Archive Photos / Stringer / Getty Images. Boys swimming in the Central Park Reservoir in front of the Eldorado apartment building, circa 1954.

When Zoning Goes Too Far

Daniel Garodnick

April 29, 2024

Ratcheting back NYC’s zoning restrictions

Ratcheting back NYC’s zoning restrictions

is crucial to maintaining a thriving city

L&B Spumoni Gardens pizza. The San Remo and Eldorado apartment buildings. Even buildings and businesses as simple as a corner bodega, or the laundromat down the block. 

All of these neighborhood standbys make New York the city we know and love. And from the unique and iconic to the routine and familiar, they share something in common: They would be banned under today’s regulations. If that’s not a sign that the ratchet of zoning restrictions has tightened too far, what is?

Over the past 60 years, even as we have gained a greater appreciation for New York’s historic character, New York City policymakers have implemented increasingly complicated regulations that — intentionally or not — have banned the very things that define our city’s character. In 1961, leaders created a complicated zoning code that carefully proscribed which types of businesses could locate where, and vastly restricted how much housing could be built at all. Since then, our conception of what a thriving city should be has changed, but our zoning code has remained largely untouched — and to the extent that it has changed, grown only more complex and prescriptive.

Even in 1961, it did not match the actual way that New Yorkers lived and worked: Commercial strips with ground-floor offices, restaurants or services like laundromats or grocery stores that were built prior to the 1960s exist across the five boroughs, but in many cases were banned moving forward by the use restrictions, height and density limits, or parking requirements created in the 1961 zoning resolution.

In some cases, these 1960s zoning changes were well-meaning. Nobody wants to live next door to a factory smokestack, belching out fumes from 20th-century production methods. Restrictions on buildings’ bulk were intended to guard against “vertical slums” and regulations on what percentage of a lot can be built upon were intended to preserve open space. 

New York City policymakers have implemented increasingly complicated regulations that have banned the very things that define our city’s character.

In some cases, these changes were inspired by more snobbish aims: well-to-do New Yorkers aiming to keep the poor out of their posh neighborhoods, or force business types they found distasteful to move elsewhere in the city. 

And in some cases, these exclusionary aims took on an explicitly racist bent, with developers like Fred Trump supporting redlining and restrictions on homebuilding to preserve certain neighborhoods’ lily-white character while he refused to rent his own buildings to Black New Yorkers.

Over time, our static zoning regulations have become outdated — especially now that we live and work in a post-pandemic city. The categories that we sort businesses into (known as “use groups”) still regulate things like telegraph repair stores and travel agencies. Restrictions on manufacturing that were written before anyone had even conceived of a 3D printer still determine where the inventors of the 21st century can work. And rigid distinctions between commercial and residential areas mean that a new corner store could not be built within walking distance of more than a quarter-million New Yorkers, even as we celebrate our existing mixed-use neighborhoods as models of urban living. 

And of course, outdated zoning rules are not only sapping our city’s economic vitality, they’re also worsening our housing crisis. As our population and economy have grown, restrictions on where and which types of homes can be built have led to a shortage of available housing, with a mere 1.41% vacancy rate for New Yorkers looking for a place to live. And this shortage doesn’t only affect those looking to move to our city; it hurts everyone from aging New Yorkers looking to find accessible housing in their own communities, to the essential workers who face crushing commutes to reach their jobs, to the young adults looking to settle into their own apartment as they start their careers. 

Outdated zoning rules are not only sapping our city’s economic vitality, they’re also worsening our housing crisis.

We have layered so many contradictory rules on top of each other — from those that determine exactly how many parking spots must be built along with each new home, no matter how close to transit it is, to requirements about setbacks, height, backyards and more — that we have effectively shut off the possibility of any new housing at all in large swaths of New York City.

Some residents of those areas argue that this stasis is exactly why they chose to live there, and that any new construction is a violation of the implicit social contract. But allowing some modest change does not mean radically transforming the built environment. In fact, there are already many corner stores and small apartment buildings across New York’s low-density areas that predate our current restrictive zoning code.

When we make certain neighborhoods off-limits to new construction, we’re not actually protecting “neighborhood character.” We’re pricing out the community that gives our neighborhoods their character.

This crisis is about more than how high the rent is. It’s about our values as a city. As addressing the climate crisis becomes more urgent than ever, allowing more people to benefit from New York’s transit and walkability is among the most pro-climate policies we can pursue — but we are doing the opposite. And as our economy sets new jobs records, our failure to build housing needlessly holds back our economy and offers an obstacle to companies hiring in New York.

We have layered so many contradictory rules on top of each other that we have effectively shut off the possibility of any new housing at all in large swaths of New York City.

One thing is certain: It’s time for an update. Mayor Adams’s “City of Yes” initiatives, led by our team at the Department of City Planning, would be the largest overhaul of New York City’s zoning regulations since the modern Zoning Resolution was created in 1961, bringing a needed update to the rules governing where housing and businesses can be created.

City of Yes for Economic Opportunity, which would update the rules around commercial and manufacturing uses, is being considered by the City Council, following approval by the City Planning Commission in March. City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, which would allow a little bit more housing in every neighborhood, will today begin the public review process, heading to community boards and borough presidents for their review this spring before coming to the Council for a vote before the end of the year.

Together, these changes would help foster more of the types of neighborhoods and buildings that New Yorkers already know and love: mixed-use neighborhoods, with vibrant commercial strips providing local neighborhood services and housing options nearby, or even right upstairs. Housing options for people from all walks of life in the types of buildings that are eminently familiar to New Yorkers but could not be built again under today’s regulations.

While New Yorkers can and certainly will quibble with the details, we should all agree: the regulations of 1961 are not serving us today. If we want to remain the greatest city in the world – a city where you can raise a family without being priced out, or start or grow a business without needing to relocate – our regulations must adapt with the times.