Another four years of Queens Crap and beyond

PIX News 

 New York City voters approved ballot proposals 2, 3, and 4, which are aimed at fast-tracking affordable housing developments, according to the Associated Press.

Over 50% of New York City renters and around 45% of homeowners pay more than 30% of their yearly salary toward housing, according to the Yes on Affordable Housing Coalition.

Proposition 2 creates two alternatives to the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), the seven-month process for determining how land is used. Not all land in the city goes through ULURP, but zoning changes like affordable housing “must go through public review and approval,” according to the Department of City Planning.

The proposition, which would fast-track affordable housing applications at the City Planning Commission (CPC) or Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA), effectively removes the City Council from the review process.

 Publicly financed affordable housing projects will now be subject to a 90-day review by the BSA, rather than the seven-month process. The CPC will review applications from the 12 communities with the lowest affordable housing rates in New York City within 30 to 45 days.

 Proposition 3 is meant to simplify the approval for smaller infrastructure projects by also keeping the City Council out of the review process. It would create an Expedited Land Use Review Procedure (ELURP), which would involve a 90-day review from the local community board, borough president, and CPC.

 

Proposition 4 establishes the Affordable Housing Appeals Board. Currently, the City Council has the final say in affordable housing projects, with only the mayor able to veto. The new board will have the power to veto the City Council. The borough presidents, City Council speaker, and mayor will all be on the board.

Advocates argue that removing the City Council from the process will help create more affordable, smaller housing quickly, especially in neighborhoods that lack it. Councilmembers, however, say that removing them from the process will give developers too much power and take away theirs.

 

Developers are champing at the bit for ULURP approval

THE CITY

Facing growing pressure from the real estate industry, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that he would restart the city’s land use process in August and intensify the work in September.

The city is launching a new portal called NYC Engage to foster public participation and for community boards to use as they review proposals remotely.

The announcement comes just days after THE CITY reported on the growing frustration over the wait for the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which has been frozen since mid-March due to the pandemic, to resume.

The City Planning Commission will begin meeting online in August to vote on projects already midway through the usually six-month ULURP process. In mid-September, the Department of City Planning will begin certifying new proposals to begin the six-month review.

“It is time to re-engage the city planning process and move the city forward,” the mayor said at his daily briefing.