Questions and Answers!
There have been many questions posed by Community Boards regarding the Business/Economic Text Amendments of the City of Yes “COY”. The Department of City Planning “DCP” has responded to these questions and MTOPP has responded to their answers.
MTOPP is doing a series on the Mayor Adams’ City of Yes, “COY” Business/Economic Text Amendments, that will change where, how and what types of businesses will be allowed to exist in the City.
The Business Text Amendments are currently being reviewed by all 59 Community Boards who have up until December 30th 2023, to comment on them, with the City stating they will continue to accept these comments until the New York City Planning Commission votes on these amendments in early February!
After reviewing almost 700 pages of these amendments we found at least 9 major changes that have a serious impact upon the community, and its residents.
- Allowing Commercial Businesses into all Residential Areas.
- Allowing “Small Businesses” to exist in people’s apartments and homes.
- Eliminating restrictive business within Residential buildings.
- Allowing manufacturing businesses to exist in commercial and residential zones.
- Allowing all businesses to exist in all commercial zones.
- Allowing businesses to exists on residential floors and on rooftops.
- Allowing cabaret/dancing to exist on all commercial zones. and New Text Amendment: Casinos!!!
- The Scariest Changes!
- Q & A on COY
- Removal of Environmental Reviews for Developers. (New Text Amendment, just given to the Community Boards on December 15, 2023)
Most community boards and the general public have the same questions or can learn a lot from DCP’s responses, so in this post MTOPP has chosen to respond to some of DCP’s answers. Please click on this link, MTOPP Answers to DCP Responses, to see the full set of questions posed by community boards, DCP’s responses and MTOPP’s responses to them.
Most community boards were concerned about several issues: Protection, Enforcement, the Destruction of apartments, Live Music and Dancing, and Disempowerment of Community Boards. We will show one question from each category.
Please note: The questions in bold are from a Community Board, the Department of City Planning’s responses are in regular print and the italicized comments are MTOPP’s responses to DCP’s answers.
Enforcement
First, what DCP failed to state in their answer is that current protections are based upon a one-person business, when in fact the new provisions will actually changed the definition of “home occupancy” to “small business” with a maximum of three employees. This will drastically change the types of businesses that can now exist inside of buildings and in private homes and yet the controls will remain that of a one-person occupancy. Also these new businesses will be “as of right”, with some not requiring any type of approval or license to exist.
Secondly, we have already seen the failure of agencies to enforce current building code violations. Now the City wants to add thousands of new businesses and rely upon these same agencies to ensure compliance?
Has anyone taken notice of the collapse building in the Bronx or the apartment building in Manhattan that had to be vacated because DCP inspections did not halt the construction or enforce the building codes? How about the NYC Garage collapse which resulted in a person’s death? Now the Mayor wants to add thousands of new businesses for DOB to enforce where they cannot handle the existing issues?
Protection
11. Think about this answer just for a minute. The Certificate of Occupancy “C of O” is given by the Department of Buildings “DOB”, when a business has done all it is suppose to do in order to exist in a legal location. The sensitivity of vibrations and ventilation to the public which occur in a strictly commercial/manufacturing area will be very different than vibrations and ventilation that exists inside of a residential building. And yet the same standards for vibrations and ventilation that are required in manufacturing areas where residents do not exist will apply to a residential building where people live.
If the City does not update the standards to consider the public, then the C of O will not ensure that these “as of right” businesses will not cause vibrations or air pollution to the residents within the building.
Live Music & Dancing
16. DCP purposely mislead the public when answering this question. Currently most commercial streets and commercial overlays do not allow live music or dancing. In some cases a permit is require for just live music with no dancing and in other cases both live music and dancing require a permit from Board of Standard and Appeals “BSA”.
Under the current regulation 73-241 in C1-1, C1-2, C2-3, C1-4, C2-1, C2-2, C2-3, C2-4, C3, C5, or M1-5B, a business must obtain a BSA permit to have live music and outdoor table service, but no dancing.
Regulation 73-242, in C3 Districts a business must obtain a BSA permit to have live music and outdoor table service, but no dancing.
Under regulation 73-243, C1-1, C1-2, C1-3 districts, a special permit must be obtained from BSA for live music but no dancing.
In section 73-244 in C2, C3, C4, C6-4, MI-5B and MI-5M and M1-M6M Districts, the Special Hudson Square District and Special Tribeca Mixed Use District, a special permit must be obtained from the BSA for a period of three years to allow both live music and dancing.
In C8 zones, such as on Empire Blvd in Brooklyn, these businesses are “as of right” and do not require a BSA permit.
The new amendments will do away with almost all of these BSA requirements making both live music and dancing “as of right” in almost all commercial spaces, including inside and on top of apartment buildings, as long as the venue holds less than 200 people. This includes both small and high density residential districts.
Side Note: The City has misled people into thinking this is just about dancing and have even put a spin on it saying that the current regulations are racist, since people of color like to dance. But this is about Live Music! So this will not just affect, Black venues but all venues regardless if a person likes dancing or not!
Destruction of Apartments!
12. This proposal pertains to the taking away of apartments, including rent stabilized apartments to create commercial spaces. Of course DCP’s response makes no sense since they have stated that there is an over abundance of vacant businesses in all commercial categories all across the City. What community is now so deprived of commercial spaces that there is a need to eliminate residential apartments to allow more commercial businesses to exist?
Disempowerment
14. This is a way to disempower the community by allowing developers to bypass the zoning regulations that allow our communities to exist in a uniformed and consistent manner, as well enable communities to seek compensation if a business wants to change the Bulk regulations: the size, width, setback, street wall, height of a building etc. This amendment will now allow businesses to make changes without community’s input or City Council’s approval.
Most zoning changes that the Community Boards want to have input on are about Bulk changes, because it can drastically change the appearance and the height of buildings, the visual integrity of a community etc.. These changes can save millions of dollars for developers and it is here that the residents may ensure some of those monetary benefits are given to the community, like the request for local hiring. This is especially true in communities of color where there is always a need for employment for the local residents.
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