New York City Council Approves Sweeping Zoning Changes

"After months of opposition throughout the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to require below-market-rate housing when developers get city-issued rezonings won a decisive victory in the City Council on Tuesday," report Sally Goldenberg and Gloria Pazmino.

The article describes the totality of the legislative victory for mayor de Blasio:

Paired with a proposal to overhaul the city’s 55-year-old zoning code, the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing plan passed by a vote of 42-5 and will take effect in the coming days. Zoning for Quality and Affordability, which enables more residential development, passed 40-6 with one abstention.

The article includes the technical details of the approved ordinances, as well as the political coalitions on either sides of the issue. Goldenberg and Pazmino note that the city's planning staff tempered the rhetoric of politicians supporting he ordinances. After paraphrasing one councilmember, who described the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing ordinance as "historic and legacy-building," the reporters cite numbers generated by the Department of City Planning, which "projected it would be responsible for the creation of 12,000 low- to moderate-income apartments —15 percent of the 80,000 the mayor hopes to create by 2024."

Planetizen has covered these issues since Mayor de Blasio announced the ordinances in September 2015, as journalists vetted the proposals, as neighborhood boards rallied in opposition to the proposed zoning changes, and as the de Blasio Administration made the final push for approval.