The Metropolis Planning Fee (CPC) has voted in favor of the OneLIC Neighborhood Plan, which goals to rework a big portion of Lengthy Island Metropolis with new zoning guidelines that might create almost 14,700 housing models, together with 4,300 reasonably priced properties.
Mayor Eric Adams and CPC Chair Dan Garodnick celebrated the CPC’s 11-1 vote in favor of the plan on Sept. 3, commenting that neighborhood plan will convey important housing and financial alternatives to Lengthy Island Metropolis.
The CPC vote represents the primary binding choice of the Uniform Land Use Evaluation Process (ULURP) course of.
Adams mentioned the plan is a device that his administration is utilizing to handle town’s housing disaster, stating that OneLIC marks the “next great chapter” in Lengthy Island Metropolis’s historical past.
“From a thriving industrial hub to a home for artists and entrepreneurs, Long Island City has led many lives over the years,” Adams mentioned in an announcement. “Our OneLIC Plan will help Long Island City write the next great chapter in its history, making sure families can find an affordable place, businesses can find a good place to grow, and everyone can access and enjoy the waterfront throughout the neighborhood.”
Garodnick, alternatively, mentioned the CPC’s vote is a step towards addressing an absence of housing and financial alternatives within the neighborhood.
“Long Island City is one of New York City’s most bustling neighborhoods, but parts of it are held back by a lack of housing or economic opportunities. With today’s vote, we’re one step closer to changing that,” Garodnick mentioned in an announcement. “The OneLIC Neighborhood Plan updates zoning for new homes and jobs and makes investments in the public realm to create a more equitable, lively,and prosperous community. Thanks to the City Planning commissioners for their support.”
Casting his vote in favor of the plan, Garodnick described the OneLIC plan because the “product of a thorough and thoughtful 18-month planning process with the community.”
“The OneLIC Neighborhood Plan strikes the right balance to create much-needed new homes, require income-restricted affordable homes, boost good-paying jobs, and deliver important infrastructure investments to help this neighborhood thrive,” he mentioned
Alongside 14,700 new housing models, the OneLIC plan goals to create over 14,400 new jobs for the neighborhood alongside over 3.5 million sq. toes of business and industrial house. The plan additionally goals to broaden entry to the East River waterfront.
OneLIC Neighborhood Plan will replace outdated zoning and broaden entry to the waterfront. Picture courtesy of DCP
The OneLIC proposal covers 54 full or partial blocks from Gantry Plaza State Park to the Queensbridge Homes and north to the Lengthy Island Metropolis Industrial Enterprise Zone. The japanese boundary extends to Court docket Sq. and twenty third Avenue. The plan goals to revise outdated zoning rules to permit for extra mixed-use growth, enhance housing provide, and enhance neighborhood infrastructure and resiliency.
The plan additionally contains roughly 9 acres of recent public open house, together with expanded parks and plazas, in addition to improved streetscapes, sidewalk security, and pedestrian crossings. It updates the Waterfront Entry Plan to unify and improve public waterfront entry from Gantry Plaza State Park to Queensbridge Park.
As well as, town is pursuing a Request for Data for the six-story, 672,000-square-foot Division of Schooling constructing at 44-36 Vernon Blvd. Officers say the publicly-owned websites may help community-focused makes use of akin to housing, business house, cultural amenities, and inexperienced infrastructure.
The plan would mandate reasonably priced housing beneath town’s Obligatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) program in Lengthy Island Metropolis for the primary time. Of the 4,300 reasonably priced models proposed, roughly 4,000 can be developed by means of MIH, with 25 % of these at 60% of Space Median Earnings (AMI), 30% at 80percentt AMI, and 20% at 40% AMI.
Town may even use public websites, such because the Division of Transportation facility at 44-59 forty fifth Ave., to construct further income-restricted housing, together with a deliberate 320-unit undertaking.
OneLIC Neighborhood Plan would remodel Lengthy Island Metropolis with hundreds of recent properties and jobs, making a extra reasonably priced neighborhood for New Yorkers. Picture courtesy of DCP
Talking when the neighborhood plan entered the ULURP course of in April, Garodnick mentioned the proposal marks the biggest variety of housing models generated by a neighborhood rezoning in New York Metropolis in at the very least 25 years.
“While parts of the neighborhood have seen remarkable growth in the past two decades, other parts remain frozen in time by outdated zoning,” Garodnick mentioned on the time. “Maintaining the status quo simply doesn’t make sense, especially during a housing crisis that is historic.”
He echoed these sentiments whereas voting in favor of the plan on Wednesday, stating that OneLIC will considerably enhance business and manufacturing capability in Lengthy Island Metropolis whereas additionally bettering housing capability in Queens. He famous that Queens presently boasts a emptiness fee under the citywide common of 1.41%.
He additionally famous that the plan “doubles down” on bettering open house in Lengthy Island Metropolis by creating a completely linked waterfront within the neighborhood and pointed to the quite a few public conferences and boards that befell over an 18-month interval earlier than the plan entered ULURP.
Council Member Julie Gained, who represents the council district lined by the neighborhood plan, welcomed the CPC’s approval of the OneLIC plan and the fee’s dedication to making a linked waterfront from Gantry Plaza State Park to Queensbridge Park.
Gained, nevertheless, mentioned the plan should “guarantee” a variety of group advantages, from completely reasonably priced housing to open house and new faculties. She mentioned she won’t vote in favor of OneLIC when the neighborhood plan goes earlier than the Metropolis Council if the plan doesn’t embrace particular ensures.
“OneLIC cannot advance without meeting community-driven priorities,” Gained mentioned in an announcement. “The plan must guarantee permanently affordable, family-sized housing across public and private sites, transform city-owned land under the Queensboro Bridge into public open space, and ensure the DOE site is developed through a community-driven process that prioritizes affordability and public benefit. OneLIC must also deliver new schools, investments in Queensbridge, and in sewer infrastructure to support our growing neighborhood. Without these commitments, this rezoning will not have my support.”
OneLIC Neighborhood Plan would unify the waterfront from Gantry Plaza State Park to Queensbridge Park, making a constant public house for the neighborhood. Picture courtesy of DCP
Commissioner Juan Camilo Osorio, the one CPC to vote towards the plan on Wednesday, mentioned he couldn’t vote in favor of the plan “in good conscience” as a result of the plan didn’t comprise particular ensures that any housing created within the DOE constructing on Vernon Boulevard can be 100% reasonably priced. Osorio additionally inspired the Division of Metropolis Planning to strengthen flood resiliency technique within the neighborhood.
Osorio additionally voted towards the plan as a result of the plan’s Environmental Affect Evaluation left “critical” points unaddressed.
In June Neighborhood Board 1 and a couple of voted in favor of the plan, with situations, whereas Queens Borough President Donovan Richards additionally issued his conditional approval of the plan in July. Choices from the group boards and the Borough President are non-bonding.
Richards’ conditional approval additionally known as for assured reasonably priced housing, infrastructure upgrades and new faculties and hospitals for the world.
As a part of the ULURP course of, the plan will now go to the Metropolis Council for ultimate approval. The mayor can veto the plan inside 5 days of the Council’s vote.
