There is a bill in Albany (and not NYC), dating back to 1961 that limits the height of NYC buildings:
Residential building’s F.A.R. (aka Floor Area Ratio) is capped by state rather than city law, and has been since 1961, when it was not only written into the zoning code but also enacted in Albany to ensure that it would stick.
Things started to get noticed when a bill was introduced in Albany to lift the actual restrictions:
The bill as introduced in the Assembly and Senate would eliminate that limit, although developers would have to get anything above 12 F.A.R. approved by the Department of City Planning (as well as the City Council, where public outcry might try to limit things again).
This is obviously a pro-developer bill, supported by Mayor De Blasio, as you would expect.
While this bill seems interesting, its impact on the city can be a burden for the years to come. Let me explain.
Pros:
- creating more housing supply in a city with limited supply,
- lowering housing prices, by creating more housing supply, (which is only a wish in a city like NYC, as even with more supply prices kept rising during the past decades),
- bringing more residents and increasing the city’s tax revenue,
Cons:
- mega skyscrapers might get build in any neighborhood (although they will need to go through an approval process…)
- high density housing functions properly in a high density transit area, as adequate transit needs to be brought to the area,
- high density housing works in areas where high density utilities are available,
- if not prepared properly, impact on the environment and on the city infrastructure can be disastrous,
- saturation of a neighborhood by adding more residents,
- etc.
So while giving more F.A.R. is a good thing to develop a city and add housing supply, it must be done with consideration and with certain rules. In my opinion the bill should request the following:
- the buildings to have some degree of LEED rating, in order to reduce their impact,
- the developer to participate in the infrastructure projects surrounding his building, depending on the impact created on sewer, water and electrical supplies. Some of this is happening today, but it should be taken a step further,
- tax abatements: these should be reduced in order for the city to have enough funds for upgrading the aging infrastructure of NYC. We can’t have great buildings without a decent infrastructure, and the current tax abatements delay tax income for an average of ten years.
- to make sure that the density is regulated so that only a few high rising towers are allowed on any given city block,
- affordable housing: as mentioned earlier, adding more supply in NYC has not significantly lowered the prices of housing, they have gone steadily up. A percentage of affordable housing units should be made available in every project, and that might just be happening with a new law that was passed in March of 2016 under the terms of “Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning.”
- Parking: each project should include a compulsory number of parking garage spaces depending on the number of units being build. A simple rule of thumb could be having 1,5 spaces per units build.
- mixed use buildings: we should allow mixed use buildings that allow residential and office use in the same building, in order to alleviate transit issues,
While all of this might seems restrictive, it’s the right thing to do to ensure that the buildings we leave as a legacy are not the wrong ones. At the same time, there is so much that can be done to improve existing structures.
Update: 06/22/2016
The law was not voted, but will very probably get another shot during the next legislature.
More info here