1 2 CITY COUNCIL 3 CITY OF NEW YORK 4 -------------------------------x 5 THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE MINUTES 6 of the 7 SUBCOMMITTEE ON ZONING 8 And FRANCHISES 9 -------------------------------x 10 April 15, 2008 11 Start: 10:26 a.m. Recess: 12:15 p.m. 12 City Hall 13 Committee Room New York, New York 14 15 B E F O R E: 16 TONY AVELLA Chairperson, 17 18 COUNCIL MEMBERS: Joel Rivera Simcha Felder 19 Eric Gioia Robert Jackson 20 21 22 23 24 LEGAL-EASE COURT REPORTING SERVICES, INC. 17 Battery Place - Suite 1308 25 New York, New York 10004 (800) 756-3410 2 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S 3 Melinda Katz 4 Michael McMahon Larry Seabrook 5 Helen Sears Kendall Stewart 6 Albert Vann Inez Dickens 7 Leroy Comrie 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S (CONTINUED) 3 Rohit Aggarwala 4 Director Mayor's Office of Long Term Planning 5 And Sustainability 6 Howard Slatkin NYC Department of City Planning 7 Liam Kavanagh 8 First Deputy Commissioner NYC Department of Parks and Recreation 9 Thomas Wargo 10 Director, Zoning Division NYC Department of City Planning 11 Ron Rizzotti 12 Project Manager for Yards Text Amendment NYC Department of City Planning 13 Dan Hendrick 14 Communications Director New York League of Conservation Voters 15 Sheelah Feinberg 16 Director of Government and Community Affairs New Yorkers for Parks 17 Drew Becher 18 Executive Director New York Restoration Project 19 Andrew Hughes 20 Program Associate Environmental Defense Fund 21 Patricia Dolan 22 Executive Vice President Queens Civic Congress, Inc. 23 Kate Zidar 24 Storm Water Infrastructure Matters 25 4 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S (CONTINUED) 3 Paul Mankiewicz 4 Bronx River Alliance 5 T. Gorman Reilly President 6 CIVITAS Citizens, Inc. 7 Caroline Harris Sustainable South Bronx 8 Queen Mother Dr. Delois Blakely 9 Community Mayor of Harlem 10 Jennifer Greenfeld NYC Department of Parks and Recreation 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Good morning, 3 everyone. I'd like to call this meeting of the 4 Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises to order. 5 Joining me are our Council members who are members 6 of the Committee, Joel Rivera, Simcha Felder, Robert 7 Jackson, Melinda Katz, Mike McMahon, Larry Seabrook, 8 Helen Sears, Kendall Stewart, and Al Vann. In 9 addition, we're also joined by Council Member Inez 10 Dickens. 11 We have a number of items on the 12 agenda for a public hearing today. We have several 13 items, including the 125th Street Plan, which we 14 have already had the public hearing on, which we 15 will vote on today. 16 So, I'm going to jump around a little 17 bit to expedite the meeting. We will first take up 18 Land Use No. 697 and 719, which is the 125th Street 19 Plan, and I'm going to call upon Council Member Inez 20 Dickens to report on the negotiations that she's 21 had, subsequent to our public hearing. 22 Council Member. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER DICKENS: Thank you so 24 much, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to again 25 address the Subcommittee on the 125th Street 6 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 rezoning, a matter of utmost importance to me, my 3 community and my constituents. 4 Today the Subcommittee on Zoning has 5 before it the issue of the rezoning of 125th Street. 6 This has been one of the most 7 challenging and difficult issues that I have ever 8 faced, both personally and professionally because 9 the rezoning of 125th Street will change the fabric 10 of my district, my community and my home. 11 I have listened closely to the pros 12 and cons of this issue. I have taken direction from 13 all sides. Most importantly, I have been at the 14 negotiating table demanding protections and benefits 15 for my community. 16 James Baldwin said there is never a 17 time in the future in which we will work out our 18 salvation. The challenge is in the moment, the time 19 is always now. 20 Now is the moment that I have done my 21 best to secure protections, benefits and 22 opportunities for my community and my home. 23 I said if there were no protections 24 for my community, there would be no rezoning. After 25 many long hours of deliberations, disagreements and 7 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 debate, I do believe that the City Planning 3 Commission has heard me loud and clear. 4 Today I ask my colleagues on the 5 Subcommittee to support this rezoning with 6 modifications that I have secured through 7 negotiating with City Planning, and the 8 Administration. 9 I have secured the following 10 protections and benefits for my community that are 11 to be included in the mods that will be made to City 12 Planning, an unprecedented 46 percent of all new 13 housing units will be income-targeted, of which 14 1,785 of the 3,800 new units will be income targeted 15 in housing with 900 units guaranteed at six percent 16 of AMI and below. Two-hundred units will be offered 17 at 40 percent or below. Never before has New York 18 City endeavored to provide any community with these 19 levels of affordability or number of affordable or 20 income-targeted units. 21 Three-hundred and fifty of these 22 income-targeted units will provide ownership 23 opportunities. 24 In addition, HPD will make its 25 downpayment assistance program available to 8 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 first-time home-buyers. 3 Most importantly, 700 of these units 4 will be permanently affordable. Fifty percent of 5 these affordable units are guaranteed to be two 6 bedrooms or larger, which will allow young people 7 with growing families to remain in the communities 8 in which they were raised for years to come. 9 Height restrictions of nothing taller 10 than 190 feet on the north side of 125th Street, 11 which is lower than the Harlem State Office 12 Building, or the Powell State Office Building, as we 13 have renamed it. And 160 feet on the south side of 14 125th Street, that is the height of the Theresa 15 Towers, and that's including any bonusable FARs. 16 In keeping with the request of 17 Community Board 10 and many others, this rezoning 18 will include incentives to encourage development of 19 commercial properties by restricting new housing 20 developments on 125th Street to well beneath these 21 heights making it financially unfeasible for any 22 housing to be built in the core. 23 Also, any housing that would be 24 constructed on 125th Street outside of the core must 25 be entered on 124th or 126th Street. 9 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 For local small businesses that could 3 potentially be impacted by this rezoning, I have 4 secured a $750,000 forgivable loan program to assist 5 in the potentially impacted businesses on 125th 6 Street. 7 In addition, there will be an 8 establishment of a $1 million Harlem Business 9 Assistance Fund, which will pay a portion of broker 10 fees for potential relocation of any businesses 11 currently on 125th Street to a new space on 125th 12 Street or within the newly created business district 13 between 116th and 135th Streets and Fifth Avenue and 14 Eighth Avenue. 15 I had the SBA to enlarge the business 16 district in order for the small minority owned 17 businesses that are on the avenues to avail 18 themselves of the various assistance programs that 19 are now being created, and not just the businesses 20 on 125th Street that are oft times not indigenous 21 and not so small. To ensure that potentially 22 impacted small businesses are aware and have every 23 opportunity to participate, I have asked SBS to team 24 with UMEZ (phonetic) and EDC to market these 25 assistance programs to local businesses. 10 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 In addition, there will be a new 3 marketing brochure developed to promote the 4 commercial corridor of 125th Street as a regional 5 business district and premiere arts, entertainment 6 and renowned worldwide black cultural destination. 7 One of the most important components 8 for the rezoning for the indigenous arts and culture 9 community in Harlem, Harlem has for decades been 10 known as the International Capitol, so it was vital 11 that historic, indigenous, local groups receive 12 every opportunity to leverage the arts bonus that 13 City Planning proposed. 14 In addition to making sure that local 15 arts groups receive preference for all new art 16 space, I asked DCA to institute and staff a local 17 Arts Advisory Board, consisting of three members, 18 appointed by each of the local members of the 19 Council and two members from DCA. 20 The make up of this arts advisory 21 council will further protect local arts groups by 22 making sure that people who are knowledgeable and 23 have unique appreciation for our arts communities 24 are selecting the groups from our communities. 25 Also, for new space, it was important 11 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 that not only our indigenous arts groups have the 3 opportunity to secure the space, but also receive 4 sufficient amount of time to replant their roots on 5 125th Street to build their base. 6 As such, any bonus arts space leased 7 to local arts groups must begin with, not a 8 five-year lease as proposed, but a 15-year lease, 9 with options to renew the lease for two more five 10 year each terms. With new developments comes greater 11 dependence on public resources. I have secured 12 approximately $6 million for capital improvements in 13 Marcus Garvey Park, which includes major upgrades to 14 the Ampitheater, Park House, perimeter walkways, and 15 our beloved Pelham Fritz Recreation Center for Youth 16 and Seniors (phonetic). 17 I have received a commitment from the 18 Administration to review and report to me prior to 19 the end of the fiscal year, the capital financial 20 needs for Harlem Hospital's redevelopment. 21 In addition, Harlem Renaissance 22 Health Care Clinic's lease terms of space will be 23 reexamined and the Administration will work with me 24 to find the resources necessary for new, enhanced 25 programming for asthma, diabetes, audiology, and 12 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 other potential adverse impacts caused by 3 development. 4 I have tried to frame changes based 5 on my community's comments and requests, in order to 6 sustain the indigenous populations that must remain 7 in Harlem that are being forced out even as we 8 speak. Because I believe that those who have 9 contributed to this development, and to the growth 10 of this community, must reap the benefits that are 11 now about to come. 12 At this time I humbly ask my 13 colleagues to stand with me today and support the 14 rezoning plan with my modifications. Much has been 15 said about the impacts of this plan and its focus on 16 Harlem's past, present and future. It is my opinion 17 that all of the components that I have worked so 18 hard to secure to protect my community will honor 19 Harlem's past, reclaim Harlem's present and provide 20 for Harlem's bright, expansive future, but to be 21 inclusive of all of us that have lived in Harlem for 22 years. 23 I thank the Chair for my time on this 24 matter, and, again, I ask my colleagues to support 25 this rezoning with modifications for the good of the 13 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 village of Harlem. 3 (Applause.) 4 COUNCIL MEMBER DICKENS: Thank you. 5 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Let me remind the 6 audience that I do not tolerate applause, because if 7 I tolerate applause, I have to tolerate booing. 8 Please restrain yourselves, okay? 9 Thank you. 10 Before I call on Council Member 11 Robert Jackson to make the actual motion, I just 12 want to make a personal comment. I want to 13 congratulate Council Member Inez Dickens. I think a 14 number of the compromises she has made will be very 15 good for the community, and I know you put a lot of 16 hard work into this. 17 Council Member Jackson. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Thank you, 19 Mr. Chair. 20 It is indeed my honor and pleasure to 21 put forward a motion to move this particular item, 22 knowing that our colleague Inez Dickens over the 23 past several weeks have been in intensive ongoing 24 negotiations with all parties involved, in order to 25 try to secure as many benefits as possible for the 14 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 Harlem community. 3 I know that she has spent countless, 4 countless hours. I've personally seen her and her 5 staff working day and night in order to do the best 6 she can under the circumstances to benefit the 7 people that we represent. 8 Knowing that the 125th Street 9 rezoning, only part of it, covers my Councilmatic 10 district from 125th Street and Broadway to 125th 11 Street and St. Nicholas, the majority of the 12 proposed changes are in colleagues Council Member 13 Inez Dickens's district. 14 But I stand here, I sit here, rather, 15 sitting next to her, and if she was standing, I 16 would be standing right next to her to say that I 17 wholeheartedly support her and her quest to get as 18 many benefits as possible to the Harlem community. 19 And I am very, very proud of her for what she has 20 done on behalf of our community. 21 And, so, Mr. Chair, I move this 22 motion and I urge my colleagues to vote yes. 23 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Council Member 24 Katz. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER KATZ: Good morning, 15 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 Mr. Chair, and welcome, everyone, to City Hall. 3 I want to first congratulate Council 4 Member Dickens, and all the work that she did here 5 on this rezoning. We have been speaking every step 6 of the way, and I don't think that there is a day 7 that goes by that Council Member Dickens doesn't 8 call me and say, you haven't forgotten about 125th 9 Street, right? We're working on this part. We're 10 doing this. And she has been a true champion and 11 adamant with the Administration about the things 12 that she needs to bring home to her community and 13 working with Robert Jackson and Melissa Viverito to 14 make sure that those things were delivered. 