BY KEVIN DUGGAN
State transit and city planning
gurus want to expand incentives
for private developers
to fund accessibility improvements
for Metropolitan Transportation
Authority subway
and railroad stations around
the Five Boroughs.
The inter-agency partnership
dubbed “Elevate Transit:
Zoning for Accessibility” will
boost the MTA’s effort to make
all of its 472 stations more accessible,
according to the agency’s
head of construction.
“Zoning for Accessibility
builds on the MTA’s historic
$5.2 billion commitments to
accessibility projects by partnering
with private developers
to help make stations Americans
with Disabilities Act accessible
— and to deliver them
faster and cheaper than ever
before,” said the Authority’s
president of construction and
development, Janno Lieber.
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The proposal, in partnership
with the Department of
City Planning and the Mayor’s
Offi ce for People with Disabilities,
seeks to allow developers
near subway stops within the
city to build up to 20 percent
bigger — so long as they agree
to include upgrades like a new
set of stairs or elevators from
their property to the stations.
Currently 131 out of 472 stations
are ADA-accessible citywide,
or less than 28 percent,
according to MTA’s most recent
fi gures. Just 29 of those
stations are in Brooklyn out of
170 total stops in the borough,
or 17 percent. The agency
has earmarked $5.2 billion to
make 70 stations accessible by
2024, 21 in Brooklyn, as part of
its current capital plan.
The zoning bonus already
exists in some neighborhoods,
but MTA offi cials hope expanding
it will speed up their goal of
making all stations accessible.
Developers whose sites abut
a station already had that option,
but now builders within
500 feet, or within 1,500 feet
in central business zones, can
avail of the bonus, according to
DCP chairwoman Marisa Lago.
Those buildings adjacent
to a site have to consult with
MTA in case the agency needs
to have permanent access to a
piece of their property for future
use, known as an easement.
If they do, the real estate
company could get leeway
on their zoning requirements,
such as being allowed to build
bigger or have a smaller parking
requirement.
A similar idea was also
fl oated by DCP offi cials in
December as part of the Gowanus
rezoning proposal as a
way to upgrade the narrow R
train stations along a stretch
MTA’s Janno Lieber announces the Zoning for Accessibility proposal outside
the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station on April 2. Marc A. Hermann / MTA
of Fourth Avenue.
Transit honchos unveiled
the scheme on April 2 outside
the Hoyt-Schermerhorn A/C
and G station in Downtown
Brooklyn where, in 2018, developer
Rose Associates constructed
a slick new stairway
and elevator. Tbe addition
leads to the mezzanine level,
but still requires riders to descend
another fl ight of stairs
to access the platform. MTA
plans to fi nish the job by adding
a second elevator down to
the platform as part of the current
capital plan.
Similarly, developer Avalon
Bay built a swanky entrance
to the Jay Street-MetroTech
station’s R platform at the corner
of Bridge and Willoughby
streets with a grand entrance
and elevator — which also only
leads to the mezzanine.
Even if some of the developer
funded entrances don’t
end up making a station fully
ADA accessible, the publicprivate
partnerships will get
the MTA part of the way there
while saving taxpayer dollars,
argued Lieber.
“Every elevator we can get
in this system is … one less elevator
we have to build with
the public’s money,” he said.
The proposal still needs
City Council approval and began
public review April 5.
ROOM TO GROW
MTA eyes additional developer
incentives for accessibility upgrades
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