Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey hey. I don't think Heat. Heat. Hey hey hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. I don't think Heat. Heat. Our 56.8 million FY26 adopted budget allocated 35.9 million or 63% to personnel services which include part-time staff, interns, and members of the city planning commission. The remaining 20.9 million went to other than personnel services. Now, the FY27 prelim preliminary budget in comparison to the FY26 adopted budget, it represents a net $5.3 million decrease. This is almost entirely due to the expiration of 7 million in temporary funding, either grants or funding granted for environmental impact statements for projects that have since been approved by the council. At the same time, there is a new 1.7 million in funding to support work for the 2030 census and to begin implementation of the city map charter amendment. Looking at personnel services, there was a net six position change in headcount. In total, the agency gained 12 new positions for census, city map, and capital planning work. At the same time, the agency lost six positions that were either temporary or grant-f funded. This increased headcount came at a net increase of 1.3 million for personnel services which supports the increase which supports the increased headcount. Overall, the FY26 preliminary budget reflects a strong foundation with a total of 51.4 million in an increased full-time headcount of 370 positions. We are commicated to allocating our resources effectively to advance the department's mission and to help create a more affordable, equitable city for all New Yorkers. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner. I'm just going to ask councelor to swear you guys in before we start the question. >> Good morning. Could you please raise your right hand and state your name for the record? >> City of Sherman, >> David Parish, >> Such Chen. >> Thank you. And do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth in your testimony this morning and in response to council member questions? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, council. Uh thank you for your testimony, Commissioner. Just want to say for the record, we've been drawn by minority leader David Carr and also council member Justin Sanchez. All right. So my first line of question, I really want to focus on staffing and resources. Uh it's a concern for many council members who are leading neighborhood reszoning projects like myself in the Bronx. Um, so DCP and the burough offices, the DCP burough officers are responsible for both neighborhood planning and working with private applicants to shape individual resonant application. This work is very essential to addressing our housing crisis and support equitable development that uplifts all of New Yorkers. However, the burough offices are underst staffed and underresourced for this important mission. Many small cities around the country, cities smaller than New York City uh council districts have more planners on staff than DCP burough offices. For example, in the Bronx serving 1.4 million residents has only 16 budgeted staffers at this time. With this st excuse me, with this small staff, it's not clear uh if the office has the capacity to undertake more than one neighborhood resoning at a given time. There's a clear consensus that New York City must aggressively plan to increase our housing supply. Yet, there is no proposed change to current staffing levels. So, with that being said, Commissioner, does DCP believe that the burough officers have sufficient resources to meet this moment? And if yes, can you let us know uh why you believe so? >> Sure. I'll start and then I'll turn over to our chief operating officer. Um, so I think as you heard from my testimony, overall, um, while we've had a a net loss of 5.3 million, a lot of it was driven by a temporary funding that has since expired. Um, so the the organization essentially is in somewhat of a steady state with a net increase of six heads. Um, however, certainly I know that we need resources to do the work that um, we're charged to do moving forward. I feel confident that we will be able to carry out the work. Obviously, I'm in my sixth day and certainly still assessing the needs across the organization. And as we go through this budget process, we'll remain in conversation with OM um around what we we see, but at at our current state, we we organization between central office and the burough offices, we certainly see that we would be confident in carrying this work out. Um I'll turn over to our chief operating officer to talk a little bit more about staffing in the burough offices. >> Excuse me. Could you just move the microphones closer to you? >> Sure. Thank you. Sure. Thank thanks Chair Riley. This is a very important issue for us. I I think as you've already seen uh we've also engaged staff at our central office particularly in community engagement, capital planning, our policy divisions like housing, zoning, etc. to support our burough office staff. So, uh we all hear you and understand the importance of the burough staff and agreed. >> Do do you have a breakdown by each burrow? How much staff is in each burough office? Um, >> uh, I can get that back to you. I believe we shared some data with the committee beforehand, but we can get that to you. >> Okay. Um, and and I believe you. I I I would not say that even though you guys are short staff, you guys have been working tremendously with me in the Bronx, but this is important work that we have to do. I think um, everyone's message has been affordability. We have to build more. We have to develop more. And we know how important uh, your role is in this. So, as we're asking these questions, I just want you to um be ensured that we understand the important role and we want everyone else to understand the important role and provide you with the resources that you need. Okay. So, as of January 2026, DCP has a vacancy rate