15 I want to point out that this is 16 probably one of the most progressive affordable 17 housing plans that we have had between the 40 18 percent and 60 percent and local preference. 19 I'd like to point out that the height 20 restrictions, which the Council Member was able to 21 negotiate, I don't think anybody thought we'd ever 22 get to, which was 190 feet north of 125th and 160 23 south of 125th. 24 And on a personal level, the idea of 25 the cultural institutions, and the cultural 16 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 implications that this will have for the community I 3 think is an amazing aspect of this rezoning. I don't 4 know if it's ever happened before in this particular 5 way, I don't think it has, but either way it will be 6 a great boost. 7 This is one of those projects that is 8 controversial as we go through it. It's also one of 9 the projects, as Chair of the Land Use Committee, I 10 can say that in 20 years, I know that we will be 11 working here and hopefully have the pride of knowing 12 that 20 years before a lot of work went into 13 building this community with work and hard work and 14 dedication of the local Council member and the 15 community, which if the community was not so 16 involved, and the community board was not so 17 involved, and the civics and everyone, I guarantee 18 you we would not have the negotiations and the deal 19 that we have today. And nothing is ever perfect. 20 Nothing is. 21 But if the community doesn't stand up 22 and work for it, the Council Member never would have 23 gotten the negotiations she needed in order to make 24 this a better plan. 25 So, I congratulate her and everyone 17 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 involved and I second the motion for approval, Mr. 3 Chair. 4 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Any discussion on 5 the motion before I ask the Counsel to call the 6 vote? 7 What I would like to do is not only 8 take the vote on this item, but also take the vote 9 on Kingsgate House, which we had the public hearing 10 on at the last meeting, which is in Council Member 11 Melissa Mark-Viverito's district. She is in favor of 12 the application. And also the vote on the Red Cross 13 application, which we had a public hearing as well 14 at the last meeting. It is in Speaker Quinn's 15 district. She is in favor of the application. 16 So, I will ask for a vote on those 17 three items. 18 And as has been requested, we will 19 submit these three items to the Land Use Committee 20 meeting, which is meeting tomorrow. 21 I will ask Counsel to call the vote. 22 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 23 Felder. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER FELDER: I vote aye. 25 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Chairman 18 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 Avella. 3 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: I vote yes on the 4 Kingsgate House, I vote yes on the Red Cross and I 5 vote no on the 125th Street Plan. 6 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 7 Rivera. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER RIVERA: I vote yes on 9 all items on today's agenda. And I want to 10 congratulate Councilwoman Inez Dickens for her hard 11 work. 12 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 13 Jackson. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: I vote aye on 15 all. 16 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 17 Katz. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER KATZ: I vote aye on 19 all, and look forward to receiving the 20 recommendation at the Land Use Committee tomorrow. 21 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 22 McMahon. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER McMAHON: 24 Congratulations to my colleagues who worked so hard, 25 in particular, on the 125th Street, I know Council 19 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 Member Jackson and Council Member Seabrook, but led 3 by the unamenable (sic) Council Member Dickens, a 4 beacon for us all to follow. I vote aye. 5 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 6 Seabrook. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: Just to 8 explain my vote. 9 I vote aye on all. And in reference 10 to the 125th Street, I certainly want to commend 11 Councilwoman Inez Dickens, and Councilman Jackson, 12 and all those who have worked so diligently in the 13 City. 14 I, in all of the years that I have 15 been in the Council and in government, I have never 16 seen a more favorable plan for the community, as it 17 relates to housing and it relates to art and 18 culture, and if we're talking about preserving that 19 which was there in the past, and having it to be in 20 the future, this is a tremendous opportunity that I 21 have never, ever witnessed or seen. And I think that 22 they must be commended for what has been done, and 23 this is a major accomplishment that sets a template 24 and a blueprint for all of those communities, in 25 this diversity which exists in our City, and here is 20 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 a tremendous opportunity for a second Harlem 3 renaissance. And I can see Langston Hughes, James 4 Weldon Johnson and others saying, finally, we will 5 be institutionalized, that we will never, ever leave 6 dear Harlem. 7 You must be commended for what you 8 have done, and I vote aye on all items, and 9 certainly this one at 125th Street, so that I would 10 have the opportunity in my lifetime to say that I 11 was a part of preserving that grand and glorious 12 past, history and culture. 13 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 14 Sears. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: Permission to 16 explain my vote? 17 I vote aye on all. I wish to say that 18 I'm not a member of the Harlem community. I don't 19 live there. But I was kept abreast by Councilwoman 20 Inez Dickens, on every piece and every step. She 21 prepared information for all of us, as to what was 22 happening, what her proposals were. I don't think a 23 week went by when I wasn't informed about those that 24 were not supporting it and why, they were not 25 hidden, and for those that were supporting it. It 21 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 probably was the most thought out, most provocative, 3 and certainly so fair in looking at, listening to 4 and meeting the needs of just the community as a 5 whole. None of us sit here and are voting yes just 6 to support the Councilwoman. 7 We are voting on this because we 8 studied and we walked every street in Harlem. We 9 walked down every sideway because that's how we were 10 informed and kept abreast of this. And my yes vote 11 is because it is to keep a community of Harlem. 12 I don't live in it but it's a part of 13 my City, it's a part of my life, and I am to commend 14 those that have worked on this, because it is 15 probably one of the brightest lights to come into 16 the community of Harlem. And I really wish to dispel 17 anybody's thoughts that it's all a fait accompli and 18 that we vote yes just automatically. That is not 19 true in this Committee, it's not true in Land Use, 20 and it's not true of the members. We were kept 21 advised. I mean, there wasn't a day that I didn't 22 get a phone call, there wasn't a week that I didn't 23 have information advising me of the changes and the 24 things that were to happen, and why there were nays 25 to this, and why the yeses were there. 22 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 So, I really congratulate everyone 3 that has worked on this, and I do think that those 4 that are not supporting it, sometimes when we pass 5 laws, it may seem that it's not right for everybody 6 at the same time. But ultimately, which is what our 7 responsibility is, it becomes right for all the 8 people at some time. And that's what this yes vote 9 means. 10 I vote yes again on all. Thank you, 11 Mr. Chairman. 12 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 13 Stewart. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER STEWART: I vote yes on 15 all. And I would like to say congrats to Council 16 Member Dickens and Jackson. Job well done. And 17 Council Member Mark-Viverito, job well done. Thank 18 you. 19 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: Council Member 20 Vann. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: I would like to 22 explain my vote, Mr. Chairman. 23 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Absolutely. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Thank you. 25 First of all, I would like to commend 23 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 the Harlem community and those citizens who got 3 involved in this issue and expressed their concerns, 4 whether through demonstration or confrontation or 5 whatever they could use to let the people know, the 6 world know and the elected officials know what their 7 concerns and interests were. I think that's very 8 important. 9 I think it is that organization that 10 provide the opportunity for your Councilperson to 11 use that leverage to negotiate, and I'd like to 12 commend Inez and the others who did an excellent job 13 in negotiating on behalf of the Harlem community. 14 But understand, they went together. Without you 15 being around and expressing your concern, she would 16 not have had the tremendous leverage she had to 17 negotiate. 18 I must go further and commend City 19 Planning for responding. They had a different plan 20 in mind. Not that they were unmindful of the Harlem 21 Community and your needs, but they are coming from a 22 different perspective. But because of your work and 23 your skilled leadership, they came to a meeting of 24 the minds. They negotiated. 25 And as has been expressed by members, 24 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 this is a far-reaching, one of the most progressive 3 accommodations that have been made with City 4 Council, and indeed in this City Council it may very 5 well be a model that others will use to try and 6 emulate as they try to negotiate rezoning in their 7 own community. 8 So, you may not fully understand or 9 believe that you got everything that you should have 10 gotten, but from this perspective, from what we've 11 seen and other rezonings that have occurred here, 12 from the time I've been here, this is the most 13 significant. So, you should feel very proud of that. 14 Having said that, I vote aye on all. 15 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: By a vote of 16 ten in the affirmative, none in the negative and no 17 abstentions, all items are referred to the full Land 18 Use Committee, except items LU 697 and 719, which 19 are approved by nine in the affirmative and one in 20 the negative. 21 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Now, I must 22 remind Committee members, we're not done with voting 23 yet today. We still have two other items, and it 24 looks like we're going to have modifications on 25 those two items. So, I ask Committee members, please 25 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 don't leave yet. 3 We're done with 125th Street. Thank 4 you, Council members. 5 The next item on the agenda, and we 6 have two from City Planning, which is the Street 7 Tree Planting Text Amendment and the Yards Text 8 Amendment. 9 Perhaps it might be appropriate to 10 start with the Street Tree Planting Amendment. 11 N080081. I will ask the Department of 12 City Planning, and whomever they want to testify on 13 the application, to come forth. 14 I'd like to call on, while we're 15 waiting for people to leave, before we start the 16 next item, I'd like to call on Council Member Eric 17 Gioia for his vote on the first three items. And I 18 will remind Council Member Gioia that we still have 19 votes yet to come at this meeting. So, please don't 20 leave. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER GIOIA: Thank you, Mr. 22 Chair. And we're voting on 125th Street, correct? 23 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: We're voting on 24 125th Street, Kingsgate House, which is part of the 25 rezoning, is connected to the rezoning, and also the 26 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 Red Cross application. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER GIOIA: Thank you. 4 I'd like to congratulate my 5 colleague, Council Member Dickens, and I'd like to 6 vote yes. Thank you. 7 COUNSEL TO COMMITTEE: The vote stands 8 at 11 in the affirmative, none in the negative, no 9 abstentions, except Items 697 and 719, which are ten 10 in the affirmative, one in the negative. 11 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Okay. If I could 12 ask everybody to take their conversations out, we 13 still have a long hear -- two hearings yet to go. 14 Thank you for being patient. 15 You know, I mentioned the Street 16 Trees Planting Amendment, but we also have the Yard 17 Text Amendment, would it be simpler, because I know 18 there is some overlapping between the panels, is it 19 easier for everybody, you know, your side to present 20 both of them, or do you want to have the separate 21 panel come up? I mean, I'm just trying to facilitate 22 this. 23 MR. AGGARWALA: We have a separate 24 presentation from the Department of City Planning. 25 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: All right. So, 27 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 we'll do Street Trees first. 3 MR. AGGARWALA: We can have actually 4 everybody here, to make it easier. 5 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Okay, why don't 6 we do that. And the Yard Text Amendment is N080078 7 ZRY. 8 MR. AGGARWALA: Okay. Good morning, 9 and thank you, Chairman Avella and Committee 10 members. My name is Rohit Aggarwala, and I am 11 Director of the Mayor's Office of Long Term Planning 12 and Sustainability, the office that managed the 13 creation and now the implementation of PlaNYC, the 14 City's long-term sustainability plan. Thank you for 15 inviting us here this morning to testify on the 16 importance of the proposed Street Trees and Yards 17 zoning amendments to realizing the City's 18 sustainability goals. 