An op-ed by Carol Weisbrod, chairman of the NYC Planning Commission, makes the case for the de Blasio Administration's zoning policy as the key mechanism in its housing policy.
A key passage from the much longer op-ed:
After consulting with architects and other experts, we have developed targeted changes that would provide the flexibility to design better buildings that are more in keeping with neighborhood character and context — while still enabling us to meet our housing goals.
Some portray what we're doing as overturning zoning protections and harming neighborhoods. To the contrary.
We understand neighborhoods' concerns about ensuring appropriate building heights, and so have proposed changes only where most needed to make contextual districts work for today's buildings. This requires increasing maximum heights by no more than five feet in most contextual districts; in some others, one additional story would be needed.
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