The City of Yes proponents scored another big victory in the reduction in parking mandates for new affordable construction in certain areas of the City. TheCity council map above shows the areas in Zone 1 and Zone 2 that will see significant reductions – See article by Streetsblog .
Parking mandates were first enacted in the 1950s to prevent street parking from becoming overcrowded. Parking mandates in New York City have been reduced in several phases since the 1980s:
- 1982: Parking mandates were removed in Manhattan south of 96th Street on the East Side and 110th Street on the West Side to improve air quality and comply with the Clean Air Act
- 2011: Parking minimums were eliminated in much of Long Island City
- 2012: Parking requirements were cut in half in Downtown Brooklyn
- 2016: Parking requirements were waived for affordable and senior housing developments within half a mile of a subway station
According to the excellent summary by City And State : the City of Yes achieved the following :
PARKING MANDATES
The modified plan introduces a three-tiered system for parking mandates, which would apply to different parts of the city. In the first zone, in areas with good access to transit, parking mandates will be completely eliminated – as the original version proposes. In the second zone, areas with more limited access to transit, parking mandates are heavily reduced, and in the third zone, mandates will largely remain what they are today.
TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT
The modified plan will allow the construction of three- to five-story apartment buildings near subway or rail stations, but they must be within just a quarter mile of Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North outermost stations. Single-family districts would also be exempted from development. Large housing projects with more than 50 units could only be built if 20% of the apartments are affordable to households that earn 80% of the area median income.
In case you wonder, this politically charged issue will require many many lift and tuck procedures over the years to get resolved.