19 In my testimony this morning, I will 20 address the reasons why the Street Trees and Yard 21 Zoning Amendment are key elements of the City's 22 sustainability plan, and should be adopted. 23 After my overview, representatives of 24 the Department of City Planning and the Department 25 of Parks and Recreation will discuss the specifics 28 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 of the proposals and will be available to answer 3 your questions. 4 Last April, nearly a year ago, Mayor 5 Bloomberg unveiled PlaNYC, a 127 initiative plan 6 that will help New York City deal with the 7 challenges of growth, aging infrastructure and risks 8 to our environment, ranging from pollution and 9 climate change while achieving a greener and greater 10 New York City. 11 Together these initiatives provide a 12 roadmap to achieve the City's ten sustainability 13 goals that will, among other things, ensure that all 14 New Yorkers live within a ten-minute walk of a park, 15 that we will be able to open 90 percent of our 16 waterways for recreation, for achieving the best air 17 quality of any large City in America, and for 18 reducing our global warming emissions by 30 percent. 19 Most of the 127 initiatives 20 contribute to more than one goal, but this is 21 particularly true for those initiatives that include 22 trees, vegetation and natural areas. 23 The plan was developed through 24 extensive discussions with the community about what 25 we need to make the City a better place to live, and 29 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 we heard time and time again that the City needs 3 more green space and more planted areas. That's why 4 one of the biggest investments in the plan is to 5 plant 1 million trees across New York City. This 6 Administration is committed to invest $400 million 7 in the Million Trees NYC Campaign, of which a 8 quarter of that -- or I'm sorry, which $250,000 is 9 for street tree planting. 10 We are partnering with the community, 11 with non-profits and corporate partners to plant a 12 total of 800,000 trees on lots and on streets. And 13 in addition, money was added to the Parks Department 14 budget to take care of maintenance and pruning of 15 street trees to a greater extent than they've been 16 able to in the past. 17 The City is also working to reforest 18 2,000 acres of parkland, at a cost of $118 million. 19 In total, the City's investments will total over 60 20 percent of the plantings needed to achieve the goal 21 of 1 million new trees, with the remainder being 22 developed through those partnerships with the 23 non-profit and the private sector. 24 These PlaNYC initiatives around tree 25 plantings and around green space help achieve the 30 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 greatest number of sustainability goals. Trees help 3 filter air pollutants, which is one reason that we 4 are focusing our planting efforts to start in those 5 areas with the highest asthma rates. 6 The shade from trees keeps our paved 7 surfaces cool, which reduces the urban heat island 8 affect that exacerbates heat waves and reduces all 9 of our air conditioning bills and pollutants emitted 10 by power plants. 11 Trees help soak up rainwater and 12 therefore prevent flooding and limit the discharges 13 of polluted stormwater to our rivers, creeks and 14 canals. 15 We are currently conducting a number 16 of pilot projects to determine how we can design 17 tree pits better, to absorb the greatest amount of 18 rainwater without killing the trees. 19 Trees also provide these benefits and 20 more to private homeowners, business owners and all 21 who use the streets on which they're planted. 22 Studies show that planting a tree 23 within 50 feet of a house can increase that house's 24 value by nine percent, and that the location of a 25 house within a quarter mile from a park is roughly 31 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 ten percent higher than that of a comparable house 3 further away from a park. 4 Other studies show that more trees 5 lead to increased consumer activity on tree lined 6 commercial streets, and that people will travel 7 father to visit forested or tree'd urban shopping 8 districts, and will pay more for parking, goods and 9 services in those districts. 10 This is one reason why Business 11 Improvement Districts and the New York City Economic 12 Development Corporation, help plant trees, because 13 they are, in fact, economic development tools. 14 Given these benefits, the proposed 15 zoning amendments require a meaningful but 16 reasonable commitment, from people building new 17 buildings, or significantly enlarging existing 18 buildings to help plant trees. 19 We estimate that they will result in 20 about 10,000 new trees each year. About a tenth of 21 the 100,000 trees overall that the City needs to 22 plant to achieve its million tree goal. 23 As to the specific standards of tree 24 pits, the amendments incorporate standards adopted 25 by the Department of Parks and Recreation, which can 32 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 be adjusted as we learn more about the ability of 3 trees to handle more stormwater through the 4 completion of the ongoing pilot project. 5 The Yards Amendment will also produce 6 a range of public benefits. I want to focus on the 7 amendments from the Yards Amendment to stormwater 8 runoff. Several initiatives within PlaNYC are 9 directed towards the problem of stormwater-related 10 flooding, which is caused by the fact that so much 11 of our City is paved over with impervious surfaces, 12 which causes the rain to run off into the sewers in 13 torrents, rather than to soak into the ground. 14 The City is, through the Department 15 of Environmental Protection, spending billions of 16 dollars to store stormwater in large tanks and 17 tunnels. But our plan for additional natural means 18 of absorbing stormwater runoff, which is now, the 19 development of which is now a required process 20 through Local Law 5, which was passed by the City 21 Council late last year, will help us develop greener 22 solutions to that challenge, by creating Upstream 23 areas that will hold back water, or absorb it into 24 the ground. 25 Was we develop that plan, it is 33 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 important not to lose the natural unpaved areas that 3 we already have. The proposed amendment would 4 require new buildings in lower density neighborhoods 5 to provide greenery in their front yards, and 6 prohibit existing houses, from paving over their 7 planted front yards. 8 In addition to the many aesthetic 9 benefits from these, these measures will help 10 control stormwater and prevent flooding. 11 To summarize, we believe these two 12 proposals are more than reasonable. The investment 13 into street trees is only required for new 14 construction and major renovations, and the 15 resulting improvements to property value more than 16 make up for the relatively small investment. Both 17 proposals offer a cost effective approach to enhance 18 the City's efforts, to better manage stormwater to 19 improve our local waterways, and to allow for 20 additional recreational activities for all New 21 Yorkers. 22 In addition, these together with the 23 other PlaNYC Initiatives will help us achieve a 24 greener and greater New York. 25 I encourage the Committee to view 34 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 these text amendments as an important element of 3 several of our PlaNYC initiatives related to these 4 many efforts. 5 Now we have our joint panel, and we 6 have Howard Slatkin from the Department of City 7 Planning -- sorry. 8 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Before you go on, 9 I didn't want to interrupt you in the middle of your 10 testimony. At the beginning of this hearing I 11 mentioned that we would be voting on these two 12 items, and possibly making modifications. One of the 13 modifications involves something that City Planning 14 brought to our attention late yesterday and actually 15 I found out about it this morning, there are still 16 some issues to be unresolved on this. So, what we 17 are going to do is not vote on these two 18 applications today. We have a Land Use meeting 19 tomorrow, so we will vote immediately before the 20 Land Use meeting tomorrow. 21 There are some issues that we will 22 modify. There are some issues that City Planning has 23 asked us to modify for them, and actually there is 24 some controversy about that issue as well. 25 So, I think we'll have the public 35 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 hearing, we'll have their testimony, but we will lay 3 this over, I will recess the meeting til right 4 before Land Use for the actual vote to give us more 5 time to talk to the Administration and City Planning 6 about this. 7 I'm sorry, go ahead. 8 MR. AGGARWALA: So, I'd like to turn 9 this over to Howard Slatkin from City Planning and 10 Liam Kavanagh from Parks, who will talk about the 11 Street Tree Zoning Amendment. 12 MR. SLATKIN: Good morning, Chairman 13 Avella and Committee members. I will be walking 14 through a summary of the Street Tree Planting Strip 15 Text Amendment proposed, which is summarized in the 16 color packet that has been distributed to the 17 Committee members. I will skip over page two, which 18 summarizes the environmental health, safety and 19 aesthetic benefits of street trees, which Rohit has 20 already discussed, as well as page three where we 21 discuss how these street trees text amendments fits 22 into the context of PlaNYC, and begin here on page 23 four. 24 Street trees are the property of the 25 Department of Parks and Recreation. Sidewalk 36 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 construction in New York City is permitted by the 3 Department of Transportation and the Department of 4 Buildings approves builders' pavement plans, which 5 describe improvements made in the sidewalk area in 6 conjunction with buildings. 7 We've worked with all of these 8 agencies in the development and the implementation 9 planning for this text amendment. 10 On page five we describe that there 11 currently is no universal requirement for street 12 tree planting in the zoning; however, there are many 13 parts of the City where street tree planting is 14 currently required, in quality housing developments, 15 which is mandatory and contextual, higher density 16 contextual zoning districts and optional in other 17 higher density residential districts, in lower 18 density growth management areas, and in 17 different 19 special districts over time requirements have been 20 put in place for street tree planting. 21 This proposed text amendment would 22 replace those individual requirements largely with a 23 single Citywide standard for street tree planting 24 that would require street trees to be planted 25 according to Parks Department specifications. 37 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 On the next page, the basic 3 requirements proposed is one street tree per 25 feet 4 of street frontage, fractions of half a tree or 5 greater would be rounded up, so a 20 foot wide lot 6 would require one tree, a 40-foot wide lot, for 7 example, would require two trees. 8 In higher-density districts and in 9 commercial districts, trees would be planted in the 10 tree pits within the paved sidewalk. In 11 lower-density districts they would be planted in a 12 continuous curbside planting strip. 13 Page seven illustrates those two 14 examples. One of the issues I would like to 15 highlight is that if there is an existing tree on 16 the site, it counts toward the requirement and an 17 additional tree does not need to be planted. 18 The proposal as referred out would be 19 triggered by new developments, enlargements of 20 20 percent or more, or changes of use involving 20 21 percent or more of the floor area in the building. 22 Use group 17 and 18 and industrial 23 uses would be exempt from the tree planting proposal 24 because of the nature of these industrial 25 activities. Use group 16 would have a reduced 38 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 requirement based on a deduction of the curb cut 3 width from the street frontage used to calculate the 4 required number of street trees. 5 At the City Planning Commission 6 modifications were made in response to concerns 7 about one and two-family homes and the enlargements 8 of one- and two-family homes, and increased 9 exemption was approved by the City Planning 10 Commission to exempt enlargements of less than 400 11 square feet in response to concerns that 12 enlargements smaller than the standard would 13 potentially be a relatively modest investment and 14 should not be required to plant a street tree. 15 Similarly, the Commission exempted 16 new detached garages from the street tree planting 17 requirement, provided that those are also less than 18 400 square feet. 19 In certain instances it is infeasible 20 to plant a street tree in front of a particular 21 property due to infrastructure or conflicts with 22 things going on within the sidewalk area. In that 23 instance, the proposal would require the street 24 trees to be planted nearby at a location within the 25 same community district or within a half mile of the 39 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 site. 3 The Parks Department would identify 4 an unpaved City-owned location for that site in a 5 vacant tree pit, planting strip, or other unpaved 6 City-owned land, such as a park or a green street, 7 where that off-site tree could be planted. 8 The Commission made a couple of 9 modifications as well, to add additional options in 10 the event that off-site street tree planting is 11 required. 12 The Parks Department will identify 13 under the zoning text an available off-site tree 14 location within 30 days of an application making a 15 request for such an off-site location. In the event, 16 we don't believe that it will happen, but in the 17 event that a response takes more than 30 days, that 18 off-site tree would be waived. 19 Also, as an alternative to planting 20 of the off-site tree, the owner could make a payment 21 to the Parks Department into a dedicated fund, which 22 the Parks Department would use to plant the tree. 23 The payment into the fund would satisfy the zoning 24 requirement. 