Rafael Espinal is putting pressure on the de Blasio administration to tweak the details of the proposed rezoning, as groups skeptical about the city’s plans put pressure on him.
What are housing experts and neighborhood advocates looking forward to, and worried about, as those rezonings take shape?
The deal on the mayor’s citywide Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and Zoning for Quality and Affordability proposals means the action now moves back to neighborhood plans—and the decisions by individual councilmembers and developers that will shape the housing that actually gets built.
‘We are losing a once-in-a-generation opportunity if we do not put the same level of energy into sustainability as we are putting into maximizing affordable housing opportunities.’
Rents and purchase prices are rising in the area. Evidence is mixed whether that’s because of the rezoning or the very market pressures the mayor says necessitate the zoning change.
Rising commercial rents could threaten independent stores in the neighborhood. The de Blasio administration is studying the commercial landscape and developing a plan.
Legislators’ concerns over the plan to rezone East New York mirror their worries about the mayor’s citywide proposals. A deal seems likely. Its exact shape remains anybody’s guess.
Some critics of the mayor’s rezonings want the city to instead offer developers a Floor Area Availability Bonus, or FAAB. Here’s how it would work.
A process led by the speaker’s office and a community organization produced a plan for a denser East Harlem—but one offering deeper affordability than the de Blasio administration has proposed elsewhere.
The East Harlem Neighborhood Plan, a product of nearly ten (10) months of community-based planning efforts, is now out. Community Voices Heard (CVH), a membership organization of low-income families with deep roots in East Harlem, was one of the key Project Partners.
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