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Director Garodnick addresses concerns about flooding and zoning text amendments
4:58:53
·
91 sec
Director Daniel Garodnick responds to Council Member Narcisse's concerns about flooding and infrastructure issues, acknowledging the severity of the problem while explaining the limitations of addressing it through zoning text amendments.
- Garodnick clarifies that the zoning text cannot solve the flooding problem, nor will it significantly worsen it.
- He mentions that the Department of Environmental Protection has studied the issue and believes existing systems and capital plans can accommodate the changes.
- Garodnick emphasizes the need to address both the flooding crisis and the housing crisis simultaneously.
Daniel Garodnick
4:58:53
Well, I I certainly understand the question, which is you have a a crippling problem as you describe it on home singing or problems in in an entire communities where people are concerned about flooding, storm water, and it this is a this is a serious issue that you're describing.
4:59:13
And I I understand it, and I recognize it.
4:59:16
And I also will just say that while we cannot solve that problem in the zoning text.
Shahana Hanif
4:59:23
Mhmm.
Daniel Garodnick
4:59:24
The problem also is neither gonna be created by the zoning text nor made materially worse by the zoning text.
4:59:32
That may not make it easier for you to report back to your constituents.
4:59:35
But what I would say to you is we have studied this issue with this with the Department of Environmental Protection.
4:59:41
They believe that this can be accommodated under existing systems, and their existing capital plans, which by the way, as we sit here, may very well include some of the areas that you're describing.
4:59:53
I do not know.
4:59:54
We can look at that together after the hearing as to what their plans are to alleviate flooding in your district.
5:00:01
But this zoning text is not the thing that is either going to create the problem or fix the problem.
5:00:07
We need to have a separate and important conversation about how the city is gonna deal with flooding across the board.
5:00:14
And I I completely understand your point.
5:00:16
But this one, we have another crisis on our hands.
5:00:19
Which is the housing crisis, and we also need Right.
5:00:21
We need to deal with both issues at the same time.