Amanda Burden, Chairperson of the NY City Planning Commission, boasts that since 2002, the city has completed a record 94 rezonings for the most sweeping revision of land use regulations throughout the city’s five boroughs since the Zoning Resolution was rewritten in 1961.This massive rezoning effort supports the development priorities of the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who in 2007 introduced PlaNYC2030, a long-term plan to incorporate almost one million more residents by the year 2030.
But the city’s rezoning frenzy highlights two fundamental problems with its approach to our neighborhoods. One is that the zoning is not based on any comprehensive review of community needs and priorities or any long-range planning. In other words, it’s zoning without a plan.