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PRESENTATION
Alec Schierenbeck outlines proposed reforms to address housing challenges, focusing on process costs, citywide needs, and public land
0:16:58
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6 min
Executive Director Alec Schierenbeck presents potential charter reforms to tackle the housing crisis, categorized into reducing process costs, elevating citywide needs, and better leveraging public land.
These proposals aim to refine the existing ULURP system rather than overhaul it completely.
The goal is to create more efficient pathways for housing development while balancing local and citywide perspectives.
- Reducing process costs: Includes fast-tracking modest and affordable housing projects and streamlining ULURP timelines.
- Elevating citywide needs: Proposes comprehensive planning, strengthening fair housing frameworks, and empowering borough-wide and city-wide actors in land use decisions, potentially through an appeals board.
- Leveraging public land: Suggests simplifying the process for developing affordable housing on city-owned land and acquiring land for such purposes.
Alec Schierenbeck
0:16:58
What does one do about these challenges?
0:17:01
Well, we've heard many ideas, and we've tried to sort them into three potential categories, reducing process costs, elevating citywide needs, and leveraging public land.
0:17:13
Each of these reforms would tweak the process of review for certain kinds of land use changes.
0:17:18
EULRP would remain in place for most changes.
0:17:22
Nothing proposed here would automatically make it legal to build anything upon approval of a by a referendum.
0:17:29
Everything would still require a form of public review.
0:17:33
Likewise, none of these proposals would alter existing rules around environmental review, building and construction standards, or protections for historic districts or landmarks.
0:17:44
Reducing process costs.
0:17:46
We have heard proposals to fast track certain kinds of housing.
0:17:51
Can we create a simpler, shorter process for modest housing projects of the kind we do not see in ULURP today?
0:18:00
We've heard calls for a simpler and shorter process for categorically beneficial housing projects, like all affordable housing.
0:18:08
One proposal, for example, would create a new action before the board of standards and appeals for a waiver for affordable housing projects.
0:18:16
We have heard calls for general changes to ULURP to speed all ULURP applications up.
0:18:22
One very common suggestion is to combine the period of community board and borough president review.
0:18:27
Under that proposal, community boards would have all the time they have today.
0:18:32
But the borough president's advisory role would be moved into the same period to save thirty days.
0:18:39
We've also heard proposals to address other land use procedures that are in and around the charter.
0:18:46
Today, for example, dispositions, of health and hospitals land are not subject to the same clock as other things.
0:18:54
And there have been calls to maybe attach clocks because in the absence of a clock, certain land use actions can remain dormant or kind of pocket vetoed, to avoid making difficult political decisions.
0:19:08
Elevating citywide needs.
0:19:10
Much of what we heard is that our current system has dialed too far in the direction of hyper local concerns, particularly as a result of member deference, and that a better balance needs to be struck between those local views, must continue to have an important role, and the views of borough wide and city wide perspectives.
0:19:32
And we've also heard that this hyperlocal process is underlying the inequitable patterns of growth we've seen and inequitable access to opportunity that flows from where one lives.
0:19:48
One genre of reform we've heard is to take a more comprehensive approach to planning.
0:19:53
The notion being that the current piecemeal approach of land use review with ad hoc neighborhood or private applications doesn't give the right perspective or facilitate the right kind of decision making.
0:20:05
One flavor of a proposal we've heard is to take the city council's fair housing framework, which unanimously passed the council in 2023, and to add some teeth to it so that a consequence of failing to meet a district level target adopted through a process would be the fast tracking of certain mixed income housing or affordable housing.
0:20:26
This proposal has been made by the New York Housing Conference, Enterprise Community Partners, Open New York, the Fifth Avenue Committee, and others.
0:20:34
A proposal like this builds upon models around the country, including in New Jersey, which has had a system called Mount Laurel doctrine for some fifty years.
0:20:44
Another approach is comprehensive planning.
0:20:48
Controller lander, borough president Reynoso, ANHD, and Thriving Communities Coalition have called not just for a holistic plan addressing where housing ought to be built, but one that would require a holistic master plan for the whole city, touching on issues like transportation and schools.
0:21:05
Once adopted, these proposals suggest typically, although they vary, that projects in accordance with the plan would be fast tracked.
0:21:13
New York City used to have a similar master plan requirement, but no master plan was ever adopted, and it could be time for the city to try again, proponents say.
0:21:24
Another idea is to empower borough wide and city wide actors in the process, the idea being to strike a better balance between local views and borough and city wide views by giving officials with borough and city perspectives a greater role.
0:21:37
Borough president Reynoso and Gibson have both called for giving BPs a greater role in land use again.
0:21:43
Along these lines, the commission has received proposals to create a new appeals board at the end of the EULRP process.
0:21:49
These proposals would eliminate the mayoral veto and the council override to the veto and replace them with a new board to hear land use matters after council has taken a pass.
0:21:59
One proposal, for example, would create a three official body, including the mayor council and borough president.
0:22:05
The agreement of two of the three officials on the board would be needed to overrule a council action.
0:22:10
Others have proposed giving the city planning commission with the super majority the power to override the council on particular applications and maybe changing the structure of the city planning commission when it does so.
0:22:23
Leveraging public land.
0:22:25
Another set of reforms is designed to make it easier for the city to activate public land for affordable housing.
0:22:31
It is often much harder for the city to build affordable housing on its own land than it would be for a private actor to build market rate housing.
0:22:37
Can we ease that process so the city can better leverage city owned land to combat the housing crisis?
0:22:43
Ideas include simplifying dispositions of city owned land to HTFCs, which are regulated affordable housing developers for affordable housing.
0:22:52
Another idea is to correct a a the one size fits all problem with ULURP today, where the sale of city owned lots, even if they are mere inches wide, subject to the same process of the sale of tracks as large as huds and yards.
0:23:08
Can we change the process for small lots?
0:23:11
Can we also make it easier for the city to acquire lots to build affordable housing?
0:23:16
Here's some of the ideas that the staff recommend be investigated.
0:23:19
Next slide.