of 16.3% over triple the average vacancy rate across of all city agencies, which is alarming. with similar vacancy rates over the last six fiscal years. Are there any specific roles or divisions that are driving these vacancies? >> So, I can share obviously addressing vacancies will be a priority for me and I know that there are a number of efforts already underway to do so. Um I think our chief operating officer can share a little bit more about um what the the pure vacancy rate is. >> Yeah, let let me break that down a little further. We we began uh fiscal year 26 with 364 position. We've been gratified uh to receive six additional. So now we're at 370. Uh and as of February we had 300 active employees, four on leave, leaving us with 69 vacancies or about 19%. Within that though, within those 69, we have one one person pending payroll, two pending OMB approval, and out of the 46 remaining, 23 are posted in actively recruiting. Uh 20 are are unfunded from former grants completed projects, leaving us with an adjusted vacancy rate of about 12%. I just wanted to note we've taken uh extraordinary efforts to think about how to improve our hiring by working with Dcast to look at civil service specs uh to come up with a fellows program and think of new ways to onboard folks more quickly. That work continues. >> And do you have a breakdown of specific roles that you're looking for within those vacancies? So across the agency, if we look at our burough offices, our central teams, our technical teams, the vacancy rate is is pretty steady across all of those groups. Um, so we're we're hiring a little bit uh on every team. >> What is DCP doing to reduce vacancies that could expedite the neighborhood studies and resonance? So, one thing we're gratified that Dcast uh came out with the civil service list for city planner at the end of last calendar year. We've already completed our first round of civil service hiring pools. Uh that process, if utilized consistently, will allow us to fill vacancies quickly. Uh and we look forward to doing more of that this this calendar year. >> Is there any barriers that you see that are leading to the struggle of filling these vacancies? >> Not at the moment. >> Not at the moment. Okay. The median number of days for simple zoning action projects to enter public review was 308 for the first four months of fiscal year 2026. This represents a 19.8% increase over the same period in fiscal year 2025. The median number of days for projects requiring environmental quality review increased by 162.9% from 278 days during the first four year excuse me for four months of fiscal year 2025 to 731 in the first four months of fiscal year 2026. We also hear from developers that DCP continues to lack the basic staffing necess necessary to quickly move applications forward. Is DCP considering increasing staff and or other resources in order to speed up applications during this process? >> Thank you, Chair Riley. Again, I think uh we heard you very clearly. We have a mandate to both speed up applications to allow uh private actors to build more housing while focus on proactive neighborhood planning. And so this is really important for us. Since the start of the administration, uh Mayor Montami has put forward the speed task force uh that's targeted to uh push agencies to build homes faster to reduce red tape. Uh for us, one of the signature issues that will help improve those numbers you just cited uh uh connects to the governor's push for her let them build agenda to streamline environmental review. We believe that if this change happens, it will take our 2-year process and allow us to shrink down to a six-month process, speeding up the overall flow of applications and reducing the staff time required for each individual application. We think this is a huge innovation. We're working to implement that while at the same time trying to keep on top of these stats that you mentioned and push applications out. on the specifics I wanted to note for um zoning actions with EAS. We think uh improving the environmental review process that really is the critical path for these projects and drives them to be several years long. It requires inter agency coordination, detailed review uh and is really hard to expedite on our own. Uh so that systematic change from the state would be very welcome. On simple zoning actions, I'll note that while we are still below goal, we've improved each of the last three fiscal years from FY23, we're at 57%. Last year, we closed at 64%. Uh, and while we have work to do to improve this year, I'll note that we are ahead in the number of applications process. So, we're trying to get things out of our system. Some of those have been delayed for a long time, which leads to a lower on-time completion rate, but we're we're working on this. and you touched on environmental. We're going to touch on that a little bit later. But, uh, going into the new administration, um, is the new administration currently preparing a citywide housing agenda? >> Yes, there is work underway to prepare a citywide housing agenda. Um, there's also work underway, as as you know, uh, in alignment with the council's legislation to comp prepare an updated fair housing plan as well. >> If so, can you discuss DCP's role in this uh, plan? >> Sure. So, as one of the many agencies that contributes to housing in the city, we're certainly um you know, working with city hall to contribute ideas um as well as on the fair housing front. I don't know if uh executive director Suchan if you want to jump in. >> Thank you. Uh good morning, Chair. >> Thank you, Edith. If if you could just Thank you, Edith. >> Good morning, Chair Riley and all city council members. Uh good to be here with you today. We took a historic step with city of Yes and the neighborhood plans to um unlock housing across the city. We are committed to doing yet more bold actions. This includes more neighborhood plans, uh, text and zoning changes. Um, we are