Committees advance East New York zoning plan to full Council vote

In early March the New York City Council sat in their crowded chamber and listened to eight hours of testimony on a proposal to rezone East New York, punctuated at times with chants from attendees.

A month later, a markedly sparser crowd – composed almost entirely of reporters and government employees – gathered in the same room to watch the City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and Land Use Committee approve the measure. Now bound for a full City Council vote, the proposal would allow larger residential developments in several parts of East New York, but require that a portion of the new homes created be permanently affordable.

City Councilman Rafael Espinal Jr., who represents most of the area in question, said he was proud of changes he negotiated into the administration’s plan along with several neighborhood facility projects. But while the councilman’s colleagues in city government praised the plan, outside City Hall the reaction was more restrained.

“I’m confident this plan is the best that we have ever seen in this city, and I proudly ask my colleagues to vote ‘yes,’” Espinal said. “First and foremost, I fought hard for additional affordability, and as a result, the plan now includes more units for families making below $38,000 a year on public sites and over 100 more units of affordable housing. … The plan now includes over a quarter of a billion dollars in capital improvements to the neighborhood, up from the original $150 million.”

In meeting the city’s mandate, developers would have two templates to choose from. They could reserve 20 percent of a building’s units for families with incomes averaging out to 40 percent of the metro area median income, which is $31,080 for a family of three. Or they could set aside a quarter of the apartments for those with incomes averaging out to 60 percent of the metro area median income, which is $46,620 for a family of three, with at least 10 percent of homes earmarked for households earning 40 percent of the metro area median income.

Before winning Espinal’s approval, city housing officials identified 1,200 units of affordable housing, discussed plans for a 1,000-seat school and pledged to use subsidies and other tools to ensure half of the new housing created was affordable to current East New York residents.

In the course of negotiations, the administration outlined 100 more units of affordable housing planned for a site on Christopher and Glenmore avenues and agreed to push down the income levels targeted on public sites, where currently some 380 apartments are planned. City officials also committed to using vouchers to move 500 families out of shelters and into affordable housing while working to close three shelters in the area.

Espinal said he pushed the administration to provide free legal representation to tenants in housing court for five years, as opposed to the two it proposed; to spend $16.7 million improving the area’s Industrial Business Zone; and to convene a study group that will explore the feasibility of legalizing basement apartments in the neighborhood. The study group will receive $12 million for fixing up basements – or other repairs, if the conversions prove imprudent. And the administration agreed to spend $10 million transforming a city-owned building into an NYPD community center and up to $17.45 million upgrading local schools; to identify $2.8 million for a new childcare center; and to finance several park and playground projects.

The mayor and several Council members said Espinal helped shape the proposal into a more positive plan for his constituents. One of them was City Councilwoman Inez Barron, who represents a small part of the area up for rezoning, even though she was the only lawmaker to vote against the city’s broader rezoning measures that she said may result in gentrification and displacement.

De Blasio praised the final plan.

“[Espinal] has been tenacious from day one, making sure his community’s voice was heard, and that we seized this opportunity to protect affordable housing and expand fundamental services that will improve the lives of longtime residents,” de Blasio said in a statement. “From bringing good new manufacturing jobs, to expanding job training, to delivering a new school, to ensuring new housing for the very poorest households, this is the kind of neighborhood planning that will keep our city affordable and our communities strong.”

In Brooklyn, a group of local organizations and residents – called the Coalition for Community Advancement: Progress for East New York/Cypress Hills – described the agreement as more of a mixed bag. Roy Frias, who is part of the coalition, said he was pleasantly surprised to learn the city agreed not to include Arlington Village in the zoning proposal. The property includes homes in a rent-regulated program, and residents fear allowing larger buildings on the site could increase the owner’s incentive to push tenants to leave and construct a new residence. Frias, however, said he was “really upset” to see very little change in the income levels targeted by the city.

“There was a lot of expression from the city – the city commissioners and the mayor’s office – that the deeper levels just didn’t work. A lot of times things that don’t seem to work  end up being the things that actually can work if you give them a try,” said Frias, who works as program director of an urban farming initiative called East New York Farms. “The income levels that they passed show that they’re trying to invest in the community, but to invest in their new community, and not necessarily the neglected East New York.”