Land Use Newsletter

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The Topic

Land Use refers to the ways the city's built environment is used, preserved and developed. City planning is a discipline concerned with the present and future use of land and the quality of urban life. Zoning refers to a set of regulations that determine such matters as which areas will be deemed residential, commercial or industrial, how tall buildings can be in a specific area, how much open space will be required. The law governing zoning, New York City's Zoning Resolution first passed in 1916 and was substantially revised in 1961.

The Context

New York City has over 200,000 acres of land, and we fight over every square foot. The city's land use policies set the stage for that fight. Will there be parks? And where? How high can Donald Trump build? All these questions and more are are addressed by the city's land use policies and community planning. The City Planning Commission sets land use and planning policies through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). Community boards may prepare neighborhood plans for approval by the City Planning Commission and the New York City Council.

Land Use Reports

Planning For 2030: Your Ideas
As part of its efforts to plan for the year 2030, the Bloomberg administration has solicited ideas from the public. So far, City Hall, says 15,000 unique visitors have sent more than 2,500 different suggestions. “These suggestions have ranged from using an invention to eliminate double-parked cars, to greening our Building Code, to creating more bike lanes, and developing new rapid bus transit routes. The largest numbers of responses, accounting for 45 percent of the feedback, have been about reducing traffic congestion and ensuring that every New Yorker lives within 10 minutes of a park.” (February 13, 2007)

Scaffold Safety
The Scaffold Worker Safety Task Force, created in response to a series of deaths and injuries (there were 29 construction deaths in fiscal year 2006, a two-thirds increase from the year before), issued a series of 13 recommendations in this report, “Steps To Safety,” (e.g., increase enforcement of safety rules; improve training programs; promote use of 311 to report unsafe conditions), which Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently announced his administration would invest $6 million to begin implementing. Most of the money will go to the creation of a Scaffold Safety Unit within the Department of Buildings. (February 9, 2007)

Real Estate Broker Deception
This report by the New York City Council, “Brokered Deception: The Hidden Deception Of Online Real Estate Ads,” found that almost a third of the brokers who advertised as “no fee” on the online real estate listing sites Craigs List and Back Page, charged fees anyway. The report recommends that the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs begin monitoring such advertising, that fines be increased, and that the public be educated about the deception. (October 30, 2006)

Mayor's Management Report
The Mayor's Management Report, released online, provides performance highlights and statistics for more than 40 agencies, as well as data on inquiries received by the 311 Citizen Service Center. (September 15, 2006)

The Housing Crisis: Thinking Regionally
There is a regional housing crisis in the New York City area that must be approached as such, according to this report by the Citizens Housing and Planning Council and the Regional Plan Association. It proposes action to be taken on the local level in cities and towns across the area, with the help of state governments. Three areas of focus are land use, local financing of public infrastructure, and housing finance. (August 10, 2006)

Sites for Beginners

NYU's Urban Planning Links Page

Municipal Art Society

Regional Plan Association

American Planning Association: New York Metro Chapter

Planners Network

Recommended Sites

The Real Deal

Air Rights

Good Jobs New York

New York Times Real Estate

Land Use Books

The Death and Life of Great American Cities
by Jane Jacobs

The Encyclopedia of New York
by Kenneth Jackson (Editor)

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
by Robert A. Caro