streamlining how we work and we are working hard to activate city- owned sites. Um, we greatly appreciate city council's partnership in everything we do and we look forward to talking with you about what what more we can do together. >> That was my next question. So, you guys are planning on engaging with stakeholders like city council in developing this new housing plan? Absolutely. We are partnership with city council is critical in everything we do. So you can uh rest assured that we will continue our uh collaboration and discussions with you. >> Okay. Are you guys considering any uh further text amendments for the city of Jack's uh proposal? >> Um uh there's still uh to be seen what text amendments we will pursue. >> Sorry, Edith, I need you to talk right into the mic. Sorry. >> Excuse me. Yes. Thank you. Uh we're still assessing what specific text amendments we will pursue. Uh certainly city of yes was a huge undertaking and we're seeing really uh great strides already in the past year and in just a few months. Um the signs are really good. We really need to unlock housing across the city. Housing the housing shortage is a citywide problem. We need city-wide solutions. >> Okay. And I I I must I have to go back into staffing. Sorry. Okay. So, uh, returning to the question on staff and the resources, being that we are going to be coming up with bold plans, that means we're going to need, you know, more hands on deck. Um, so within that, uh, is DCP thinking about personal necessity, uh, necessities for the implementation of this new housing plan? Um, because it it seems pretty simple that if we're looking to increase development opportunities around the city, we're going to need more planners. >> Well, we we heard um from David about different strategies. Um, and I love what you said earlier, Chair Riley, that we need much more planning, not less. Yeah. >> But we also need a lot more smart planning. And we believe with city of Yes. And with the charter reform, we have a lot of new tools that are letting us advance more projects at speed and at scale. We need every tool we can we can uh get to advance uh to alleviate the housing crisis. >> Okay. Um, going to neighborhood resonance. Uh, neighborhood resonance deliver thousands of homes. We all know that, right? um paired with comprehensive planning for infrastructure and services and are an essential tool for the solving New York City's housing affordability crisis. What role does DCPC for the neighborhood resoning in this coming term and how many neighborhood resonance are you planning to undertake this term? >> I'm sorry. >> Okay. Well, I I'll I'll jump in. Um, so right now we're still determining um the amount and volume and of of resonings to pursue and neighborhood planning efforts to pursue. Um, but that will still continue to be uh certainly a priority um of our work and obviously we are also focused on efforts um in communities that have not contributed fairly to the city's affordable housing supply and housing supply overall in the past. Um I'll turn it over to Executive Director Such. >> I don't think I have anything to add. Thank you. >> Okay. I mean, so you don't have a number? >> We don't have a specific number for >> I think five between 10 should be a good amount. Um, just putting that on record. Okay. Um, >> I mean, we have to build as much as possible. So, >> um, thank you. So, uh, as you have heard, we have said many, many times, uh, we need more housing, but housing alone is not enough. uh residents need access to essential services um such as schools, open space, daycare, transportation, and libraries. Uh my question is, how does the new administration plan on funding these infrastructure investments when pursuing neighborhood reszoning? >> I can start with that. Um uh in in in no world would a neighborhood plan, an ambitious neighborhood plan advance without the necessary capital investments. We do holistic planning. It's really important that we're just more than just dialing up uh the densities for housing that we're looking at every single neighborhood need and services. Um so David has more on this. >> Um a as we did uh previously uh we look at everything from school capacity to uh transit to the public realm open space. Those are tenants that we expect to continue uh in this administration. and also thinking about areas that where that have experienced disinvestment and have significant resiliency needs. So we intend to continue that holistic planning. >> Do you guys have uh indication where the money's coming from? Um I could give an example cuz I know um during the Delasio administration there was a dedicated 1 billion fund for neighborhood resins. Um so just wanted to know if you guys have any commitment and if so where would the money exactly be coming from? So the money will come from a variety of sources. Once we agree on projects with individual council members, the projects will be funded. Uh sometimes these projects are funded through new needs. Sometimes these projects are funded through existing agency budgets. Uh but we work holistically across the city and with members uh to make commitments and then fund those commitments when we once we've made them. I also want to note that we've refreshed the neighborhood commitments tracker uh which we uh is hosted by the mayor's office of operations and we uh ensure is is kept up to date. >> Yeah. And I just want to encourage the administration if they could set aside a specific number um because we are asking for more density within communities. We we all want to play a very important role with adding housing but we have to go back to our communities and we also have to give back. Um, our communities are struggling when it comes to school seats. They're struggling when it comes to infrastructure, struggling when it comes to transportation. So, we just want to ask the administration if they could set aside a specific number for these neighborhood reasonings if we're going