25 Page ten shows a flow chart 40 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 summarizing these options. Essentially there is the 3 option in the event that it's infeasible either to 4 plant the tree off-site or to make a tree payment. 5 In the event that the tree is feasible to plant 6 on-site, but planting needs to occur out of season, 7 an additional option would be available. Also, if 8 the owner wants to finalize a Certificate of 9 Occupancy outside tree-planting season, which is a 10 serious of three-month periods alternating 11 throughout the year, on and off season, the payment 12 can be made into the fund and the Parks Department 13 will plant the tree on-site. 14 The remainder of the package just 15 contains illustrations summarizing the effects of 16 the proposal. 17 I'd like to add one additional point 18 here, that the Department of City Planning has been 19 coordinating with sister agencies, including the 20 Parks Department and the Department of Buildings, on 21 the implementation of this proposed text. 22 In preparing to implement this text 23 amendment, the Department of Buildings has analyzed 24 the resources that would be required to make the 25 proposed changes effective with regard to permits, 41 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 building permits, that have already been issued. 3 They have determined that because of 4 the unusually wide applicability, of this change -- 5 this also applies to the Yards Text Amendment as 6 well, and the high level of current construction 7 activity that this would require the inspection of 8 about 5,500 jobs in progress immediately upon the 9 adoption of this change. Such an inspection program 10 would be highly impractical and would drain 11 resources that DOB could otherwise direct to other 12 enforcement issues. 13 So, to prevent this problem, we're 14 requesting that the Council modify the text 15 amendment to make this proposed amendment effective 16 as of the date of Council action, so that the 17 requirements would apply to permits issued, building 18 permits issued from that day forward, but not to 19 permits that have been issued previously. 20 Deputy Commissioner Liam Kavanagh 21 will now speak to the issue of street trees further. 22 FIRST DEPUTY COMMISSIONER KAVANAGH: 23 Good morning, Chairman Avella, members of the 24 Subcommittee. My name is Liam Kavanagh, and I am the 25 First Deputy Commissioner of Parks and Recreation, 42 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 and on behalf of Commissioner Benepe, I thank you 3 for the opportunity to speak to you about the change 4 in the street tree text amendment. 5 It's very appropriate that we're 6 discussing this in the middle of April. April is 7 Million Trees NYC Month. There are events throughout 8 the City all throughout the month to plant trees and 9 to promote the value and benefits of trees, 10 culminating, of course, on Arbor Day, April 25th. 11 And I note that in attendance today is Drew Becker, 12 Executive Director of the New York Restoration 13 Project, and Co-Chair of the Million Trees 14 Initiative. 15 Trees have always been an essential 16 component of human society, providing food, shelter, 17 fuel and much of the raw material needed to support 18 commerce, education and the arts. 19 And while society has become 20 increasingly urbanized, and we have developed new 21 materials, methods and technologies to replace 22 products that have relied on wood for centuries, 23 trees remain an invaluable asset, especially in a 24 densely populated City like New York. 25 Trees are the work horses of the 43 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 environment, contributing to cleaner air and water, 3 cooling the atmosphere, reducing energy use and 4 carbon production and providing home for wildlife. 5 They also define the character of the 6 community, connect people to nature, and provide 7 tangible to-- add tangible value to properties. And 8 while we have long known intuitively that trees are 9 valuable, emerging research in the field of urban 10 forestry has allowed us to put a dollar value on the 11 contribution that trees make to our City. 12 The U.S. Forest Service using a 13 sophisticated computer program called Stratum, 14 analyzed the City's Street Tree population, and 15 calculated that each year 592,140 trees that line 16 our streets provide almost $122 million in 17 environmental benefits and additional property 18 value. 19 In air quality alone, street trees 20 remove 272 tons of particulate matter each year 21 valued at $5.3 million. 22 Street trees are a particularly good 23 way to mitigate stormwater runoff. Healthy urban 24 trees reduce the amount of runoff and pollutant 25 loading by intercepting rainfall on their leaves and 44 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 branches, and storing rainwater in tree pits. 3 New York Street trees intercept 890 4 million gallons of stormwater annually, or an 5 average of 1,525 gallons per tree. The total value 6 of this benefit to the City is $35.6 million each 7 year, and as technology and street pit -- excuse me 8 -- and our tree pit designs and infrastructure 9 changes, the Parks Department will incorporate and 10 update our design standard to make sure that we're 11 making the most efficient and tree-friendly 12 retention, detention and infiltration, and water 13 infiltration tree pits possible. 14 And, of course, as we plant more 15 trees, more stormwater will be diverted from the 16 sources. 17 Through PlaNYC the Mayor has made a 18 commitment to urban greening that is unprecedented 19 in American history. Last October, Mayor Bloomberg 20 launched Million Trees NYC, a campaign to plant new 21 trees over the next ten years, a million new trees 22 over the next ten years, and to train and educate 23 New Yorkers about the importance of trees, and the 24 role they can play in building a healthier future. 25 This program provides $400 million 45 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 over the next ten years to create 2,000 acres of new 3 forest and to fully plant all of the streets in the 4 five boroughs. 5 As enormous as this commitment is, we 6 want to fully capture all of the environmental 7 benefits and achieve our goals without contributions 8 from the private sector. 9 Continued growth and development are 10 critical to maintaining the City's position as the 11 center of art, industry and commerce, but growth 12 must also contribute to the City's broader goals of 13 creating cleaner, greener and more sustainable 14 communities. The proposed Street Tree Text Amendment 15 will help accomplish that. 16 In addition to the planting 17 commitment, PlaNYC has already added 7.5 million to 18 the Parks Department's budget to expand our tree 19 maintenance program. This will allow us to reduce 20 the pruning cycle from ten to seven years, eliminate 21 the backlog of tree stumps and allow us to more 22 effectively administer new programs, such as the 23 proposed Street Tree Text Amendment. 24 Our borough forestry teams have 25 increased capacity to more swiftly respond to tree 46 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 issues and emergencies as they arise and our 3 extremely successful and popular Trees and Sidewalks 4 Program is easing the impact that tree roots have on 5 sidewalks around the City. 6 These enhancements and increased 7 funding are allowing us to help these trees mature 8 and be healthy with minimal impact on existing or 9 future infrastructure, so that New York's 10 development will be in harmony with its 11 sustainability. 12 And as always, the district offices 13 of Council members across the City are vital in 14 helping us identify areas that need to be addressed 15 when it comes to planting, pruning, stump removal, 16 sidewalk repair, and we look forward to continuing 17 that partnership. 18 This zoning proposal also recognizes 19 that there are times when planting is not feasible 20 either because of proximity to infrastructure or 21 conflict with the character of a historic district. 22 In those cases we'll ask applicants 23 to either plant the same amount of trees at an 24 approved off-site location, or pay the Parks 25 Department to do the planting off-site, at a cost of 47 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 about $1,900 per tree, or pay for the tree to be 3 planted during the planting season if construction 4 doesn't allow -- if construction schedules don't 5 allow for the tree to be planted during the planting 6 season. 7 Typically, a homeowner or a developer 8 would pay approximately eight- to nine-hundred 9 dollars for an individual tree if they were to hire 10 their own contractor. 11 Today we estimate that our street 12 trees are 75 percent stocked and based on our last 13 census, 90 percent of those trees are in good or 14 excellent condition. 15 To fully stock our streets with 16 trees, we need to add an additional 220,000, which 17 we will do by adding 22,000 trees each year from now 18 until 2017. 19 However, we also remove approximately 20 8,000 street trees each year, which means we will 21 fall short of our goal, unless we find other sources 22 to plant new street trees. 23 By approving this amendment, our 24 street tree planting capacity will be augmented even 25 more, by approximately 10,000 trees a year, which 48 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 adds an additional 100,000 trees by the end of our 3 ten-year time line. 4 This will ensure that every community 5 in New York City will enjoy the environmental 6 benefits of PlaNYC's bold initiative to plant 1 7 million trees by 2017. 8 The Parks Department strongly urges 9 you to approve this amendment, so that we continue 10 to build a greener, greater and ultimately healthier 11 City now and in the future. 12 Thank you for giving me the 13 opportunity to speak, and happy to answer any 14 questions you have. 15 MR. WARGO: Good afternoon, Council 16 members. Or good morning. My name is Tom Wargo. I'm 17 the Director of the Zoning Division. With me is Ron 18 Rizzotti, he is also with the Department of City 19 Planning, and he's the Project Manager for the Yards 20 Text Amendment, and he will quickly walk you through 21 that amendment. 22 MR. RIZZOTTI: Good morning, Chairman 23 Avella, members of the Subcommittee. You have a 24 packet in front of you. I'll just be going through 25 the Yards Text Amendment. 49 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 The goals and objectives of this text 3 amendment are to promote better site planning by 4 ensuring that all residential developments are 5 adequately served by sufficient yards and open 6 space, require front-yard landscaping to promote 7 green and attractive streetscapes, address issues 8 related to aesthetics and safety and front yards, 9 and extend benefits of certain lower-density growth 10 management area regulations, which currently are in 11 place in Staten Island and Bronx, Board 10, 12 throughout all R1 through R5 districts Citywide. 13 The first aspect of the proposal is 14 the front-yard planting requirement. And the goals 15 here are aesthetics. We want to create a more 16 attractive streetscape. That green area will also 17 help mitigate stormwater runoff and in addition, 18 mitigate the urban heat island effect. 19 The next few pages are just photos of 20 existing conditions, pages on landscaped front 21 yards, for detached, semi-detached and attached 22 houses, and the proposal will apply to all 23 residential buildings in R1 through R5 districts. 24 There will be a minimum planting 25 percentage based on the street frontage of the 50 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 zoning lot, and I'll get through that in the next 3 few pages. On corner lots and through lots the 4 minimums would have to be met on each street 5 frontage, for row houses on tax lots the minimums 6 would have to be met in front of each row house, and 7 we define planting as any combination of grass, 8 ground cover, trees, shrubs or any other living 9 plant material. The lots that are less than 20 feet 10 in width, we require 20 percent of the front yard to 11 be landscaped, and that still allows for a driveway 12 and a walkway. It's not an onerous percentage. Lots 13 that are 20 to less than 35 feet in width, 25 14 percent of that front yard would need to planted. 15 Lots 35 to less than 60 feet in width would require 16 30 percent of the front yard to be planted, and lots 17 60 feet in width or greater would require 50 percent 18 of the front yard to be planted. 19 We would also apply the lower-density 20 growth management rule regarding rear and side yards 21 on zoning lots Citywide. 22 Currently homes on the corner or 23 within 100 feet of the corner do not require rear 24 yards, and that allows for little to no open space 25 for these houses. The proposal would be that the 51 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 corner lot would require one 20-foot side yard and 3 any home that is not physically on the corner would 4 require that 30 foot rear yard that allows for ample 5 adequate open space for all homes on the block. 6 And this rule would also apply for 7 multiple homes on one zoning lot. So, there is no 8 way out of it, even if you have one large zoning 9 lot, the corner building or building segment would 10 have that 20 foot side yard and any building that's 11 not physically on the corner would have a 30-foot 12 rear yard. 13 We also apply a driveway slope. 14 Currently there is no limit on driveway slopes. This 15 creates visibility and maneuverability issues and 16 the parking spaces are less likely to be used 17 because of difficulty to access. We'd propose a 18 limit to the driveway slopes to 11 percent, which is 19 a safe, stable slope to access the driveway. 20 We would also encourage rear-yard 21 garages, the long driveways provide ample off-street 22 parking spaces. Driveways along the side lot ribbon 23 maximize the front yard planting area. We would 24 extend the existing floor area bonus from, currently 25 it only applies to R3-2, R4 and R5 non-contextual 52 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 districts, we would extend that to all R3, R4 and R5 3 districts, and we'd increase the bonus from 100 4 square feet to 300 square feet, to give a greater 5 incentive to build these rear-yard garages. 