Dear Clients,
On November 21, 2024, the City Council and Mayor Adams announced a deal to pass the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning amendments with modifications from the council. Click here to see our previous update about this proposal.
This update will focus on the areas modified by the City Council. The modified plan will be up for a final vote on December 5, 2024.
In most cases, the new zoning regulations will be more generous under City of Yes. However, in some cases, developers may wish to take advantage of existing rules. This alert also contains important information about how to vest a project under current zoning before City of Yes is adopted. To understand how this may impact a particular project, please reach out to the members of R&E’s New York Development Group. The major components of the plan, which the council has scaled back significantly, are as follows:
- Parking Mandates: The council modifications create three zones with different parking requirements:
- Zone 1 – No parking requirements. Area includes Manhattan (except Inwood), LIC, and parts of Western Queens and North/Central Brooklyn.
- Zone 2 – Reduced parking requirements for multifamily development. Area includes parts of the outer boroughs with access to transit.
- Zone 3 – Maintain most parking requirements. Generally the far ends of the outer boroughs. In Zone 3, affordable housing would have a reduced requirement, but town center developments with 75+ units would require full parking.
- ADUs, conversions, affordable housing, transit-oriented development, and town center developments would have no parking requirements (except as noted above).
- Universal Affordability Preference (UAP): Buildings in medium/high-density districts (R6 and up) can achieve up to 20% more FAR by providing permanently affordable housing at an average of 60% AMI. Per the council modification, projects with more than 10,000 SF will need to provide 20% of the affordable units (~5-7% of total units) at 40% AMI.
Under UAP, affordable floor area is bonused at a 1:1 ratio, which is less generous than the current VIH program. This replaces existing Inclusionary Housing Designated Areas and R10 programs with a citywide framework. UAP will be an important consideration for projects utilizing the 485-x tax incentives adopted earlier this year.
- Low Density Changes: Maximum FARs are increased and building envelopes adjusted in R1-R5 districts to enable more housing types. Council modifications slightly reduce yard allowances from the previous proposal and restore the transition rule for adjacent buildings.
- Building Conversions: Non-residential buildings built in or before 1990 can now convert to residential use citywide. Conversions can include a broader range of housing types including supportive housing, dormitories and rooming units. Special mixed-use districts still allow conversions in buildings built through 1997.
- Quality Housing: Rules are simplified to encourage contextual development on irregular sites and lots near infrastructure. Building envelope and street wall regulations are made more flexible while maintaining height limits.
- New Zoning Districts: New R11 and R12 districts are created to fill FAR gaps, particularly above R10 density. These districts can only be mapped with Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. These districts are currently proposed to be mapped as part of the Midtown South Mixed Use Plan in 2025
- Dwelling Unit Factor: Council modifications restore the current 680 DU Factor for existing buildings, and for all new buildings, other than those in Manhattan (south of 96th Street) and Downtown Brooklyn. This is a significant change from the original proposal.
- Transit-Oriented Development: Under the council modifications, larger sites near transit in low-density areas, other than R1 and R2 districts (0.5 miles from a subway or 0.25 miles from LIRR/Metro-North) can develop multifamily housing with increased FAR and height. Sites must meet size thresholds and be located on wide streets or block corners. Projects will 50+ units will not be able to utilize FAR increases unless they provide 20% of all units as affordable at 80% AMI.
- Accessory Dwelling Units: The Council modifications introduce an owner-occupancy requirement for new ADUs. Additionally, ground floor and basement ADUs are prohibited in flood zones, or areas deemed by the city to be vulnerable to inland flooding. Detached and backyard ADUs are prohibited in Historic Districts and in low-density contextual districts outside of the transit zone. All ADUs are prohibited in attached/row houses. Backyard coverage allowances for ADUs are reduced from 50% to 33%
- Campus Infill: The council modifications impose lot coverage maximums on sites that smaller than 1.5 acres. New infill development cannot utilize existing recreation space unless replaced in kind, and new buildings cannot exceed the height of existing buildings on the lot.
- Landmark TDR: Landmark owners can now transfer development rights within historic districts and to more receiving sites. The approval process is streamlined from a special permit to an authorization or certification, but height increases of more than 25% will still require council approval.
- Discretionary actions: The council modifications restore the council’s role in approving many discretionary actions. The original proposal would have streamlined these proposals for review by the City Planning Commission without council input.
- Vesting rules: In order to vest most development projects, you must file plans before December 5, 2024, and those plans must have final approval from DOB by December 5, 2025, in order to vest under current rules. For New Construction Affordable Housing, plans must be filed with DOB before December 5, 2024, must be approved by DOB by December 6, 2025, and a HPD Regulatory Agreement must be recorded by December 5, 2026. If you are concerned about vesting, we encourage you to contact us immediately.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your trusted R&E attorney or David J. Rosenberg, Counsel with the firm’s NYC Zoning and Land Use Practice who authored the above industry update.