Councilman Dinowitz says no to City of Yes

The notion of taking power out of the hands of the community and putting it in the hands of developers who in our community have a history of not doing right by us was not something that I could ultimately support.”

Councilmember Eric Dinowitz

Mayor Eric Adams’s City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan was officially adopted by the city council on Dec. 5, following a round of council modifications – Councilmember Eric Dinowitz voted no. 

“I think it's important that when you vote, you stand with the community and my community made clear to me that they had enough trouble with this plan that I couldn’t cast my vote in favor,” Dinowitz told The Press. 

The proposal aims to address the city’s housing shortage with “a little more housing in every neighborhood,” with plans to rewrite zoning laws on buildings and parking that date back to the 1960s. 

Perris Straughter, planning and land use director for the city council, gave a presentation on Dec. 2 alongside Dinowitz regarding the updated proposal. 

The original was deemed “fatally flawed” by Community Board 8 and residents have sounded the alarm since its announcement, concerned that the plan will fundamentally change the Riverdale, Kingsbridge and Fieldston neighborhoods. Changes like allowing the construction of residential units above ground-level commercial spaces, eliminating parking requirements that require all residential buildings to offer parking for new residential developments and the building of accessory dwelling units – small private living spaces on private property, for the purpose of additional rentals. 

“People were concerned about community character,” said Straughter. 

According to the plan, the residential units on ground-level commercial spaces are being called “town centers.” Straughter said, both Riverdale Avenue and Mosholu Avenue will have designated zoning. 

On Riverdale Avenue, from roughly West 261st Street to West 256th Street, ground-level businesses can have four or five stories of residential units built on top of them. On Mosholu Avenue, three or four stories of residential units can be built above commercial units. 

Another addition to the proposal, single and two-family homes, will not be eligible for the town center residential development. 

Laura Spalter, co-founder of Protect Bronx Neighborhood from Overdevelopment, described the new parking regulations as “putting lipstick on a pig.” She said the new plan feels attractive, but doesn’t address the fundamental flaws.  

“There will be new construction and that new construction should be required to provide the same parking it does now because what’s required now feels insufficient,” Spalter said. 

The communities of Riverdale and Fieldston suffer from lack of speedy public transportation, as a result, many residents drive. 

With the council’s amendments, the city is broken into three zones which dictate the parking requirements zoned for new buildings. Zone 1 focuses on most of Manhattan and parts of Queens and Brooklyn. 

Much of the neighborhood has been designated as Zone 2, with the rest residing in Zone 3. Zone 2, located inside heavy transit use areas, reduces current parking requirements, but creates an exemption for small multi-family buildings. Zone 3 preserves most parking requirements with some exceptions. 

Spalter is also concerned that the approval of the proposal will allow developments to proceed without community input. 

“Where development has been prohibited, it will become as-of-right with the City of Yes,” Spalter said. 

As-of-right developments are construction projects that do not need special permission or the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure process because they comply entirely with zoning regulations. 

As for Dinowitz, he said he made his vote in direct correlation with the opinions of his constituents. 

“The notion of taking power out of the hands of the community and putting it in the hands of developers who in our community, have a history of not doing right by us, was not something that I could ultimately support,” Dinowitz said 

As-of-right housing has no current requirements for affordable units, but the new plan creates incentives for developers to add affordable units with projects that are at least 10,000 square feet in size. These projects are required to have 20% of their units to meet a lower median income. 

The old proposal put AMI  pricing at 60%, or an income of $65,220 for an individual and $93,180 for a family of four. The newly established affordability preference lowers the average median income at 40%, reaching incomes of $43,480 for an individual and $62,120 for a family of four. 

Prior to the passing of City of Yes, Speaker Adrienne Adams announced an additional $2 billion in city capital and $1 billion in state funding would be put towards the development and preservation of affordable housing including, the New York City Housing Authority and Mitchell-Lama housing. 

Speaker Adams labeled the council’s housing plan City for All, with the plan including $68.3 million for homeownership opportunities, $365 million for programs centered on tenant protection, $2 billion for infrastructure investments, like stormwater management and flood mitigation, as well as 200 new staff positions for housing development and building code enforcement.

In September, the final Environmental Impact Statement on the City of Yes was released, finding there to be no impact in a number of categories including land use, zoning, public policy, water, sewer infrastructure, climate change and neighborhood character. 

Accessory dwelling units were established as part of the proposal to offer small living quarters on the homeowner’s property. The council’s modifications to this portion of the plan included the prohibiting of ground floor and basement dwelling units in areas designated as flood zones, both inland and coastal. This modification restricts portions of Riverdale, Fieldston and Kingsbridge.

The council added the requirement of properties being homeowner-occupied when an accessory dwelling unit is in use. These dwelling units are also exempt from offerings as short-term rentals, like AirBnB and Vrbo. 

New to the City of Yes for Housing proposal are vesting provisions, added by the city’s planning commission. This allows developments that filed building permits by the date of enactment of the proposal, the opportunity to use the new zoning regulations. 

“It stands in direct contradiction to one of the arguments of why this plan was put forth,” Dinowitz said. 

Spalter added her unease, “all over the city tenants will be in danger because things will be torn down, things will be replaced, neighborhoods will be gentrified.”