6 Currently, there is no minimum curb 7 cut width for paired driveways. This results in 8 narrow curb cuts that are difficult to access for 9 paired driveways, and the distance between those 10 curb cuts slowly gets chipped away, taking away from 11 on-street parking. The proposal would be a minimum 12 width of 15 feet, and this assures adequate access 13 to parking spaces. It also reflects the intention of 14 the City Planning Commission when it adopted this 15 regulation in 1989. 16 For rear yards on zoning lots with 17 multiple rear lot lines, the BSA recently ruled that 18 only one rear yard is required, even if there are 19 multiple rear lot lines. Our proposal would require 20 rear yards at all rear lot lines. For rear yards 21 going away from a street line, we require 30 feet if 22 that rear lot line is coincident with an adjoining 23 zoning lot's rear lot line. If that rear yard going 24 away from the street line is coincident with an 25 adjoining zoning lot side lot line, we would require 53 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 eight feet in the low-density districts. 3 We'd also clarify existing rules for 4 large corner lots. That would be, on 100 feet of a 5 street line rear yards are required, and the same 6 rules I just mentioned would apply. If that rear 7 yard is coincident with an adjoining zoning lot's 8 rear lot line, 30 feet would be required. 9 Right now required parking in R1 and 10 R2 districts can be placed in the front yard. The 11 proposal would be to have that required parking 12 space either within the building or beyond a 13 prolongation of the front lot line. 14 Fences and walls are permitted 15 obstructions in front yards. Currently fences can be 16 up to a height of six feet and walls up to eight 17 feet. This can really change the streetscape of a 18 street. The proposal would be to limit the height of 19 fences and walls in front yards to four feet, and on 20 corner lots the four feet requirement would apply 21 between the building wall and the street line, where 22 if you'd like a fence that's not between the 23 building wall and the street line, you're allowed up 24 to six feet in height for privacy purposes. 25 Generally that's a back yard area used for these 54 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 corner lots. 3 Steps are also a permitted 4 obstruction in front yards. Currently there is no 5 limit on the height of steps, and we're seeing steps 6 leading up to a second story. The proposal would be 7 to limit the height of steps in front yards to only 8 access first story or first story above a basement. 9 And lastly, the transition rule only 10 applies where the zoning lot line and zoning 11 district boundary line are coincident. We'd amend 12 that rule to state that any development in a 13 high-density district that is adjacent to a zoning 14 lot in a low-density district would have to comply 15 with the transition rule, so the zoning lot line and 16 zoning district boundary line no longer need to be 17 coincident, and the transition rule would apply, 18 it's a 25-foot wide area with an eight-foot wide 19 open space, and the building would be limited to 35 20 feet in height in that area. 21 Yes. 22 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: First of all, a 23 general comment. I think I speak for Council Member 24 Katz and my colleagues that both amendments are 25 something that we've been asking for for a long 55 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 time, many community groups have been asking for. We 3 just have a couple of issues, and obviously would 4 like to tweak the proposal. 5 Both Council Member Katz and I have 6 raised the issue as it relates to the Street Tree 7 proposal that it puts an unfair burden on one- and 8 two-family homeowners, who are doing a modest 9 modification to their home. That instead of having 10 the program where now they could ask for a street 11 tree and the City would come and plant it at no 12 expense to the homeowner, we are now going to 13 require that the homeowner pay for it, take care of 14 the tree pit itself -- and I'm going to call on 15 Council Member Katz next. 16 I've communicated to you, you know, 17 the problem that I have with that. Given the fact 18 that the City doesn't properly prune these trees in 19 a timely fashion, and this is a battle that we've 20 been fighting, members of the Council and community 21 groups, for decades. Given the fact that the Mayor 22 has not properly funded the Trees and Sidewalk 23 Repair Program, and that people are waiting years 24 now to fix their sidewalks when tree roots have 25 affected it, and given the fact that, you know, 56 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 there have been accidents, people have been injured, 3 people's homes have been damaged, forcing a one- or 4 two-family homeowner to take a tree, I just don't 5 think is appropriate at this point. 6 I came up with this suggestion, and I 7 know Council Member Katz has spoken to you as well, 8 this is a real issue for us. We support the Mayor 9 and his desire to plant more street trees, and 10 especially when it comes to new developments, there 11 is no question the developer should do it, but 12 placing the burden on fulfilling the Mayor's 1 13 Million Tree Planting proposal on small homeowners I 14 just don't think is appropriate. And I still think 15 we should just continue the voluntary program, given 16 all of the problems that we have with street trees. 17 Council Member Katz. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER KATZ: Thank you. 19 Just a quick question. Do we know how 20 many family, one- and two-family homes this would 21 affect a year? With the 400-feet exemption that the 22 Chairman already spoke to you about? 23 MR. RIZZOTTI: We don't have an exact 24 number on the number one- and two-family homes that 25 enlarge by more than 400 square feet. It's not a 57 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 piece that's tracked in the overall Building permit 3 databases. 4 You know, there is a universe of one- 5 and two-family homes with alteration permits and 6 there's a smaller universe of enlargements, and a 7 smaller universe of those enlargements that would 8 exceed 400 square feet, but I don't have a number to 9 quantify that. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER KATZ: Okay. I mean, 11 look, the assumption I would make is that this is 12 really geared towards the larger homeowners and the 13 people that are building, you know, larger permit 14 buildings and all of that. I just think, you know, I 15 am a one, a single-family homeowner, and, quite 16 honestly, me and my views of a lot of governmental 17 things, that the government is sometimes in too many 18 places, in too many things. 19 So, I guess my issue, and the 20 Councilman, the Chair actually brought it up in the 21 first place, is that, not really the money aspect, 22 which is also burdensome, but also just it's one- 23 and two-family homes. 24 I just think that the Chair and I and 25 Committee members are going to talk about whether to 58 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 exempt all one- and two-family homes from this. And, 3 so, I guess what I wanted to do was get your read on 4 how many homes that really would be a year. My sense 5 is it isn't a lot. And, so, one of the modifications 6 we are discussing is exempting one- and two-family 7 homes, period, and do you want to comment on that? 8 MR. WARGO: Right, not -- 9 COUNCIL MEMBER KATZ: Not new homes. 10 MR. WARGO: Not new homes. But, you 11 know, we understand the logic that you've brought to 12 this and I think, you know, it may be a place where 13 honorable people can have honorable disagreements. 14 We do believe that a 400-foot expansion, a 15 400-square foot expansion is a sizable addition, 16 particularly to a small home. We also believe that 17 the tree is not a burden. The tree is an asset. And 18 it's not just an asset to that home, it's an asset 19 to the whole street. And by having not only the 20 property value improvements, also the stormwater and 21 climate and temperature and all of these other 22 improvements, that in some ways it's a way that 23 somebody is making a significant, sizable 24 improvement to their home can actually give back to 25 their neighbors. 59 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 It's one of the reasons that we do 3 think it's an important component of this. We don't 4 yet know what the numbers are, and it would, 5 unfortunately, probably take us beyond tomorrow to 6 do the estimates of how many would be improved, but, 7 you know, as with all things, we're open to 8 discussing it further with you. 9 CHAIRPERSON KATZ: Okay. That's fine. 10 Thank you. 11 Do you want to talk about the 12 Building's amendment? 13 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Well, first I 14 wanted to sort of piggy-back on what you just said. 15 I can tell you almost one of the 16 number one complaints I get in my district office is 17 about street trees. And it's because of the reasons 18 I mentioned. You know, the proper pruning, the 19 roots, et cetera. So, while we can all agree in the 20 larger universe having a tree is a good thing, the 21 problems associated with it are immense. And if you 22 probably went down to any neighborhood in my 23 district, or perhaps Council Member Katz's district, 24 or Council Member McMahon's district, who is on the 25 Committee, you would find overwhelming concern about 60 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 street trees. There are so many problems associated 3 with it. 4 If the City had a better focus on 5 doing all of these other issues, I would feel 6 better, I think Council Member Katz would feel 7 better, and I've got to tell you, the community 8 would feel better. But the number of complaints I 9 get about the lack of attention by the Department of 10 Buildings through the Forestry Division is enormous, 11 is absolutely enormous. It's got to be in one of the 12 top three complaints I get on a continuing basis. 13 So, I respectfully have to disagree 14 with your comment. You should really, and you're 15 welcome to come to my office and go through the 16 files and see how many complaints and how mad, how 17 mad people get about this issue because the City 18 doesn't prune these trees on a proper basis. 19 So, I understand the general concern, 20 but I think you have to understand the reality of 21 the situation. 22 You can comment, sure. 23 FIRST DEPUTY COMMISSIONER KAVANAGH: 24 Council Member, I understand the reality of the 25 situation. I've been involved in forestry management 61 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 throughout my entire career in the Parks Department. 3 And one of the things about PlaNYC that probably has 4 not gone as well noted as it should is the 5 commitment to maintenance that the Mayor made 6 throughout the plan in many different ways, but 7 specifically with forestry. 8 We have more than doubled the amount 9 of money dedicated each year for the Block Pruning 10 Program, and I want to thank the Council because 11 they are the body that kept the Block Pruning 12 Program alive for a number of years. We have reduced 13 the block pruning cycle from ten to seven years. We 14 have added additional staff to address pre-pruning 15 requests, legitimate objective tree pruning requests 16 that fall outside of the block pruning cycle, 17 because that has been an area of frustration for the 18 public. They have a legitimate problem and we 19 weren't able to address it very quickly. We are now 20 going to be able to address those issues. 21 Such as the one that Council Member 22 Lappin brought up in her recent legislation, you 23 know, clear stop signs and traffic lights and things 24 like that, we'll be able to do a better job. We'll 25 be able to remove trees more quickly. 62 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 The Mayor's Plan has added staff to 3 administer programs like this so that people are not 4 waiting for us to inspect their property, to review 5 their permit application and to respond to them. 6 And while trees and sidewalks have 7 not repaired every sidewalk that's eligible for the 8 program yet, the Mayor took a big step by taking 9 that responsibility on the shoulders of the 10 Administration and we have done over 3,000 repairs 11 so far. There are many more to be done. I understand 12 that. We have been getting support, in addition to 13 the Mayor's funding, from Borough Presidents, 14 Council members, and State elected officials, and I 15 think we'll see more of those repairs over the next 16 couple of years. 17 So, we understand those concerns and 18 we are trying to address them in very substantive 19 ways. 20 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Not to belabor 21 the point, and then I hear that seven years is still 22 too long. I can tell you I get that from my 23 constituents every day. I've got to wait seven years 24 for this? 25 And you don't have to respond. I 63 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 think we understand each other. Not enough is being 3 done. 4 The only one other comment I would 5 make is, the Mayor, with the Trees and Sidewalk 6 Program, really did it because the Council was 7 pushing legislation. It wasn't his idea, it was 8 actually the Council that came up with that idea 9 that the City should finally step up to the plate. 10 Now let's talk about -- oh, I'm 11 sorry, Council Member Katz. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER KATZ: Just because, 13 although the Chair and I agree 100 percent on the 14 issue, trees, by the way, is also the number one 15 complaint in my district. I mean, and I have to fund 16 the tree planting because I can't -- even though I 17 think Queens has the best Parks Department that 18 there is in the City, I mean, Dottie Lewendowski is 19 great, it still takes forever, about trees pruning 20 and planting. 