{"id":30960,"date":"2023-12-12T13:05:51","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T13:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/?p=30960"},"modified":"2023-12-12T13:05:51","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T13:05:51","slug":"mayor-adams-combats-housing-crisis-with-green-fast-track-to-build-more-sustainable-housing-more-quickly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/archives\/30960","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Adams combats Housing crisis with ‘Green Fast Track’ to build more sustainable housing more quickly"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK:\u00a0 New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) Director and City Planning Commission (CPC) Chair Dan Garodnick today unveiled the \u201cGreen Fast Track\u201d \u2014 a streamlined environmental review process to accelerate the production of small- and medium-sized housing projects across New York City.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A major initiative of the administration\u2019s \u201cGet Stuff Built\u201d plan to create more housing by cutting red tape, streamlining processes, and removing bureaucratic obstacles, the Green Fast Track will help achieve the city\u2019s housing and climate goals by making it easier for modest, climate-friendly housing projects to proceed through environmental review.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe solution to our housing crisis is simple: We must build more,\u201d said Mayor Adams. \u201cOur administration has been relentless in its pursuit of new tools to speed up the production of housing \u2014 and to build that housing in a smarter, faster, and more sustainable way. The Green Fast Track will deliver more homes to more New Yorkers while encouraging greener homes \u2014 a true win-win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur city is facing two monumental challenges \u2014 the climate crisis and the housing crisis \u2014 and the Green Fast Track will help us address both,\u201d said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer. \u201cBy creating a streamlined process for climate-friendly housing, we are delivering more housing, building faster, and saving money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Green Fast Track will help us address two simultaneous crises: affordability and climate change,\u201d said Deputy Mayor of Operations Meera Joshi. \u201cWe desperately need modestly sized housing developments centering green building techniques to sustain our city. So we are cutting the red tape, delivering good, green housing to New York\u2019s families, and incentivizing more \u2014 in a virtuous cycle that will help make meaningful progress on the issues New Yorkers care about most.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to meaningfully speed up the review process for proposals that are good for both housing affordability and the climate,\u201d said DCP Director and CPC Chair Garodnick. \u201cThis change will save valuable time and money to deliver homes for New Yorkers, while maintaining important environmental safeguards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a clear record of hundreds of past housing projects that have gone through an eight-to-12-month review process that have not raised issues of concern,\u201d said \u201cGet Stuff Built\u201d Executive Director Rob Holbrook. \u201cWe can show that a category of housing projects is small enough not to cause environmental impacts. We must stop wasting their time filing paperwork that does not contribute to environmental protection or public engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

In exploring the potential for a Green Fast Track, city planning and environmental experts analyzed more than 1,000 environmental reviews over the last decade, consistently finding that modest housing projects with certain characteristics had no negative impacts on the environment. By shifting these projects onto the Green Fast Track \u2014 designating them as \u201cType II\u201d actions under the City Environmental Quality Review process \u2014 the city will reduce redundant or unnecessary processes for projects of a certain size and speed up environmental review by as much as 24 months, saving each project an average of $100,000 and quickly delivering urgently needed housing. By adjusting eligibility requirements to include sustainability measures \u2014 such as all-electric heating \u2014 the city can also leverage the environmental review process to accelerate its climate goals.<\/p>\n

The extensive, existing environmental review process can take up to several years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete. Proposed by the administration at today\u2019s CPC meeting, the new environmental review process rules outline specific criteria related to a housing project\u2019s sustainability, size, surroundings, and safety. If the proposed rules had been in effect over the last 10 years, approximately 12,000 new housing units could have been built more quickly and efficiently. To qualify, projects must:<\/p>\n

Use all-electric heating instead of fossil fuels;
\nBe located outside of vulnerable coastal areas, areas with industrial emissions, or away from major roads; and
\nMeet specific mitigation standards for areas with hazardous materials or in high-ambient noise.
\nIn low-density residential areas, qualifying proposals must have fewer than 175 units and take up less than 20,000 square feet of nonresidential area. In medium- and high-density residential areas and commercial or manufacturing districts, projects must have fewer than 250 units and take up less than 35,000 square feet of nonresidential area. The Green Fast Track also excludes projects over 250 feet tall or over 50 feet tall and next to open space, natural resources, or historic resources that are sunlight sensitive. Green Fast Track proposals requiring a rezoning would continue to go through the city\u2019s existing Uniform Land Use Review Procedure process, and proposals in historic districts would continue to require oversight from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Under state law, city agencies have the authority to propose new rules that would allow certain projects to go through a more streamlined environmental review process. Today, the Mayor\u2019s Office of Environmental Coordination (MOEC), the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA), and DCP began the process to expand the list of developments that qualify for a more streamlined environmental review.<\/p>\n

The proposed rule will now be published in the City Record, in line with the city\u2019s rulemaking process. After at least 60 days, MOEC, HPD, BSA, and DCP will hold a public hearing for review and comment on the proposed rule changes. After at least another 30 days, the city will then review comments and make modifications as appropriate before the rule goes into effect.<\/p>\n

The Adams administration has taken significant action to combat the city\u2019s housing and affordability crisis. In Fiscal Year 2023, the city had a record-breaking year for creating and connecting New Yorkers to affordable housing, including connecting more New Yorkers to permanent homes through the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) housing voucher program than in any previous year. Earlier this year, Mayor Adams unveiled the \u201cCity of Yes for Housing Opportunity\u201d plan to create more than 100,000 homes through historic zoning changes. Last week, Mayor Adams announced a \u201cHousing-at-Risk Task Force\u201d to save projects that are in jeopardy due to the expiration of the \u201cAffordable Housing New York\u201d 421-a tax abatement program \u2014 another component of its \u201cGet Stuff Built\u201d plan to accelerate housing production across the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK:\u00a0 New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) Director and City Planning Commission (CPC) Chair Dan Garodnick today unveiled the \u201cGreen Fast Track\u201d \u2014 a streamlined environmental review process to accelerate the production of small- and medium-sized housing projects across New York City. A major initiative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":28945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1469,31,1378,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-york","category-news","category-us","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30961,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30960\/revisions\/30961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}