Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to loosen the zoning rules that govern businesses was approved by the City Council on Thursday, a victory for his administration despite rising tensions between City Hall and the legislative body.
The 34-16 vote by the City Council comes two weeks after lawmakers secured some changes to the plan, known as City of Yes for Economic Opportunity. But its core provisions are largely intact: The package allows “clean” manufacturers like ceramic studios and jewelry makers to open in commercial districts instead of only manufacturing zones; permits indoor agriculture in commercial areas; and lets life-science labs expand more easily in commercial districts and near hospitals by removing bulk restrictions.
Notably, the council also won a promise from the Adams administration to advance new regulations on last-mile delivery facilities, which have become objects of scorn in some neighborhoods for their effect on traffic and pollution. The city will advance rules next year that will require the delivery hubs to obtain a special permit before opening.
The passage of the mayor’s complicated Economic Opportunity plan came despite pushback from community boards and outer-borough politicians who objected to mixing housing with commerce. To assuage those concerns, the council nixed a policy that would have allowed corner stores in residential areas and tweaked rules permitting new commercial uses within people’s homes and on the upper floors of apartment buildings.
Other policies in the package include allowing “micro-distribution” delivery centers to open in storefronts in an effort to get electric bicycles off sidewalks. City of Yes will also end the role of zoning in regulating dancing, scrapping what officials call an antiquated prohibition and instead permitting dancing in the same restaurants and bars where music and stand-up comedy are already allowed.
The final deal strikes “the right balance between expanding opportunities for local businesses, creating jobs and protecting neighborhoods and quality of life,” Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said at a press conference before Thursday’s vote. Mayor Adams, in a statement, hailed the vote as “another historic step to bring our city’s zoning code into the 21st century and build a more inclusive and prosperous economy.”
The agreed-upon package also includes the reforms pushed by lawmakers that aim to protect the city’s industrial sector — and the middle-class jobs that it promises — from intrusion by commercial businesses. The new policies will create a category of manufacturing district where all commercial uses would be limited to 10,000 square feet per lot, and ban big-box retail in new manufacturing districts.
The council’s tweaks to the package included capping home-based businesses at 1,000 square feet and limiting them to one employee. The policy allowing commercial uses on the upper floors of mixed-use buildings was changed to ban rooftop bars above apartments and require that “amusement uses” be below, not above, residences.
The 16 council members who voted against the Economic Opportunity plan included outer-borough moderates like Mercedes Narcisse and Farah Louis of Brooklyn — an ominous sign for the mayor, since he may need to win votes from lawmakers like them to pass his bigger City of Yes housing plan later this year.
Even as they signed off on the mayor’s reforms, lawmakers on Thursday advanced their own measure that has antagonized City Hall: a bill that would give the City Council the power to hold votes on the mayor’s appointees to lead 20 different mayoral agencies.
The council voted 46-4 to pass that bill expanding their so-called advice and consent powers over department commissioners including Buildings, Health and Mental Hygiene, Social Services, Sanitation and Transportation. It would need to be approved by voters in a ballot referendum — but when that might happen remains up in the air as the Adams administration takes steps to block it.
Mayor Eric Adams has criticized the council bill and marshaled his supporters to argue it would impede the work of city government. His chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, on Tuesday likened the council to the Tammany Hall political machine, which she said supported 19th-century efforts to seize power from the executive branch.
Most concretely, the mayor took the seemingly abrupt step of creating a commission to amend the City Charter this year, which would have the effect of knocking the council’s desired changes off the November ballot. The commission, stacked with Adams allies, has held a handful of sparsely attended public meetings in recent days to gather ideas about potential changes to the charter — which, per the mayor’s instructions, should involve promoting “fiscal responsibility” and improving public input on laws that affect public safety. (The mayor’s office has rejected lawmakers’ widespread belief that City Hall formed the commission to block the council bill.)
In the weeks since Speaker Adams introduced the legislation last month, it has been amended to add the City Planning Commission chair while removing a few agencies like Emergency Management that might conflict with state law.
Despite the rising discord, the mayor must still persuade the council to pass his final of three City of Yes plans; this one would change zoning laws to build more housing and has already met fierce resistance in the outer boroughs. Asked by Crain’s whether these outside disputes made it harder to reach a deal on City of Yes, Speaker Adams insisted that her body was able to “compartmentalize” each issue.
“The advice-and-consent bill is totally different and worked on separately [from] City of Yes,” she said. “We’re going to continue to work in collaboration, no matter what our work entails.”
Nick Garber , 2024-06-06 23:30:26
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