21 But just to be clear, my issue is 22 really that I believe as a homeowner the government 23 can be very cumbersome, and so I just didn't want to 24 put one more burden on a one- and two-family home to 25 get stuck in a bureaucratic nightmare. That is 64 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 really my whole thing. So, I think it's a little of 3 both, but as a homeowner that's my pet peeve. 4 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: And as another 5 homeowner, I agree with you. 6 The other issue we want to sort of 7 get into a little bit more is the modification that 8 you're suggesting that we make in reference to the 9 Department of Buildings. 10 Now, I know the Mayor's Office tried 11 to reach out to me last night and I didn't get the 12 phone call until today. The more I think about it, 13 the more it concerns me. 14 I actually have a building in my 15 district that we were hoping that this yard text 16 amendment would actually stop because it's out of 17 context development. 18 But thinking about this even more, 19 are we not, and I want you to comment on this, are 20 we not now, if we do this modification, setting a 21 huge precedent for the future that any time you make 22 a change now we're going to exempt anybody who has 23 got a permit in the pipeline? 24 Because I've got to tell you, this 25 has been a pet peeve with me with Department of 65 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 Buildings for a long time, that a construction 3 company or developer can get a permit and not do 4 construction for years. All they have to do is renew 5 the permit, and actually under the new Building Code 6 we're now extending the time of the permit from one 7 year to two years. So, is it possible that some 8 developer, you know, got wind of this and called the 9 agency, hey, you know, we've got all these projects 10 in the pipeline, and people are now rushing to put 11 in permits so they can get around this law. 12 I mean, you could have a situation 13 where they're getting around this requirement five 14 years down the line because somebody has got a 15 permit in the pipeline. 16 I mean, I want you to comment on 17 this, because the more I think about this, the more 18 that concerns me. 19 MR. WARGO: I think in terms of the 20 precedent question this is a very unusual 21 circumstance that we have come to understand because 22 of two things: One, it's the Citywide scope of these 23 text amendments, which covers a lot more ground than 24 typically any zoning change or text amendment does. 25 And then also at this point in time, the very, very 66 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 high volume of Building Permits out there, and this 3 is a matter of a practical consideration with the 4 feasibility of performing a very, very large number 5 of inspections in a very short time, and even being 6 able to evaluate who has qualified, you know, who 7 has done what certain amount of work at a certain 8 point in time. 9 I won't, for City Planning I won't 10 speak on behalf of the Buildings Department and 11 their Inspection process, but we do have a 12 representative of the Department of Buildings here, 13 if there are questions that they can answer on the 14 inspection process and their permit processing. 15 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: No, I completely 16 understand your argument and position on this. I 17 would just say that for somebody who doesn't trust 18 the Department of Buildings to give them the correct 19 time of day, I wouldn't necessarily agree that even 20 if we were to put this restriction in, this 21 amendment in, that they're actually going to do 22 this. 23 I mean, even if we didn't make the 24 amendment, I don't even believe that they would 25 actually be out there inspecting all of these sites. 67 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 We've had rezonings where they're 3 supposed to go out and inspect and they didn't. 4 We've had numerous fights with the Department of 5 Buildings where people didn't vest under the new 6 zoning and they say they went out and people have 7 pictures and we argue this all the time. 8 So, I understand in theory the 9 argument you're making, but in reality, I don't 10 think the Department of Buildings goes out and 11 inspects these things, I really don't. They don't 12 inspect crane sites. You think they're going to 13 inspect this type of thing? 14 I mean, let's deal in reality here, 15 what's really going on in this City. 16 Let me ask you a question, and you 17 don't have to respond on this because we're going to 18 disagree on this. Let me ask you a question: is 19 there a difference in your mind, and I think this is 20 something you should really consider between having 21 this amendment with the Street Tree proposal and the 22 Yard Text Amendment? Because the Yard Text Amendment 23 involves the construction of the building. It's a 24 really substantive issue, as opposed to the street 25 tree issue. 68 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 So, I'm not saying I'm agreeing to 3 this, but I think we might feel better if the 4 amendment you're suggesting only applies to the 5 Street Tree proposal and not the Yard Text 6 Amendment. Because that has significant Buildings 7 issues. 8 MR. WARGO: Well, with respect to the 9 Yards Text Amendment, that also would apply to 10 enlargements because part of the Yards Text 11 Amendments is to require the 30-foot rear yard 12 within 100 feet of the corner where it doesn't apply 13 today, and there you would be talking about an 14 enlargement to a house into that 30-foot area. So, 15 those jobs, those enlargements would have to be 16 inspected as well. 17 And, also, the clarification of the 18 rear yard regulations, that they apply along every 19 rear lot line. That extends across all zoning 20 districts. 21 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: I don't know if 22 you misunderstood me. What I'm saying is that we do 23 not do the modification that you're suggesting for 24 the Yard Text Amendments, that we just do it for the 25 Street Trees; how would the Administration feel 69 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 about that? 3 Because the Yards, I agree with you, 4 the point you're making, there are real serious 5 Building issues in the Yard Text Amendment that I'm 6 not sure that I want to allow people who have a 7 permit and can sit for years, and then all of a 8 sudden neighbors say, well, the law was passed years 9 ago, why is this person allowed to get away with 10 this? 11 MR. RIZZOTTI: Yes. 12 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: So, there's a 13 real difference between the two amendments in 14 relation to the modification you are suggesting. 15 MR. RIZZOTTI: But in terms of the 16 number of job sites that would have to be inspected, 17 I think it's the same number. So, it's the same 18 allocation of resources for building inspectors to 19 all of those job sites where permits have been 20 issued, they all have to be inspected, whether it's 21 the Yards or the Street Tree Text Amendment. 22 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Very good. Thank 23 you. 24 We have a number of people to speak 25 on this item. What I'll try and do is, what we'll do 70 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 is, first we'll take testimony in favor of the 3 Street Trees proposal. 4 Susan Gooberman from Trees New York I 5 understand had to leave, and we also have testimony 6 that's been submitted for the record in support of 7 the Street Trees proposal from the New York 8 Botanical Garden. Robin Seaman, the Director of 9 Greenbridge, Daniel Mundy from the Jamaica Bay 10 Ecowatchers and Jane Cooke, I think is an 11 individual, a representative of the American Society 12 of Landscape Architects, New York City Chapter. 13 We have a number of panels, all in 14 favor, and I'm going to ask that everybody keep to a 15 three-minute timetable. I don't even think you need 16 that. I mean, we're all basically in favor, except 17 for the one issue we're talking about. Dan Hendrick 18 from the New York League of Conservation Voters; 19 Sheelah Feinberg from New Yorkers for Parks; Andrew 20 Hughes from the Environmental Defense Fund; Pat 21 Dolan from the Queens Civic Congress; Drew Becher 22 from the New York Restoration Project. Is everybody 23 here? 24 MR. HENDRICK: Good morning, Chairman 25 Avella and Council Member Jackson. It's a pleasure 71 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 to be here to testify. I'm representing the New York 3 League of Conservation Voters, and we strongly 4 support this proposal and urge you to approve the 5 amendment. 6 A lot of the facts have been hashed 7 back several times, so I won't repeat all of the 8 numbers back to you. But I just really wanted to 9 emphasize the fact that street trees are so 10 important as a critical and cost-effective tool in 11 the fight to -- 12 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Dan, I'm sorry to 13 do this -- 14 MR. HENDRICK: Sure. 15 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: -- But I've been 16 asked to make an announcement that anybody who is 17 here for the Landmarks Committee, which was supposed 18 to be in this room, it's been moved across the 19 street to the 14th floor. 20 See, nobody moved. 21 Okay, Dan. 22 MR. HENDRICK: Okay, just to resume. 23 So, street trees, they're really so important as a 24 critical and cost effective tool to improve water 25 quality. Really the CSO problem is one of the 72 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 biggest facing New York City, one that is 3 tremendously expensive and would require a huge 4 capital effort to re-engineer these streets, the 5 City's sewer system, so we feel that the proposed 6 text amendment provides a reasonable and equitable 7 framework for substantially increasing the number of 8 trees in the City, and expanding tree cover is a 9 cost effective tool to battle climate change, 10 improve water quality and make the City more 11 livable. 12 We strongly urge you to approve the 13 amendment. Thank you. 14 MR. HUGHES: Good morning. My name is 15 Andrew Hughes, and I'm a Program Associate from the 16 Environmental Defense Fund. Today I am here to 17 testify in support of the Street Trees zoning text 18 change that will mandate street tree planting in New 19 York City. 20 This change addresses one of the 21 important steps necessary to maximize tree cover in 22 our City. One of the main reasons New Yorkers 23 consider their City to be the greatest urban center 24 in the world is because of the foresight of City 25 Planners over 100 years ago, who realize the 73 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 importance of softening the built environment with 3 parks and street tree planting. 4 Not only does New York's greenery 5 enhance our quality of life aesthetically and 6 recreationally, but it also mitigates the City's 7 environmental impact by reducing stormwater runoff, 8 energy consumption and air pollutants. Now, we have 9 heard plenty of statistics, but I think it's been 10 made clear that maintaining and expanding the number 11 of New York City's trees is good environmental and 12 economic public policy. 13 Trees are not static and to simply 14 maintain the status quo requires a commitment of 15 resources capable of ensuring the continued planting 16 of new and diverse trees and plants, as many of our 17 vibrant street trees reach the end of their natural 18 lifespan or are threatened by infestation. 19 The City's current proposal to modify 20 the zoning text to support planting trees is an 21 important step in making New York a more 22 environmentally healthy place to live and work. 23 In addition to this change, we 24 believe that the City needs an interagency strategy 25 to review all agency actions for possible incentives 74 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 and changes to foster more greening. 3 Possibilities include: 4 Maximizing tree plantings on 5 sidewalks and public spaces. It is our understanding 6 that communities with the most available space for 7 the expansion of plantings, include the communities 8 with the highest asthma rates. The City should focus 9 on these areas. 10 Number 2. Expand the Green Roofs 11 Program through leadership on City buildings, 12 schools and also through zoning and other 13 incentives, such as water rates. 14 3. Encourage a wide range of street 15 greening to include not just trees, but also plants 16 with many different sizes and species. 17 As New York City plans for the 18 development of housing and infrastructure to 19 accommodate 1 million more people by 2030, it must 20 also commit to proven methods of mitigating some of 21 the negative impacts of that growth and development. 22 This proposed zoning text change mandating planting 23 of street trees is one of those methods. 24 Thank you. 25 MS. FEINBERG: Hello. My name is 75 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 Sheelah Feinberg, and I am the Director of 3 Government and Community Affairs. Thanks for holding 4 this hearing this morning at New Yorkers for Parks. 5 New Yorkers for Parks is the only 6 independent watchdog for all the City's parks, 7 beaches and playgrounds. For 100 years we have 8 worked to ensure greener, safer, cleaner parks for 9 all New Yorkers. 10 First of all, I'd like to commend the 11 City Planning Commission and the Parks Department 12 for putting forth the three green zoning amendments, 13 with particular focus today on the creation of 14 uniformed street tree planting regulation for all 15 new developments. 16 This initiative recognizes the 17 importance of trees and natural surfaces not only 18 enhances streetscape but also improve air quality, 19 reduce the urban heat island effect, manage 20 stormwater, and promote an overall enhanced quality 21 of life. 22 Requiring developers to install these 23 amenities Citywide is critical to balancing the 24 impacts of rapid development and sustaining healthy 25 neighborhoods. 76 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 We applaud the Administration for 3 recognizing both the need for more trees and 4 committing funding as part of PlaNYC to ensure 5 regular pruning of these trees to keep them healthy. 