Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
Q&A
Discussion on inter-agency coordination and inspection delays hindering housing projects
0:16:58
·
133 sec
Commissioner Diane Savino discusses the lengthy delays experienced even in projects with council support, using the Coney Island rezoning as an example, and asks Professor Vicki Been about speeding up pre-council processes. Professor Been attributes significant delays to poor inter-agency coordination and lengthy inspection processes post-construction.
- Savino notes that the Coney Island rezoning took years despite having a supportive council member, with some projects still not built.
- Been identifies lack of coordination between agencies (e.g., Parks, Buildings) as a key issue in the Coney Island example.
- Post-construction delays due to protracted building, fire department, and other inspections leave completed housing empty while families are in shelters.
- Been suggests implementing deadlines for agency coordination and inspections, potentially using models like progressive design-build.
Diane Savino
0:16:58
Thank you.
0:16:59
Good to see you again.
0:17:00
Good to see you.
0:17:01
Been a while.
0:17:02
So I wanna take you back to an experience that we shared together when we went through the rezoning of Coney Island.
Shams DaBaron
0:17:08
Mhmm.
Diane Savino
0:17:08
So we not only had 30 blocks, of area that had not seen development in decades, but we had a willing council member.
Alicia Boyd
0:17:18
Mhmm.
Diane Savino
0:17:19
So knowing then, right, we had a willing council member, so we don't have to worry about member deference denying the changes.
0:17:25
It still took forever.
0:17:26
And in fact, some of the projects that we cited back then, going back to 02/2009, are still not yet in the ground.
0:17:33
Yeah.
0:17:33
So it's not simply just the council process.
0:17:36
What could we do differently to speed up that type of activity?
0:17:38
I think you in your comments, you said, on average, in most states, it takes fifteen months from conception to shovels in the ground, and we're looking at more like 4,500.
0:17:47
What could we do before it ever gets to the council members, you know, oversight to speed up that process?
0:17:55
So I think if
Vicki Been
0:17:57
if we're recalling the same set of facts, and thank you for your service, one of the issues there was coordination between the agencies.
0:18:05
Right?
0:18:05
We had a park issue.
0:18:07
We had a building issue that needed to be changed.
0:18:10
All of that took an enormous amount of time.
0:18:12
It would be great if we could if we had essentially limits on those kinds of of conversations Mhmm.
0:18:20
Even when some of those buildings that have been developed there then face months and months and months of delay with, you know, building inspections, with fire department inspections, with all kinds of inspections.
0:18:33
They're sitting that's housing sitting empty while we have families in shelter Mhmm.
0:18:38
That could be put to use.
0:18:39
And there's no I mean, every agency faces issues about priorities, issues about staffing, but there really needs to be a push to set deadlines on those kinds of coordination problems.
Diane Savino
0:18:52
It's almost as if we need a progressive design build for the development of housing.
0:18:56
We that that
Vicki Been
0:18:58
is, what we're seeing a lot of success in, public housing on in those ways, And and it is we do need deadlines, and we do need upfront decision making and coordination.
Diane Savino
0:19:10
Thank you.