to make that commitment. So, I just wanted to go to the Sunnyside Yards proposal. Uh, I know Chair Lewis, if she was here, she would want to touch on um some of these questions. So, did DCP have any role developing or evaluating that Sunnyside Yards proposal that Mayor Mamdani raised with President Trump last month? >> Uh, yes, we all know that Mayor Mamani traveled to Washington to speak to the president about potential investment, federal funding to redevelop Sunnyside Yard to deliver over 12,000 new homes. This is a once in a generation opportunity. Um, but it's very early days. We have not been any discussions del uh discussions about land use actions that would be necessary to carry out the plan but we will be sure to talk to you all as as plans uh further develop >> because of the unit count. Was that the reason what why that was brought up to the president um because it was 12,000 units and why it was asked for federal funding? Um there is uh federal property interest at at Sunnyside Yard. Okay. And uh 12,000 um was a unit count that was put forward in a a plan uh developed by the city um uh what year? Um in the prior administration, two prior administrations perhaps. >> I've heard an estimate of $14 billion investment uh in this project. Um is that true? Uh >> it will take about 14 billion federal dollars from the federal government. >> It's uh uh to be determined >> to be determined. Okay. Um rather than investing all the money into a new community uh project, why would we not invest more in our current communities? And if the answer is that the plan is to do both, then I want to know what the funding uh what funding this administration setting aside to invest in our communities would be. Uh funding is important for all neighborhood plans. So whether a Sunnyside yard is advancing uh alongside a neighborhood plan, there will be a very close examination into what capital investments are needed. >> Okay. I just want to state for record, we've been joined by Council Member Kaban. I'm just going to ask a couple more questions, then I'm going to turn over to the committee to see if any members have questions. Uh turn over to the city of Yes. neighborhood reszoning commitments and my uh project White Plains Road. Near the end of the prior term, DCP committed to undertake neighborhood planning in Coney Island Avenue areas south of Prospect Park, East Flatbush, and Forom Landing, Park Avenue, and White Plains Road in the Bronx. Is DCP currently moving forward with these planning areas? Uh yes, we've been working hard to fulfill our commitments that we made to the city council to initiate studies and public engagement in uh the Bronx and in Brooklyn. Um all of this has been a very positive experience collaborating with you um as we begin the new year with a new commissioner and um and we're ready to talk with you about next steps. >> Okay. So I want to talk about my project uh the White Plains Road Plan. So we started off really strong. uh feel like we really started strong, but recently it feels like we're kind of slowing back. Um and just want to uh understand why that's happening. When we first announced an initiative, we need we understood and we asked our community to help us deliver um as much density as possible. My experience with White Plains Road seems that the perfect example of the Bronxboro office at DCP not having enough planners. Um we're trying to have a very ambitious plan over at White Plains Road, but recently um it seems like we're kind of slowing back. Even though you guys have been tremendous, um within the burough office, um they're just taking on a lot of work at that time. So if we are serious about building more housing, investing in our neighborhoods, I don't want us to slow down with projects like White Plains Road in my and council member Denov's district. So can you tell me why DCP and this administration is not pushing uh this resonant forward? And I would like a commitment from you today if possible that starting tomorrow this resort will become a priority for DCP and the administration. Oh, sorry. Uh well, we sorry. We appreciate so much uh chair rally that you recommended that we take a look at White Plains Road. Again, the best starting point for any effort is partnership with city council. Um we did launch the neighborhood planning process last year. Um we've had ongoing engagement. In fact, we just had a uh a a meeting, community meeting on March 10th. So, planning and efforts are continuing. >> And I would just add, chair, um I haven't obviously I'm getting up to speed on the work on White Plains. I haven't had a chance to go to the community meetings, but certainly we make a commitment to come out to the district and really understand what the issues are to make sure that um as those conversations continue that we have the support needed for the team members in the Bronx to make sure that those are robust sessions. >> Thank you, Commissioner. I'm really looking forward to seeing you up there. I think the community would love to have you up there. Um, it will show a good sign of faith. Um, I'm going to take a pause on my questioning. I'm going to turn it over to council members who have questions. Um, we've also been joined by council member Phil Wong. Uh, we're going to start with council member uh, Encarion followed by Thomas Henry and then Salam. >> Good morning. Um, I want to thank the chair for talking so much about the neighborhood studies. Uh, some of my questions were around that. So, some of them were already answered, but I did want to ask around DCP's prioritizing and analyzing neighborhoods with high immigration population. Um, you know, given the hardships that are faced by immigrant New Yorkers, can you talk a little bit about how you identify those and if that's a consideration of DCP when looking at neighborhoods to study? Um when when we do neighborhood planning, we are looking to uh improve the lives for all New Yorkers, all New Yorkers. It's a