Moya pushes for study of local rezoning impacts
Queens lawmaker says it’s time to get answers about why residents are being priced out
BY BILL PARRY
Communities in Queens
have long been concerned
about displacement brought
on by neighborhood rezoning
projects but residents lack the
data to prove their fears are
fact-based.
Councilman Francisco
Moya introduced legislation
that would require the
city to study the effect of
neighborhood-wide rezonings
on secondary displacement for
existing area residents.
“With every neighborhoodwide
rezoning, the future of
thousands and thousands
of New Yorkers are thrown
into uncertainty. Long-term
residents, the very curators of
their community’s character,
are being forced out of their
homes as their neighborhoods
become primed for new
development,” Moya said.
“More communities are next
in line for these massive
rezonings. Unfortunately
for their residents, we can’t
tell them exactly how a
neighborhood rezoning
will affect gentrification
or secondary displacement
because we have absolutely
no quantitative data to
offer them.”
If enacted, Intro. 1482
would amend the New York
City charter to require that
the city conduct a study on
the relationship between
neighborhood-wide rezonings
and secondary displacement.
Each study would be specific
for individual neighborhood
rezonings certified after Jan,
1, 2015, and be conducted
five years after the rezoning
received final approval by the
City Council.
“This bill will remedy that
conspicuous information gap,”
Moya said. “It will require the
city to study the effects of a
neighborhood-wide rezonings
on secondary displacement so
that we no longer leap before
we look. Good data inspires
good policy and if we’re going
to overcome this city’s housing
Councilman Francisco Moya introduces legislation that would
require the city to study displacement spurred by rezoning.
crisis, we’ll need both.”
Moya said this legislation
was among the first things his
office began working on when
he arrived at the City Council
and he thanked housing
advocates and activists and
specifically the Legal Aid
Society and Make the Road
New York for their input.
“Through our
Photo courtesy of Moya’s office
representation of tenants
across the city, we see
firsthand the racial and ethnic
impacts of neighborhood-wide
rezonings,” said Kat Meyers,
staff attorney with the Civil
Law Reform Unit at The Legal
Aid Society. “This bill will
give the City Council a fuller
picture of how rezonings affect
residential displacement, and
will inform policy decisions
around land use moving
forward. We are excited to see
a focus on the experiences of
existing communities, and
look forward to continuing to
work with Council member
Moya on this important
step toward eliminating the
secondary displacement.”
Secondary displacement
is defined by the 2010 City
Environmental Quality
Review manual as “the
involuntary displacement
of residents, businesses or
employees that result from
a change in socioeconomic
conditions created by the
proposed project.” If a
study reveals 5 percent
more residential secondary
displacement that the original
CEQR estimate, the city would
include recommendations
for amending the manual for
a more accurate account of
potential displacement.
Moya serves as the chair of
the Subcommittee on Zoning
and Franchises,.
Relieve Pain.
Regain Your Life.
ONE ON ONE PATIENT CARE
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