The second mechanism, the Affordable Housing Fast Track, would create a shortened public review process for affordable housing developments in the city\u2019s community districts that produce the least affordable housing.<\/p>\n
Starting in October 2026, the city would release a report every five years on the rate of affordable housing permitted in each of New York City\u2019s 59 community districts.<\/p>\n
In the 12 districts found to have permitted the least affordable housing, rezoning applications that are required to deliver affordable housing under the City\u2019s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program could opt for the abbreviated Affordable Housing Fast Track as opposed to the traditional ULURP process.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s still unclear which community districts would fall within the bottom-12 in affordable housing production as the analysis would not take place for another year, a City Limits report<\/a> found that two Staten Island districts, Mid-Island and the South Shore, would be included if the analysis were conducted today.<\/p>\n Given that there is currently a very slim margin for being included in the bottom-12 in terms of affordable housing production, it\u2019s possible that districts that would be included if the analysis were conducted today could potentially build their way out by approving affordable housing projects over the next year.<\/p>\n The primary point of contention regarding these proposals stems from the fact that both would remove the City Council from the decision-making process.<\/p>\n Under ULURP, final say on zoning approvals rests with the City Council. With these new fast track mechanisms, that power would be transferred to the Board of Standards and Appeals for the Fast Track Zoning Action and the City Planning Commission for the Affordable Housing Fast Track.<\/p>\n A Charter Revision Commission spokesperson told the Advance\/SILive.com that the Affordable Housing Fast Track would not change anything about what developers can apply for in terms of zoning changes, nor would it mean an automatic approval. <\/p>\n The only change would be which party has the final vote on approval.<\/p>\n For example, developers can already apply for zoning changes that would allow for large, multi-story apartment buildings in low-density areas like Mid-Island or the South Shore.<\/p>\n However, they\u2019re unlikely to be approved, as the City Council often defers to the local councilmember who may oppose the project due to constituent concerns regarding its impact on the character of the neighborhood.<\/p>\n If the ballot question were to pass, the City Planning Commission would be able to approve the zoning change without input from the City Council; a change that local elected officials have said will strip away power from the community.<\/p>\n \u201cThese changes would weaken the ability of local officials to ensure that projects meet neighborhood needs and include the necessary infrastructure. Without meaningful oversight, transparency, or accountability, developments could be pushed through with little regard for the communities they affect,\u201d said Hanks.<\/p>\n Councilmember Frank Morano, a Republican who represents the South Shore, said he opposes this ballot question, and several others<\/a>, as their primary objective appears to be allowing the city to increase housing density, something many Staten Islanders have long opposed in an effort to maintain the character of the borough\u2019s predominantly low-density neighborhoods.<\/p>\n \u201cThese ballot questions are being sold as \u2018housing reform,\u2019 but what they really do is take power away from Staten Islanders and hand it to developers and bureaucrats in Manhattan. I\u2019m voting no on 2, 3, 4, and 5 because once you lose your voice in what gets built on your block, you don\u2019t get it back,\u201d Morano said.<\/p>\n \u201cMy office will be spreading the word on these proposals and how they will affect our city. And if these pass, please don\u2019t call my office six months from now asking why they\u2019re building 10 houses where there used to be one \u2014 because that\u2019s exactly what these proposals would allow,” he continued.<\/p>\n Councilmember David Carr, a Republican who represents Mid-Island, also stands in opposition to the ballot questions, arguing that the commission did not conduct and share the necessary research<\/a> to know the true extent of the proposals\u2019 impact.<\/p>\n \u201cThe voters have a right to know the potential environmental consequences of these ballot proposals, but they can\u2019t possibly have that information because the commission violated state and city environmental law by neglecting to provide or even conduct any analysis. This is particularly dangerous because these proposals would take away the local representative\u2019s ability to mitigate the hazards of unchecked development,\u201d Carr said.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island elected officials are pushing back against a ballot proposal that would allow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-13447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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