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Q&A
Funding infrastructure and defining developer responsibilities under comprehensive planning
1:12:53
·
3 min
Commissioner Shams DaBaron asks Borough President Antonio Reynoso about funding infrastructure under a comprehensive planning model. Reynoso reiterates that infrastructure is the city's responsibility and should be planned and funded proactively based on growth projections in the plan, rather than relying on developers; developers should contribute public good like deeper affordability and union labor in return for development rights.
- Reynoso opposes making developers pay for city infrastructure needs.
- Proactive planning based on the comprehensive plan allows for more efficient and affordable infrastructure development by the city.
- Developers' contribution should be focused on affordable housing (potentially more than current MIH requires) and labor standards (union jobs).
- He emphasizes the need for construction workers to be able to afford living in the city.
Shams DaBaron
1:12:53
So, you know, I don't know everything.
1:12:55
So
Antonio Reynoso
1:12:56
Nobody does.
Shams DaBaron
1:12:57
But I appreciate all the information that you bring in.
1:13:01
I do wanna say I I wanna ask you the thing about infrastructure.
1:13:10
How do you see that being funded?
1:13:12
You know?
1:13:13
I I see sometimes, like, if there's a development, especially a significant development coming to a community, and you have a lot of monies that's going towards the development.
1:13:23
Yeah.
1:13:24
How do you see, or do you think that it it's the the developers that are coming when we redevelop in a particular area, do you see that they should contribute to infrastructure development, like, because of the massive amount of, money that is funding the development?
1:13:44
What do you think it I I I as I heard you, that it should be separate and should be automatic or whatever the case is.
1:13:50
That's what the city should be doing.
1:13:52
Or is there a balance that could happen in those discussions?
1:13:55
I don't know.
Antonio Reynoso
1:13:56
Yeah.
1:13:56
No.
1:13:57
So yeah.
1:13:57
This is a a conversation we should have when we're developing comprehensive planning.
1:14:01
I don't have all all the answers.
1:14:02
I have a lot of them, and I would love for you to go to the Brooklyn Borough president's website and look at our comprehensive plan.
1:14:07
Our two point o, the second part of our comprehensive plan is coming out.
1:14:11
And I did that with five very dedicated staff members.
1:14:13
Imagine what DCP could do.
1:14:15
I would say this for that, is that right now, because it's only zoning that we do, is that if one building comes up and it's 10 stories and it's gonna add 50 people to the neighborhood, EIS and the seeker say that that one building is not going to require the need for a new school, for example.
1:14:34
Then the next two months, another building goes up, and then another building goes up.
1:14:38
And, individually, each building does not have enough of a contribution of of residents to build a school.
1:14:45
But now we have 20 of these buildings, and we need a new school.
1:14:48
And now the city's on the in the on the hook for that work.
1:14:51
What we should be doing is that there should be the comprehensive plan is gonna say with this plan, we expect about 20,000 people coming into this neighborhood.
1:14:59
We can start planning for new schools now.
1:15:01
And when the city plans long term, they're building seven schools in in in Bay Ridge right now.
1:15:07
They're looking for any property.
1:15:09
They're they're overpaying, the pro the value of the property because it's a necessity and the and the schools are busting out at the seams.
1:15:16
They're putting them in locations that don't make any sense because they just need to fill the the seats.
1:15:21
The seats need to be there.
1:15:22
With comprehensive plan, we work more efficiently and more affordably in all this work.
1:15:28
And I look, at the developers, we should be talking about more affordable housing and doing all this work, but they shouldn't be on the, they shouldn't be footing the bill for the infrastructure.
1:15:37
That's the city's responsibility.
1:15:39
But what they should be footing the bill for is that we are giving them access to increased value of their property, and they should be return they should be doing a public good as well.
1:15:48
And market rate housing is a public good, but so is affordable housing.
1:15:52
So we can you won't have to pay for the school, but 25% at my age is just too small.
1:15:56
We're gonna increase that number.
1:15:58
But we have to look at many other things.
1:16:00
Union union built housing.
1:16:02
Right?
1:16:02
Like, we we got people building these apartments that can't live in the apartments that they're building, and that is just nonsensical in the city of New York.
1:16:09
Alright?
1:16:09
If you're a chef, you should be able to buy the food you're cooking.
1:16:13
But we can talk about that too.
1:16:14
Those are other things that they should be valuing that we should ask developers to do, but the infrastructure should always be our responsibility.
1:16:20
We shouldn't have to wait for a developer to fix our problems.
1:16:23
The city should be responsible for that.