big city, very diverse city. Um you know, there are many communities across New York City that haven't had the attention that that they deserve historically. And certainly we are we are laser focused on making sure that we are delivering the best planning across the board. And this includes many communities that have higher im uh uh im im uh rate of immigrants. Um so yes uh this is something that we keep in mind. >> And do you collect individual level data about immigration status when you collect when you do these studies? >> Oh not not uh when we deal with neighborhood studies per se but as you all know uh the department of city planning we do have a population division. Um we are very proud of the work that our population division uh takes on. It's one of the few planning agencies in the nation that has a a specialized population and demographics team. Um, and they are very hard at work in making sure that our census work is thorough, complete, and every New Yorker is counted. >> And do you know if they um collect individual level data and if it's uh electronic or physical and if it is indeed protected by our um in accordance with our sanctuary city policies? Oh, everything we do is in accordance with sanctuary city policies. Um, and with respect to your question about we do not collect individual data as we uh engage with the community. Sorry, I thought I put it off. Um, and the private companies that you contract with, they are also not sharing any data or anything like that, right? You don't have to ask the questions. So I it's okay if you repeat the answers and they're all yes and that's fine. I just have to ask the question. >> Absolutely not. Our our the consultants we work with are not collecting individual data on immigration status. >> Okay. Now I know DCP recently updated its bed to population ratio calculation. Um it als it helps inform housing shelter placements. Um how do you plan to regularly assess and update those numbers so that the shelters are fairly distributed across the city? Uh we've we've gone through an effort working with our partners and other city agencies where where in the past we would make one-time requests of data. We've actually signed with agencies to get that data on a more regular basis so that we can ensure that it's updated annually. So it's it's really important as you note to get that updated frequently as required. but it it takes in pooling data from uh DHS, from uh Health and Hospitals, New York State, Department of Corrections. And so what we've done is try to build a a smoother, more regular pipeline so that we can uh pull that data together quickly. >> So regularly is quarterly possibly or mid year. >> We're going to start annually and then if we can get more frequent uh more frequency with the state uh we will we'll try to do that. Okay. Now, I know >> I'm open to talking to you about that, council member. >> Thank you. I know that DCP also recently dissolved the urban design division before the inauguration of the current mayoral administration. Do you have plans to reverse the demand the dismantling of the UD? >> Uh, urban design remains a core value and function at the department of city planning. And what we did uh at the end of last year is that we actually enhanced and strengthened our ability to deliver good urban design at department of city planning. And we did this by shifting just six urban designers to other divisions. Many people do not know that we have over 25 urban designers and architects working at the department of city planning distributed throughout many divisions. Um they have long been in burough offices and strategic planning offices. So at the end of last year, we uh we we shifted six urban designers to work on missionritical work directly in in in certain divisions. >> So instead of having one division, they're just >> they're distributed throughout and frank it's a model that we've had for many decades, very successful model. So we're expanding upon that model. >> Okay. And um I know we're obviously facing a budget deficit. So many planners have discussed ending free parking in New York City as a way to raise revenue. Do you currently have plans to end free parking? >> Um that's with that's outside the purview of Department of City Planning. >> Okay. And wait, just want to make sure any of these are really, really, really important. I do have Oh, no. This is for LPC, but not for you guys. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh next we're going to hear from council member Thomas Henry followed by Salam followed by Wong. >> Thank you chair. Um my first question is around the neighborhood study done for Willitz Point transformation. Um so the 23 acres of approximately 61 acre footprint um has begun with the first 880 affordable units opening this spring. Thank you. Have there been any other studies of about acquiring and potentially developing the remaining acres that are out at that site? >> Uh we'll we'll have to get back to you. Not to my knowledge, but we I will get back to you, council member. And I guess in the process in that neighborhood study, were there any environmental studies done with um in terms of once individuals do move into that site because this is the first housing that will be over there approximately 2500 units. If the existing conditions remain, which are largely auto body, mechanic shops, some construction plants, and others, what the environmental impacts will be to those new residents. An extensive environmental review was conducted with the Willitz Point uh uh proposals. Um and uh all mitigations are required to be carried out. Uh but there was an extensive review, environmental review. >> I will I will get back to you if if you have further questions. >> Okay. My next is regarding the Sunnyside plan. Um because this plan seems to be heavily relying on federal funds. Um, would we have to adhere solely to the federal DBE program, which recently has been revamped to exclude women and