6 We will continue to participate in 1 7 Million Trees New York City Initiative and encourage 8 the City to fund the installation of tree guards to 9 ensure that new plantings made possible with this 10 innovative zoning text have the best chance at 11 survival. 12 New Yorkers for Parks supports these 13 important zoning amendments and their vigorous 14 enforcement upon implementation. Thanks. 15 MR. BECHER: Good morning. My name is 16 Drew Becher, Executive Director of the New York 17 Restoration Project. I'm here today on behalf of 18 NYRP and our founder and leader Bette Midler to 19 share our strong support for the change in the New 20 York City Zoning Resolutions that require new 21 commercial and residential developments and 22 enlargements and changes of the use of 20 percent or 23 more to plant trees and for most instances every 25 24 feet of street frontage. 25 Recognizing the benefits street trees 77 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 provide our City residents, neighborhoods and 3 environment, PlaNYC established Million Trees NYC, 4 the goal of planting 1 million new trees throughout 5 the City's five boroughs over the next decade, 6 resulting in the increase of New York City's Street 7 Tree population by almost 20 percent. 8 In fact, the benefits associated with 9 trees in densely populated areas are significant, 10 especially when you consider their combined effect 11 on the City's environment, the health and well-being 12 of its residents, the strength of local economies 13 and the promotion of community revitalization and 14 pride. 15 Million Trees NYC is a partnership 16 with the PlaNYC Initiative and New York City 17 Department of Parks and Recreation, and NYRP, as 18 well as a whole host of community non-profit, 19 government and corporate partners throughout the 20 City. 21 A core element of the Million Trees 22 NYC is the community-based tree planting strategy 23 that compliments the Parks Department's expanding 24 public tree planting programs over the next ten 25 years. 78 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 To get to the point is that in these 3 key areas known as "Trees For Public Health 4 Neighborhoods," the Parks Department and NYRP will 5 work with community partners to assess tree-planting 6 opportunities in school yards, playgrounds, New York 7 City Housing Authority, Public Housing Campuses, 8 libraries, museums, community, health and senior 9 centers, as well as front and back yards of 10 single-family homes. 11 First, NYRP would like to commend the 12 New York City Department of City Planning for the 13 support of these zoning regulations and getting 14 these necessary regulations before the New York City 15 Council. NYRP would also like to commend members of 16 the New York City Council for your commitment to 17 make New York City a greener, more sustainable City 18 in which we live, work and play. 19 PlaNYC, the Mayor's Long-Term 20 Sustainability Initiative, is a bold vision for our 21 City and more importantly, its current and future 22 residents. 23 The plan invites us to reimagine our 24 public spaces, and as a result, improve our air, 25 water quality, expand our parks and open spaces, 79 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 green our streets, public and private properties to 3 cool, beautify and revitalize our City 4 neighborhoods. 5 The City Council funding and 6 implementation of PlaNYC Initiatives, including 7 Million Trees NYC, is critical to our shared 8 responsibility in building a city that is 9 sustainable and strong for future generations of New 10 Yorkers. 11 I'd like to say thank you to all of 12 you for giving PlaNYC a chance, and especially 13 Million Trees. And believe me, you have our 14 commitment to making sure that a lot of the 15 maintenance issues and other issues with trees are 16 alleviated in other cities where this has happened, 17 such as Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Denver and LA. 18 They have been able to overcome some of these 19 issues, and I am almost positive that New York City 20 being America's City can overcome many of these 21 problems. 22 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: I just want to 23 sort of add to your testimony that some of us feel 24 that the proposal, except for the one- and 25 two-family home issue, could actually go further. 80 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 One of the things that has been 3 suggested by a number of community boards throughout 4 the entire City is that nothing in this proposal 5 does anything about saving mature trees. 6 I actually had a situation in my 7 district where a new developer came in and 8 300-year-old trees, we tried to stop it, just went 9 right down as part of the new development, and 10 that's something that the Administration and you 11 should work together to really accomplish because we 12 are losing really mature trees. 13 MR. BECHER: Washington, D.C. City 14 Council passed an amazing tree-saving ordinance, 15 which I can forward to you. 16 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Yes, please. 17 MR. BECHER: For your information. 18 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: I'd like to have 19 it. 20 MR. BECHER: Yes. 21 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Good. 22 Pat. 23 MS. DOLAN: Good morning. Thank you 24 for having us, we've been waiting for this for a 25 long, long time, and before I get started, I would 81 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 like to extend thanks from the Queens Civic 3 Congress, in particular, to Councilman Avella for 4 his leadership on the yard issue and on the tree 5 issue, both of which are very dear to our hearts. 6 Trees are Queens' glory. The Queens 7 Civic Congress has been a major advocate of the 8 Parks Department Forestry Programs for years. We do, 9 however, have reservations regarding the proposed 10 street tree planting amendment. The proposed 11 distance between trees is too great. The prevailing 12 low density housing configuration in Queens is one 13 lot or 20 feet. Trees should be spaced so each 14 homeowner may have a tree in front of her home. 15 Asking a homeowner who enlarges his 16 property to a plant a tree is excessive, we think 17 especially when the tree reverts to City ownership. 18 Asking a homeowner to plant a tree in 19 front of someone else's home if there is no space in 20 front of theirs is unreasonable. 21 We suggest that the Department rework 22 the tree amendment to clarify what is unclear and to 23 improve the requirements that seem unfair and 24 burdensome. 25 I'd like at this point to make my 82 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 comment regarding the Yard Amendment. 3 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Go ahead. 4 MS. DOLAN: Thank you. 5 Queens' residents value streets with 6 homes, even on narrow lots setback in landscaped 7 yards. So, we have rued the loss of that open green 8 space as property owners have increasingly paved 9 over yards for parking and built oversized exterior 10 staircases. The esthetic price of excessive paving 11 is high. The environmental price of losing runoff in 12 major rainstorms is potentially disastrous, 13 especially in areas like Southeast Queens, where 14 storm sewers are a promise, not a reality. 15 We applaud the Department of City 16 Planning's proposed Yard Amendments, which will 17 amend some of the most egregious construction in 18 lower-density residential districts. However, the 19 Department did not go far enough. At least 80 20 percent of landscaping should be required for lots 21 in R1, R2, and R2A districts, and at least 60 22 percent for narrower lots. The maximum height of 23 fencing should be three feet. As a matter of safety, 24 lower height limits should be required for corner 25 lots and along property abutting community 83 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 driveways. 3 The way things are now, the property 4 owner could put up a six-foot high fence or wall 5 along a community driveway, completely blocking the 6 site lines of drivers emerging from that driveway. 7 We want to thank you, Councilman 8 Avella, for pointing out to the Department of City 9 Planning the importance of closing the loophole 10 about the permits. 11 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Thank you. 12 Next panel, Kate Zidar from the Storm 13 Water Infrastructure Matters Coalition; Paul 14 Mankiewicz from Bronx River Alliance, and I can't 15 make out the rest of it. Sorry. And Hilda Ricardo, a 16 concerned citizen. 17 While they're getting seated, I have 18 two people to speak in favor of the Yards Text 19 Amendment, why don't we call them up too. 20 Gorman Reilly, Civitas and Caroline 21 Harris, SSBX. I don't know what that stands for. 22 Okay. 23 MS. ZIDAR: Hi. I'm Kate Zidar, and 24 I'm speaking on behalf of the Storm Water 25 Infrastructure Matters Coalition. I'm an 84 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 Environmental Planner in the Bronx, and maybe I can 3 talk a little bit about my work there as part of 4 this testimony, because much of what I will be 5 submitting here has been covered. The CSO issue is 6 obviously, water quality issues are the motivation 7 for our comment on this issue. And just a little bit 8 about SWIM. Thank you. Also, thank you for the 9 opportunity to come here today and testify. We are a 10 coalition of over 50 organizations, including 11 community environmental groups, environmental 12 justice organizations, architects, water engineers, 13 community development corporations, and we are all 14 dedicated to ensuring swimmable waters around New 15 York City through natural sustainable storm water 16 management practices in our neighborhoods. 17 As active stakeholders in our 18 neighborhoods, the SWIM Coalition members have a 19 wealth of knowledge about planned development and 20 redevelopment projects and local storm water 21 infrastructure problems, and, in fact, where I work 22 we're doing work with street trees right now to 23 solve the CSO issue in our area. 24 We're in favor of this change, and we 25 strongly support the adoption of the proposed zoning 85 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 text amendments, but we do have a limited number of 3 revisions to propose. So, maybe I'll just speak 4 those now and make a few more comments, if I have 5 time. 6 It's important to include the 7 following revisions concerning the enhancement of 8 stormwater capture for the trees in the Zoning Text 9 itself, as they would likely be beyond the authority 10 of City agencies to implement through the 11 regulations or guidelines alone. 12 The street text amendment should be 13 revised, as we just heard, to provide the spacing 14 between the trees at 20 feet, rather than 25 feet, 15 to be consistent with the existing guidelines of the 16 Department of Parks and Rec. 17 The amendment should also explicitly 18 provide that in the event of conflict between these 19 amendments being heard today and the recently 20 adopted parking lot zoning requirements concerning 21 street trees, that the general street trees -- these 22 regulations that are being heard today should govern 23 that they have priority. 24 So, for example, one significant 25 conflict is that the parking lot will provide an 86 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 unqualified exemption from street tree planting. 3 From the street tree planting requirement, if DPR 4 determines on-site planning to be impractical, 5 whereas the street tree proposal in that situation 6 requires the alternative location to be determined. 7 And then just the last one is about 8 the Yard Text. It's about grading and that this text 9 should be revised to require that impervious 10 surfaces in front yards be graded to direct drainage 11 to the mandatory planting trees. Just to not leave 12 that up to omission, to the extent practicable. If 13 the drainage were instead directed to the street, 14 then the potential storm water benefits would be 15 lost. 16 And just if I could exceed my time 17 for just a moment, this issue of communicating with 18 residents about the benefits of street trees, and 19 getting, kind of getting through the existing 20 resistance to the problems that they are perceived 21 to cause, we're talking about these complaints that 22 I hear, too, in the community I work in and I live 23 in, that's a response of kind of the old style of 24 doing things, the way the trees have been planted up 25 until now, where they're not getting enough water, 87 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 where they're bound into very small planting areas. 3 So, you know, as with all change, you 4 know, there is going to be growing pains, but this 5 isn't kind of a new condition for street trees, and 6 if they're getting more water, if they have more 7 space, the roots are not being as unruly and 8 problematic and, you know, causing problems for 9 neighbors. 10 So, you know, I guess hopefully a 11 rising tide with lift all ships. Thank you very 12 much. 13 MR. MANKIEWICZ: I guess I could say 14 good afternoon. 15 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Yes. 16 MR. MANKIEWICZ: My name is Paul 17 Mankiewicz. I have a doctorate in biophysics and 18 developmental ecology from New York Botanical 19 Gardens and City University. I am an Executive 20 Director of the Gaia Institute, which is a member of 21 the Bronx River Alliance, a group of 70 plus 22 environmental groups and also a member of the New 23 York City Soil and Water Conservation District. 24 I'm going to be very brief. The 25 opportunity is to plant vegetation which partitions 88 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 heat basically saving the local environment, versus 3 the kind of infrastructure we build that catches 4 heat. 5 If I can say it in this way, every 6 watt that reaches this City infrastructure can heat 7 the landscape up to 170, 160 degrees. Basically 8 every degree Fahrenheit that we increase the 9 temperature decreases the efficiency of air 10 conditioning units. 