On Monday the City Planning Commission “certified” or formally released their proposal to upzone SoHo, NoHo, and parts of Chinatown.  The final plan is barely changed from what the City released last fall, and contains the same allowances for massively oversized development (up to 2.4 times the size current rules allow) and big-box chain stores of unlimited size, would still encourage the demolition of historic buildings and those containing rent-regulated and loft-law housing, and still contains huge loopholes that incentivizes developers building with little or no “affordable housing” (which would actually be unaffordable to a significant percentage of the least well-off, even in these neighborhoods). Read our full statement on the outrageous lies and misrepresentations in this developer-giveaway plan here and see more of the City’s documents about the plan here and here. Read coverage here.

From here the six- to seven-month public review and approval process begins. Community Board 2 will eventually hold public meetings and issue an advisory vote on the plan, and tonight meets to discuss it in its SoHo/NoHo Working Group. The Borough President will also issue an advisory opinion on the plan, and both the City Planning Commission and the City Council will have to approve it in order for it to take effect (the Commission is controlled by the Mayor and produced the plan, and thus its support is assumed). Local Councilmembers Margaret Chin and Carlina Rivera, in whose district the rezoning lies, and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, whose district borders the rezoning, will be key to that decision and outcome.  

More information on the effort to fight this plan can be found here.