Updated: Aug. 01, 2024, 9:59 a.m. | Published: Aug. 01, 2024, 5:50 a.m.
By Paul Liotta | pliotta@siadvance.com
An aerial view of Tottenville with the Outerbridge visible from Conference House Park on Thursday, August 3, 2023. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Tipping Point? is a journalistic initiative launched by Advance/SILive.com to inform Staten Islanders how NYC’s City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal could impact the borough. The plan, which will be voted on by the City Council this year, calls for significant zoning changes designed to spur development of new homes and apartments amid a citywide housing shortage.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Mayor Eric Adams’ City of Yes for Housing Opportunity promises to change the way homes are built in the five boroughs, and Staten Island’s special and historic districts won’t be exempt.
In total, Staten Island has six special purpose districts and three historic districts established in the decades since the 1961 zoning resolution, the last time the city completed a mass rewrite of the local zoning code.
Adams and proponents of the modern rezoning say it’s necessary to spur housing development in a city in desperate need, but borough residents have criticized the City of Yes plan as a threat to the suburban and bucolic feel of Staten Island.
Part of that feel can be directly attributed to some of the special districts found on the Island, and while they would mostly be left in place under the City of Yes housing plan, there would be significant changes to the regulations.
The Department of City Planning published an annotated version of the proposed new zoning text that outlines changes to each of those special districts.
All of those special districts would see an end to off-street parking mandates for new developments, the possibility for accessory dwelling units (ADU), and a series of other changes brought on by the zoning changes.
Councilman David Carr (R-Mid-Island/South Brooklyn) said the sweeping changes for special zoning districts are cause enough for him to oppose the City of Yes housing plan.
“The purpose of the special districts is to preserve hillsides and trees, and the South Richmond zone was meant to control density. The City of Yes is absolutely at cross-purposes with those goals and that’s one of the problems with citywide text amendments,” he said. “They ignore the planning goals of contextual districts adopted with specific community needs in mind. How can we have ‘up-zonings’ and ADUs with streets with 30-35 foot widths when others boroughs are built out to 50 feet? Where will these new residents park? Something has got to give because as written this application does not seem to have Staten Islanders’ interests in mind.”
Additionally, a “quality housing” provision — a zoning regulation that aims to maintain the character of neighborhoods and provide amenities for building residents — found in some special districts would be expanded to all multi-family buildings citywide under City of Yes, and therefore, removed from the special districts where it currently appears.
A City Planning spokesperson said quality housing requirements for recreation space and planting would remain in place. Other allowances, for things like laundry rooms and naturally-lit corridors, would be updated to reflect more-contemporary building standards. The changes would incentivize three-bedroom and larger apartments, larger trash storage and disposal spaces, indoor recreational space, and shared facilities, like laundry, mail rooms and office space.
However, each special district around the five boroughs will see some of its own specific changes. Here’s a look at some of the plan’s impact on each of the Island’s:
SPECIAL SOUTH RICHMOND DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT
Established in 1975, no Staten Island-specific zoning regulation can be more associated with the suburban layout of the Island’s South Shore.
The Department of City Planning describes the Special South Richmond Development District as a way to “avoid destruction of the natural and recreational resources that define the community” roughly south of Oakwood.
The special district came at a time of rapid development on the Island that officials sought to control through restrictions on building height, the removal of trees and lot sizes for homes without sewers.
The special district also designated open space, and created a school seat certification process under which the chair of the City Planning Commission must certify that sufficient school capacity exists to accommodate a new residential development, except in certain areas that had already seen significant development.
While many of those restrictions will remain in place, according to the annotated zoning text provided by City Planning, some will be removed.
City of Yes would remove setback rules for commercially-zoned parts of the Special South Richmond District, and would end the exclusion of zero lot line buildings, which are freestanding structures attached to one side of a zoning lot’s boundary line, but not to any other building.
Borough President Vito Fossella spoke out broadly against the changes to the Island’s special districts, but particularly in the South Richmond Development District.
“Fifty years ago, our borough won a hard-fought battle to maintain the low-density, small-town character of the South Shore. We would be remiss to forget that battle, as now the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity is posed to change the character of our special districts, from South Richmond to the Hillsides,” Fossella said. “This plan disregards the natural beauty and density concerns that our districts were created to accommodate. We remain opposed to the City of Yes, because as we have said previously, the one-size-fits-all approach does not work for Staten Island.”
SPECIAL BAY STREET CORRIDOR DISTRICT
The most recent of the Island’ special districts, the city established the Special Bay Street Corridor District in 2019 as a way to develop a mixed-used urban area along the thoroughfare and turn it into a connector to the town centers of St. George, Tompkinsville and Stapleton.
While the city’s North Shore Action Plan has moved forward several projects along the corridor, the City of Yes rezoning would make some changes to the Special Bay Street Corridor District.
The corridor would see an end to its parking restrictions, and would be beholden to new streamlined street wall rules. Buildings within the district would also no longer have a max number of stories, but would be capped at the same heights.
SPECIAL ST. GEORGE DISTRICT
Another of the many attempts to encourage development near the St. George Ferry Terminal, the city established the Special St. George District in 2008 as a way to encourage a pedestrian-friendly commercial corridor.
Under the City of Yes housing plan, the St. George district would see several changes and more opportunity for residential development.
