Newark Announces Supplemental Zoning Board

The city of Newark will create a second, “supplemental” zoning board to help clear a backlog of development applications requesting use variances, according to an article by Steve Strunsky in Governing. “Like the regular board, the supplemental one will also weigh appeals of its initial decisions by developers who feel their requests had been improperly denied.”

Strunsky explains, “Officials say a second board to review applications will cut the backlog and reduce the time developers have to wait for a hearing. In a business where time is money, and costs are passed on to renters and home buyers, Webster said the waiting period could last for months even as financial, weather or other conditions were ripe to break ground.”

City officials expect that, in addition to the current development boom that is in part a response to spiking housing costs in New York, zoning changes approved last month will lead to sustained growth in development applications. “Allison Ladd, the city’s deputy mayor for economic and housing development, said 33 applications were pending before the zoning board, with hearings scheduled through March. She said another 40 applications are awaiting scheduling.”