Testimony Before The New York City Charter Revision Commission

Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Eric Kober. I retired in 2017 as director of housing, economic and infrastructure planning for the New York City Department of City Planning and am now Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. I am speaking tonight as a private citizen.

I’m here today to offer some suggestions for reforming the Charter’s land use provisions. I have followed the proceedings of this Commission and the public discussion with interest. I perceive two widely expressed concerns: The length and cost of entering the land use process, which deters many private applicants; and the evolution of the process in recent years towards “member deference” -- a de facto veto held by the local councilmember. I’ll address each of these two problems in turn.

The primary time and cost issue with the land use process is environmental review, which this Commission can’t address – state legislation is needed. However, there are constructive Charter changes to consider. In 1989, borough president review was added to ULURP, extending the public review timeline by 30 days for applications involving a single community board. The current ULURP schedule now lasts seven months or more, anachronistically assuming borough presidents and borough boards must wait to receive community board resolutions through U.S. mail, whereas constant electronic communication now occurs between borough presidents, board members, and the community. The extended review window increases applicants’ costs without providing meaningful improvement in the quality of borough presidents’ and borough boards’ comments on applications. Section 197-c of the City Charter should be amended to combine the community board, borough board, and borough president ULURP review into a single 60-day period. This would prevent further unnecessary delays in rezoning applications, allowing housing to be built faster and at lower cost.

Another change this Commission should consider is taking categories of applications out of ULURP, where the City Planning Commission adds no useful input. These include dispositions of City-owned property pursuant to zoning and minor changes to legal street grades.

On the “member deference” problem, Charter change creates an opportunity to achieve by citywide referendum what could not be accomplished by considering individual zoning applications. One possibility is to create, at the Department of City Planning, a Zoning Administrator position. The Administrator would be charged with review and approval of minor waivers of zoning rules. Building on the testimony at the Brooklyn hearing of my former DCP colleague Vishaan Chakrabarti, I’d suggest the Charter amendment specify that one of those waivers be permitting buildings of up to six housing units, not to exceed 35 feet in height, on any lot zoned for residences. That’s naturally occurring affordable housing, needing no public subsidy. The City Planning Commission, by rule, should be empowered to specify additional waivers.

Thank you, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Eric Kober is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.