The district would see the implementation of the Universal Affordability Preference, a new program under which builders can add at least 20% more housing, if the additional homes are affordable to households earning 60% of the area median Income.
To accomplish that goal in the St. George special district, residential lots zoned R6 — a zoning district that calls for widely mapped in built-up, medium-density areas — and above would see a 20% higher floor to area ratio, a metric that dictates how much can be built on a given lot.
R6 zoning can only be found in a small portion of the Special St. George District along Stuyvesant Place between Richmond Terrace and Hamilton Avenue.
Additionally, the proposal would allow towers to be more easily constructed in the district.
Commercial to residential conversions, which were already permitted in the St. George Special district, would be streamlined along with street wall regulations.
Parking rules would be removed. Planting rules will also be removed from the special district, but will be replaced by new planting rules in the broader zoning text.
SPECIAL STAPLETON WATERFRONT DISTRICT
This district was established in 2006 as a way to redevelop the former U.S. Navy homeport into a 12-acre waterfront esplanade with mixed-use developments, like Urby.
A focal point of the North Shore Action Plan, some of the last remaining homeport buildings have been torn down and are being redeveloped into residential buildings.
The City of Yes Housing plan will bring the district into the Universal Affordability Preference program with a 20% increase in floor area ratio, similar to the St. George Special District.
Like the Bay Street Corridor, buildings in the area would no longer have a maximum number of stories, but would be capped at the same heights.
Similar to the other special districts, the Stapleton Waterfront District would lose its parking requirements and see streamlined regulations around things, like street walls.
A requirement for storing trash in an enclosed building would also been removed, but replaced with a portion of the zoning text that would subject all multi-family buildings to a single set of requirements for refuse areas.
SPECIAL HILLSIDES PRESERVATION DISTRICT
The city established the Special Hillsides Preservation District in 1987 as a way to protect the approximately 1,900-acre Serpentine Ridge section of the borough covering much of the Island’s North Shore hills.
Special zoning rules in the area are meant to preserve the character of the ridge by preventing erosion, and City of Yes looks to make minimal changes.
Apart from a 9-foot maximum height increase for buildings zoned R4 — districts that allow varied housing types at a slightly higher density than much of the Island — the City of Yes would make minimal changes to rules outlined in the Special Hillsides Preservation District.
A City Planning spokesperson pointed out that taller buildings are already encouraged in the area in order to create a smaller footprint.
Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks (D-North Shore) said the layout of a district like Hillsides show why borough residents are overwhelmingly opposed to the City of Yes housing plan. She also recently launched a task force comprised of local professionals tasked with recommending changes to the City of Yes housing plan.
“One of the many reasons I created a taskforce of civic and industry leaders is to address how these proposed policies will affect areas like Hillsides,” she said. “Staten Island’s topography is different from anywhere else in the city, from our highest point on the eastern seaboard to low lying flood zones. We are a borough of parks, trees and hills, we need to protect that aspect of why we all live here.”
SPECIAL NATURAL AREA DISTRICT
Special Natural Area Districts exist throughout the city to protect areas with unique natural characteristics by requiring special reviews of new developments, enlargements and site alterations.
On Staten Island, two Special Natural Area Districts exist. One covers the Mid-Island wetlands and was established in 1974. The city established the other three years later to protect the Shore Acres portion of the Island in Fort Wadsworth.
Changes in City of Yes will be minimal to Special Natural Area Districts with only the removal of a redundant clause requiring certification with the Department of Buildings. The city says it will save property owners time and money.
HISTORIC DISTRICTS
The annotated zoning text from City Planning doesn’t specifically address the Island’s three historic districts — the New York City Farm Colony-Seaview Hospital Historic District, the St. George/New Brighton District and the St. Paul’s Avenue-Stapleton Heights Historic District.
While changes to specific historic districts aren’t in the proposal, the broader plan will have impacts on those districts.
The Historic Districts Council, a non-profit organization focused on historic preservation, provided testimony this month about its perspective on City of Yes for Housing Opportunity to City Planning.
In the testimony, the organization, headed by Executive Director Frampton Tolbert, addresses things it supports, areas it would like to see adjustments, things it opposes, and other items it would like to see addressed.
The Historic Districts Council said it supports the City of Yes plan to allow for commercial to residential conversions, which they say will help preserve historic commercial buildings by allowing residential use. It also supports the plan’s encouragement of older types of housing, like single room occupancy.
Accessory dwelling units (ADU) are a main and controversial feature of the City of Yes that would also be allowed in the city’s historic districts. The Historic Districts Council raised the concern that the development of ADUs could impact certain neighborhoods’ status as historic districts or limit others from becoming historic districts.
Overall, the organization raised the concern that City of Yes would not do enough to spur the development of affordable housing, and suggested using historic preservation as a way to do so. Rent-stabilized units in the city were overwhelmingly built before 1974.
A City Planning spokesperson said that in addition to adhering to zoning laws, new developments in historic districts would still need approval from the Landmark Preservation Commission before moving forward.
Councilman Joseph Borelli (R-South Shore) pointed out the conflicting interests of expanded housing and historic preservation. He also took issue with the plan’s impact on the South Richmond Special District comparing it to the protection of the city’s historic districts.
“It’s so ironic to see some council members yell for more housing while at the same time supporting the landmarking of large historic districts because they are upper crust and pretty,” he said. “Whereas we fought to preserve the natural features of the South Richmond special district but were expected to pick up some of the burden.”