11 Let me say it another way. Every tree 12 you plant, and includes a homeowner, which I am one 13 as well, every tree evaporates about 25 gallons of 14 water a day, to the equivalent of about five tons of 15 air conditioning. The tree around that's over my 16 individual house probably saves me about $600 a year 17 in air conditioning. So, eventually you would make 18 the cost of the tree back in a couple to a few 19 years, in terms of air conditioning all together. It 20 might be one of the ways to present this to 21 homeowners, and there is more kinds of plants 22 besides trees that could be put in the yard, as NRDC 23 and others mentioned. 24 So, the choice is having a year like 25 two years ago, when 37 people died from essentially 89 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 the overheating of New York City, or somehow trying 3 to protect ourselves from that liability. 4 Every gallon of water that we put 5 into the ground basically makes a difference to tree 6 growth. Every 25 grams makes it possible to catch 25 7 gram -- a gram of carbon, reducing both the urban 8 heat island and also our carbon signature. 9 So, the simple message is that the 10 trees actually add value to the property, assessed 11 value, they literally save lives, and this has been 12 demonstrated in Chicago and Philadelphia. And I 13 would I guess appreciate the lack of bureaucratic 14 imposition on the homeowner, but the carrot is I 15 think a strong inducement, and trees will literally 16 both protect our homes and also make it cooler for 17 us to live there, in all senses. 18 MR. REILLY: Good morning. My name is 19 Gordon Reilly. CIVITAS strongly supports the 20 proposed text amendments, both the yards and the 21 tree amendments. These amendments are needed to 22 implement and give force to the Mayor's highly 23 praised and much-needed program for the planting of 24 1 million trees over the next 25 years. 25 CIVITAS is a community organization 90 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 in Manhattan. Its concern is with the Upper East 3 Side and East Harlem. We have had experience with 4 trees and yards, as well. CIVITAS has commissioned 5 studies in the past that focused on the essential 6 role played by residential rear yards and the trees 7 planted there in trapping air pollution and 8 improving the quality of life for all, not just the 9 individual property owner. 10 In recent years CIVITAS has worked 11 with the Parks Department to plant trees and put in 12 tree guards along East 86th Street, Yorkville's busy 13 commercial thoroughfare. 14 The Street Planting Text Amendment 15 provides what we think is a reasonable well thought 16 out framework to coordinate residential development 17 and the planting of additional trees. 18 The expense required for compliance 19 is relatively small, considering the high cost of 20 bricks and mortar, and the environmental benefits 21 realized by the property owner and her neighbors. 22 Likewise, the Yards Text Amendment 23 addresses many abuses of the current system and some 24 unusual situations that the existing text fails to 25 take into account. 91 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 The front and rear yards provided for 3 by the Zoning Resolution are meant to encourage 4 trees and other plantings that keep down air 5 pollution, provide needed shade and improve the 6 appearance of the streetscape. 7 Another critical goal as alluded to 8 here is to provide sufficient ground absorption for 9 rainstorms to avoid overloading the City's combined 10 sewer system. 11 None of these goals can be achieved 12 if yards are paved over to provide parking spaces. 13 Thank you. 14 MS. HARRIS: Good afternoon. I'm 15 Caroline Harris with the firm Troutman Sanders, 16 appearing here on behalf of Sustainable South Bronx, 17 which is also working in coalition with SWIM. You 18 have heard testimony from other member organizations 19 of SWIM. 20 We also sent a letter to Councilman 21 Avella and to Council Member Katz, which you should 22 have received yesterday, summarizing our concerns. 23 We also applaud, we applaud City 24 Planning's effort to improve the storm water runoff 25 issues, urban heat island effect and tree cover 92 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 issues that would be consistent with PlaNYC. We 3 think more trees the better, as well as supporting 4 the suggestions that were made just before by the 5 Environmental Defense Fund to expand street tree 6 plantings and provide additional green spaces in 7 neighborhoods that have a high incidence of asthma 8 and other illnesses, expanding green roof 9 opportunities, which incidentally the State Assembly 10 is introducing a bill to provide for a tax credit 11 for a green roof installation in New York City. And 12 we also encourage other tree plantings, not just 13 trees, both at grade and at higher elevations at 14 first floor and above. 15 The key here, though, is that the 16 devil is in the details. You can plant as many trees 17 as you want, but if the tree guard doesn't allow 18 water to go to the soil and to water the roots and 19 to go into the soil and be an alternative to the 20 stormwater running off into the street, then you've 21 defeated the purpose. 22 The text is particularly silent on 23 details of that nature, leaving it to the Parks 24 Department to come up with those details. We would 25 encourage the City Council to exercise oversight 93 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 over the Parks Department in connection with these 3 very vital details, relating to grading so that 4 water running off the sidewalk goes into the street 5 pits instead of into the gutter, street guard 6 design, the depth of the soil, again, critical, as 7 was pointed out just earlier, to create a healthy 8 tree environment, root environment. 9 And the other issue not fully 10 addressed in the text, which is also critical both 11 to yards and to street trees, and I'm testifying 12 about both of them right now, has to do with whether 13 the surfaces that are not planted are permeable. 14 There are permeable concretes available, so that the 15 areas that are hard surfaces, instead of planted, 16 also provide for water absorption. This is not 17 addressed in the text and I think should be. It's an 18 important added opportunity. 19 The same thing with the areas around 20 the street tree pits could be, instead of having 21 concrete that's pervious, they could have permeable 22 or pervious concrete around them to increase the 23 water flow. 24 Lastly, curb inlets could be 25 provided. 94 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 Some of these details should be in 3 the text. They're not. We would recommend to City 4 Planning and to the Council to amend the text 5 accordingly. Other details should be addressed by 6 Parks Department, hopefully with your continued 7 oversight. 8 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: I'd be very 9 interested if you could provide me with some 10 information about the porous surface. 11 MS. HARRIS: Yes, we can do that. 12 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: The concrete. 13 Because one of the things that I 14 brought up to the Parks Department about the Yard 15 Text Amendment, which I totally support, was that it 16 doesn't go far enough in terms of the side yards or 17 the back yards, and you can have a little grass area 18 in the front, but the property owner could concrete 19 over everything else. I think that's a very good 20 suggestion. 21 MS. HARRIS: I'd be happy to provide 22 that to you. 23 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Did you want to 24 quickly comment? I see you are reaching for the 25 microphone. 95 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 MR. MANKIEWICZ: Yes. There is 3 actually a newer kind of permeable pavement. It 4 doesn't clog. It's being produced on the east -- out 5 in Long Island. Has a throughput of amazingly about 6 a cubic foot of water per second. It's basically a 7 glued stone stuck together and it would be very 8 advantageous to put it in curbsides and along tree 9 pits as well. 10 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: I open it to any 11 members of the panel, including SWIM, if they want 12 to get me that information, that would be great. 13 Thank you. 14 I have one person to speak in 15 opposition, and then what I would like to do is call 16 City Planning or anybody back from the 17 Administration, to talk about the issue that has 18 come up, not only at the public hearing but before 19 about the distance between the trees. 20 First I'd like to call up Dr. 21 Blakely, who is speaking in opposition to the Street 22 Tree proposal. 23 DR. BLAKELY: Good morning, Chairman. 24 I am Queen Mother Dr. Delois Blakely, and I'm the 25 Community Mayor of Harlem. I will submit to you in 96 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 writing the concerns that we have from the Harlem 3 community. 4 Personally, I live in Alexander 5 Hamilton, homeowner, real estate, in his estate in 6 Harlem, which is called "Sugar Hill" area, which is 7 near City College. When we look at what has happened 8 with the trees in the immediate area where I live, 9 especially around the blocks of affordable housing, 10 of low-income housing, and you see that there is no 11 pruning and upkept of the trees and its 12 beautification in the neighborhood, you see dogs are 13 squatting because you don't have the right 14 protection around the trees for it to flourish and 15 grow, and a safe and healthy environment for the 16 community. 17 When I walk a few blocks from my 18 neighborhood, from Amsterdam Avenue or Broadway and 19 proceed Convent Avenue to City College, there is the 20 pruning is going on, the flourishing of beautiful 21 trees, and it's just beautiful from a healthy point 22 of view that you can reflect and pray in a sanctuary 23 of a garden, which we would like to see flourish 24 within our community, a sanctuary. 25 Also, it need to be looked at from 97 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 the City Council, monitoring the proposals that come 3 before you, which we know that change will come 4 about, it's meant to be. We are not afraid of 5 change, but it's how the change will affect the 6 community is of a concern and interest. 7 Concerning those of us who have taken 8 the cause over the last 20 some years, starting at 9 the United Nation with the Vice President Al Gore, 10 as you know he's been one of your great giants who 11 is looking at sustainable environment issues at our 12 conference, World Conference of the United Nations 13 in Cairo, Egypt in 1994. And just last week in 14 Memphis, Tennessee, at the 40th Memorial of Dr. 15 Martin Luther King, Green For All held their 16 conference, their national conference, and we must 17 look at organic, whatever we do for the sustainable 18 development of the community and take that in 19 account. 20 The other concern that I do have also 21 is looking at accidents that happen within our 22 community, because of the changes that we, as the 23 community, must be faced with because of not the 24 right type of stumps placed around the trees. So 25 accidents are taking place and then it become the 98 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 burden of the community, of the homeowners or the 3 tenant associations within our community. So, please 4 take that into consideration in your monitoring what 5 is going on. And I thank you. 6 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Thank you. 7 I'd like to call up whomever from the 8 Administration, just to address that issue of the 9 distance between the trees. Because it has come up, 10 not only in public testimony here, but I know I've 11 gotten some letters to my office about that. 12 MR. SLATKIN: So, just to -- oh, I'm 13 sorry. Howard Slatkin, with the Department of City 14 Planning again. 15 The zoning requirement that's 16 proposed is a number of trees based on the frontage, 17 so one tree per 25 feet of frontage. Then the tree 18 can be located anywhere, you know, must be spaced 19 from other items of street furniture and curb cuts 20 and things according to safety standards that DOT 21 and Parks agree on. 22 The number of trees is determined by 23 the zoning requirement of 25 feet, but they need not 24 necessarily be 25 feet apart. I'll leave it to the 25 Parks Department to describe the feasibility 99 1 ZONING AND FRANCHISES 2 analysis that goes in the tree planting. 3 MS. GREENFELD: Jennifer Greenfeld 4 with the Parks Department. 5 I think Howard basically addressed 6 the issue. The distance between the trees is 7 dependent on each site, what size trees they're 8 going to put in there and what other infrastructure 9 conflicts there may be, both above ground and below 10 ground. 11 So, we take as the general standard 12 between 20 and 25 foot spacing, if there aren't any 13 other infrastructure conflicts, but if you're 14 talking about smaller trees, sometimes you can get 15 them closer. 16 CHAIRPERSON AVELLA: Thank you. 17 Seeing no one else signed up to speak 18 on the Street Trees or the Yard Text Amendment, I 19 will close the public hearing on this matter and 20 recess the meeting til 9:30 tomorrow morning here, 21 at which time we will take a vote and make 22 recommendations on modifications. 23 Thank you, everybody. 24 (Hearing concluded at 12:15 p.m.) 25 100 1 2 CERTIFICATION 3 4 5 STATE OF NEW YORK ) 6 COUNTY OF NEW YORK ) 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified 10 Shorthand Reporter, do hereby certify that the 11 foregoing is a true and accurate transcript of the 12 within proceeding. 13 I further certify that I am not 14 related to any of the parties to this action by 15 blood or marriage, and that I am in no way 16 interested in the outcome of this matter. 17 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto 18 set my hand this 15th day of April 2008. 19 20 21 22 23 --------------------- 24 CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25 101 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T I O N 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified Shorthand 10 Reporter and a Notary Public in and for the State of 11 New York, do hereby certify the aforesaid to be a 12 true and accurate copy of the transcription of the 13 audio tapes of this hearing. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ----------------------- CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25