flexibility to adopt or renovate their homes to meet their families' needs.
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Our research shows us that many existing buildings are out of compliance, meaning they're not in line with today's rules.
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So for example, our 41 districts or 2 family districts that allow somebody to touch buildings like the ones you see here.
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But building looks like these pre night 61 Dublexes could not be constructed today because they have more square footage and was currently allowed as well as a smaller rear yard.
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These non compliances end up causing big headaches for homeowners if they need to borrow money from the bank or if they want to make simple changes to their home like renovating that Dave Kitchen.
0:26:53
This proposal would fix these rules, which would have dual benefits.
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So first, the homeowner of an existing building wouldn't run into issues when they go to make an alteration to their building.
0:27:02
Because the zoning would better match what's actually on the ground.
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And second, you would actually able to build a 2 family home and a 2 family district or a multi family home and a multi family it.
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When today, the only thing that would be feasible is a single family home.
UNKNOWN
0:27:21
In the medium and high density parts of the city, the proposal introduces the universal affordability preference or UAP.
0:27:27
We allow apartment buildings BLE's 20% larger, so long as the extra space is occupied by permanently affordable or supportive housing.
0:27:35
UAP is modeled after current rules allow bigger buildings for affordable senior housing.
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UAP would have an affordability requirement of 60% area media income.
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Area media income or AMI is a measure of affordability established by the federal government.
0:27:51
At 60 percent AMI or about $83,000 for a family of 3, UAP would serve lower income New Yorkers than the existing zoning tool voluntary inclusionary housing.
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UAP would also serve New Yorkers at even lower income levels through income averaging.
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Income averaging means that instead of only including homes at the required affordability level, a building can include homes at a range of incomes that average the required affordability.
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So for example, a building can meet UAP's 60 percent AMI affordability level including a mix of homes at 30 percent AMI or about $41,000 for a family of 3, 60 percent AMI, again, about $83,000 for a family of 3.
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90% AMI, about $125,000 for a family of 3.
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Through UAP's deeper affordability requirement and the introduction of income averaging, UAP can help to serve the low income New Yorkers who most need affordable housing.
0:28:45
CVS for housing opportunity would make parking optional for new housing everywhere.
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Following the example of many other major cities.
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Today, New York City requires new housing to include off street parking even where it's not needed.
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These mandates mean less space for housing and increased construction costs, which results in less housing being built.
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The diagram on the slide represents how parking ticks up a lot of space.
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2 parking spaces is equivalent to size of a studio apartment.
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Building, parking itself is also expensive and an optimal housing growth, especially affordable housing.
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This proposal prioritizes housing over parking.
0:29:23
Parking would still be allowed and we anticipate developers will respond to market needs and continue to provide parking areas where there is demand.
0:29:30
Moving parking mandates can help reduce the cost of housing construction and enable development of more homes in each new building.
0:29:38
Finally, City of Yester housing opportunity also includes a range of smaller proposals, which you heard more details about on Monday.
0:29:45
These proposals aimed to create appropriate housing opportunities throughout New York City, while also encouraging high quality housing for residents and contextual building forms.
0:29:55
The financial review for the citywide tax amendment is intended to provide an estimate of the amount type approximate location and overall form of future development to identify the range of impacts that may occur in the future with city yester housing opportunity compared to a future about it.
0:30:11
To do this, the environmental review used 3 methods of analysis.
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Protypical sites, citywide estimates and representative neighborhoods.
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DAS estimates approximately 58,000 incremental units on the low end up to 109,000 incremental units on the high end scenarios.
0:30:29
Citywide, this is a little less than a unit per acre over 15 years.
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For context, a typical block in Eastern Queens is between 3 and 4 acres.
0:30:38
So this could mean the addition of a small multifamily building, or a few ADUs being added to a block within the next 15 years.
0:30:46
Some neighborhoods may see closer to 2.5 units per acre over 15 years, under high end snare estimates.
0:30:54
Environmental Impact Statement was conducted and no completion for the draft EIS was issued on Friday, April 26, 2024.
0:31:01
The draft CIS identifies no potential for impacts in the areas listed on the left side of the slide.
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Potential for significant adverse impacts to identify for categories listed on the right.
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It's important to note for some site specific impact analysis, potential for significant adverse impacts cannot be precluded.
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And the likelihood of impacts occurring depends on existing context.
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For example, the potential for shadows impacts depends on sunlight sensitive resources, and potential for noise impacts depends on the ambient noise context of a specific future development site.
0:31:33
Other density related impact analysis like open space and schools do demonstrate that the additional population introduced by City of Yesor housing opportunity at a neighborhood scale constrained existing infrastructure result in potential for significant adverse impacts.
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Mitigation measures are being explored and be further refined in the final EIS.
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We'll close by sharing a road map for the process to come.
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After more than a year of getting in front of
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many audiences as we can to solicit feedback for this proposal, We've presented all 59 community boards for a total of 176 meetings.
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While we've already accepted 42 community board recommendations received within the official timeline of 60 days.
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We will also accept and make sure that the City Planning Commission receives every single recommendation that we receive before the City Planning vote.
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The city planning commission will consider and vote on the proposal in the coming months.
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And if approved, the process will culminate in a city council vote sometime this fall.
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That concludes the refresher.
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We're excited to hear from everyone today.