minorities as part of the criteria, or could we use our MWBE program that we currently use to ensure 30% um, participation? >> Sure. >> Yeah, that's a good question. I think that is still be to be determined what the restrictions may or may not be with respect to federal funds. Obviously, the city is still carrying out his MWB program. Um, and our chief operating officer can share more of our work. I I was just going to add that it would depend whether federal funds come from existing grant channels through some other process uh etc. So, a lot to be determined in determining uh what the federal need is and what funding would be used to meet that need. >> Thank you, chair. That's all I have at the moment. >> Thank you, council member. Council member Salon followed by council member W. >> Thank you, chair. Thank you for your testimony. Just a few questions. Um want to start with housing production. Land use actions projected to produce homes declined 61 point 69.1% in the first four months of fiscal year 26. How does the department plan to reverse this trend? And does the proposed budget auditions, census updates, city map amendments and so forth adequately support housing development goals? >> Sure. We can start with an update on just the your first question regarding applications. >> Sure. Yeah. I I just want to note I believe that's MMR data uh and that data includes projects put forward by the department so large resonings and our city of yes proposal so we would expect uh a decrease uh in the first quarter MMR >> and then can you repeat the second part of your question council member I'm sorry >> yes the second part is how does the department plan to reverse this trend well second part to that part does the proposed budget additions census update, city city map amendments and so forth adequately support housing development goals. The housing >> understood. So so as noted um within our uh prelim budget there is additional funding to support census work as well as the map um uh the map updates that are required by DCP. Um in totality a number of the actions that we're taking forward uh regarding with respect to the recently passed city charter amendments as well as city of yes um overall will help the city increase its overall affordable housing supply and housing supply >> regarding professional services reduction. Why is the professional services engineering and architectural services budget declining for from $10.8 million fiscical year 26 to $3.8 $8 million fiscal year 27. And what projects or services will be reduced? >> Uh thank you for that, council member. I appreciate your your eagle-eyed attention to that. So those are uh project funds that fund environmental impact statement consulting. So as we work with council members on each resoning, uh we size a pot of funding necessary to pay for the environmental review for that project. As you noted, we have a steady state budget of about $3.6 million for the next few fiscal years, but as we work with the council and the administration to greenlight neighborhood studies, uh that that budget will be uh right sized in later years as we go. So, I I think it's it's just a the nature of where we are in the cycle. >> Thank you. And regarding um burough office vacancies, burough offices show vacancy rates ranging from 9.5 in Manhattan to 25% 9.5% in Manhattan to 25% in Staten Island. Why is the disparity so significant and how will the budget address these gaps? Yeah, I think uh generally we're talking about a handful of individuals in each burough office. In Staten Island, it's it's three individuals, which is 25% of the office there. I'd note in the last administration, we passed a a zoning text amendment that reduces the number of private applications coming to that team. Uh you know, it it is we we hear the council clearly that uh the need to fill our positions is paramount. Um but the the rate of vacancies across teams I would say is generally pretty standard across across all five. >> Thank you. And lastly, regarding the zoning review timeline, the department the department's target for simple zoning actions is 365 days to enter public review. Current performance shows increasing delays. Should the fiscal year 2027 budget include additional staffing for the zoning division? >> So I think again with this we are thinking about how to deploy our resources more strategically uh as part of the mayor's speed process. Uh we do think that there could be additional there could be time savings that lead to additional staff capacity uh with changes through environmental review. And we have worked steadily over the last three years to improve this timeline. I just want to note with the the decrease uh this PMMR so the last four months I believe uh we processed I believe 25 projects this go round where last year at the same time we had done 18 and some of the 25 were older projects that had been in the queue for a long time. So, we're trying to clear our backlog right now. Uh, which unfortunately has led to a number of projects being completed that are also behind schedule. >> Thank you. Thank you, Chair. >> Thank you, Council Member Wong, followed by Minority Leader Carr. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, thank you, um, Director Shu Chen for coming and members of the panel for coming. Yeah, I have uh a few questions uh regarding uh out of borrow zoning and regarding carbon neutrality on lithium ion battery plants. Um I represent Middle Village, Mazbouth, Glendale, Elmherst, Rico Park, and Richwood neighborhoods that work with the city, plan responsibly, and fought hard for zoning that actually fits their communities. And now they're watching all of that get overridden. City of Yes is not planning with communities, is forcing change into neighborhoods that never asked for it and cannot support it. We're talking about areas in my district where infrastructure is already strained. Sewer lines, traffic, schools, parking, public safety. These are daily realities and not hypotheticals. And instead of addressing those issues, the city is adding more density, more pressure, and more uncertainty. Nowhere is that clearer than with the city of Yes. for carbon neutrality. And because in my district we now have a lithium ion battery facility being pushed as offright directly across from a school near residential homes, small businesses and a daycare. No meaningful community input, no local reviews, no real say. And all that is a direct result of decisions made by this agency. And from where I sit, this is not thoughtful planning. This is a one-sizefits-all policy being forced into neighborhoods that are already at the limit. And I want answers on how we got here. The first my first question is on force zoning. Why is DCP overriding locally planned zoning in communities that already downzone? Can you answer that please? >> Sure. >> Happy answer. Uh thank you council member. Uh city of yes uh was a historic achievement um that we did in partnership with city council. Um we have a citywide housing crisis and we need citywide solutions and the city of yes approach was about delivering a little more housing in every neighborhood. So, in the lower and mid uh density areas, you're seeing uh the return, the relegalization of missing middle housing, for example, those three, four, and fivetory beloved buildings on on corridors um in the burrows. Um we also allowed for uh accessory dwelling units, which is giving homeowners more flexibility and opportunities to provide opportunities for families to stay together or perhaps even some uh uh rent rental income. Um there were many moves in the city of Yes. Um and again we did a uh a lot of outreach uh across the city in every single community district and with all uh council members. Um with respect to city of Yes for carbon neutrality. Yes. Uh battery energy storage systems was included in uh city of Yes. for carbon neutrality. Um to and with uh expanding expanding their uh uh uh uh allowance in in in other neighborhoods. Um battery energy uh storage systems have long been allowed in in New York City in commercial manufacturing areas. Um they're a really important tool to get our city to carbon neutrality. So, do we did expand their allowance into residential neighborhoods, but these uh systems require extensive extensive oversight by the FDNY and Do not just in their application phase, but also in their installation. There's been no fire incidents in the city of New York for the BESS. >> Okay. Did the city planning analyze placing lithium ion facilities next to schools? Yes or no? because this is this is happening right now. They're talking about constructions across the street PS128 Middle Village. >> Uh there there was uh a very close look at BSS AC across the city and in in various zoning districts. Um again, these uh are are safe when they are installed correctly and properly and they are indeed in New York City with the extensive oversight by the FDNY and DO. Do you believe a battery storage site next to a school is appropriate? >> Yes. Given their track record, yes, I I do believe they are appropriate. >> And in fact, in in fact, schools can benefit from bees's as as well. >> How did you conclude there was no risk on these these facilities? >> Uh we can get back to you with more information. Um but we certainly would not be citing any facility that is uh dangerous to a sensitive use such as schools. Um uh we would not be facilitating that through zoning. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you, Chair. >> Thank Council Member Juan, uh Minority Leader Carr. And I just want to say for record, we've been joined by Council Member Zwang. >> Thank you so much, Chair Riley. Um I just want to associate myself with the comments on Bess's by my colleague, Council Member Wong. Um there is no other example where you know we literally permit something to be constructed in all zoning areas like unlike Bess's. So this is a sort of a an exception I think to approach to zoning citywide and I think it's an unfortunate one. Um and even if you want to dismiss the safety concerns which frankly I don't think we should be dismissing them but even if you did um there's something to the notion of planning which I'm sure is an idea that you're committed to to being committed to. Um, and I feel that we absolutely need to think about what's the best use for our sites. And to say that a best could literally go up anywhere in the city, um, based on the zoning type there, I think that that's that's a ridiculous proposition. But we'll agree to disagree on that for now. I I want to talk a little bit about ELERP and the changes that are now upon us due to the recent charter revision. Um, and in particular, I'm, you know, I'm concerned because the commission and city planning now has significant more power and responsibility, uh, over the course of resonings than they did previously. And I think there's going to be a resulting concern from the community and the stakeholders and neighborhoods about transparency and whether or not they're being heard as a part of this new eer process. So I just wanted to ask um you know if your part of this process is to determine whether there's adequate existing transportation and sewer infrastructure and determining the course of an EER project. Can you explain how you're going to do this and um what staff determinations may have to be made in order to reach that point? >> Thank you for your question. Council member for your question. I think the battery is fading. Okay. Oh, here we go. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um, with ELERP, New York City voters voted for a faster way to approve housing and resiliency projects. There are very clear eligibility criteria for the housing projects. In the low density areas, we're talking about modestly up to 2 F or 45 feet in height. um in uh in in higher density areas, we're talking about an increase up to 30% of the allowed density. Um what ELRP does, it reduces the uh extensive sevenmonth review process to 90 days. And this is a really really important tool. This is a really important thing to do as we're trying to deliver more housing in New York City. I'm so happy council member and Kadan is back in the room because it was my honor to stand with her on P Avenue last month um when we launched uh with HPD um an e-lurp uh that will uh result in the transformation of an underutilized city parking lot into a mixeduse development with 84 new homes, permanently affordable homes, as well as with some community uses. So, we look forward to seeing uh more ELIPS deliver more housing for New Yorkers. I understand that there was uh the criteria that you were referencing in determining whether something's even eligible for EERP, but my understanding is that there's also going to be an assessment of infrastructure that goes along with that and that's up to city planning to make. So I was wondering if you can elaborate on how that process is that part of the process is going to be approached. The eligibility criteria for ELRP is really for the more more modestly sized housing proposals and and of course also for the resiliency projects for larger neighborhood initiatives. We would absolutely be looking across the board at the infrastructure needs, the community needs. So that will that will that remains a very strong practice at farm city planning. So in terms of when an ELERP is underway, right, what's going to be um city planning's approach to community consultation and and and their part in this process? >> ELRP retains the review period for community boards and burough president. So that, you know, when a when a project is is is is ready, um the application's ready to be referred out, it goes to the community board to the bor president for their simultaneous review, 60-day review, and then it comes uh to to city planning. >> I think I think the issue though with the process, right, is that in the past that community boards, sometimes even borrow presidents would opine on the details of a particular project and they would be they would go unheated by the time the commission did its vote. maybe there'd be some minor modifications and then it would come to the council and the community's perspective was that we the council members representing the area would champion that local perspective. That's no longer going to exist here. Right? So, I'm asking what you're going to do differently in terms of how you listen and process and digest what the local input is, whether it's the board's official opinion or what's said at the board by members of the community, because members of the community don't have the ability to come to city planning to to repeat their testimony. they're giving their testimony to the board. >> Sure. I I would just add in of course with the understanding that these are still modest projects that would go through EELRP. Um it will be important to the team at DCP as we're working to route these applications that we are also engaging community members and making sure that that happens up into the certification process. Obviously, as uh Edith noted, there's the community board and the the um the burough president process, and there's still the CPC process, right? making sure that we're listening to the public testimony and taking that seriously. As chair of the C CPC, I will sure that um we're taking everyone's testimony to count. >> Thank you. Thank you, chair. >> Thank you so much, Minority Leader. Um just to continue on, um how many erups have happened so far and how many are in the pipeline? >> Uh to date, excuse me, to date there are uh there have been three applications um launched into public review. Um the first one I referred to earlier in in the Bronx on Parav that's an HPD leer and at city planning we have two active erps in the pipeline. One on Staten Island that will facilitate the uh acquisition of more land for the Sawmill Creek Park to help with conservation and preservation uh in that area. >> Okay. Um, can you discuss how many ULIOPS I'm excuse me how many units uh these EIPS usually produce? >> Um, I I don't know if there uh is is an average per se because each will be different in the Bronx on Pav that was a proposal that's going to lead to 84 permanently uh incomerestricted units. >> Okay. And the one in Stand Island, >> the one in Staten Island is to facilitate the expansion of a park. Um so that is not a housing project but that is a resiliency project also allowed uh by under EELR. >> Okay. Uh going into community engagement um because I think that's what um minority leader car was going into. Um during the public review process during the city of Yes. Um you guys had opportunity to go through 59 community boards throughout New York City. Um after visiting all 59 community boards multiple times. Um, could you guys attest if there's any lessons learned about how community board trainings and engagements can be improved? And compared to last year, has DCP staffing for community engagement increased or decreased? >> Uh, engagement with the community. Engagement with community is such an important thing what we do. It is a top priority. Thank you. Okay. Um we meet regularly with the community boards for training. There's a lot of technical information in zoning. So we want to make sure that we're all um you know speaking the same language. Um we do extensive training with the community boards and we have a public engagement team at city planning uh which has been expanding our reach um across all uh community stakeholders. >> Has the team increased or decreased since last year? >> Our team has actually increased >> increased. Okay. >> And I would just add um chair you know very early in my career I started a lot of my work training community boards um helping them to understand uh planning helping to demystify planning. And so I think as we continue this work with a community focus that will certainly be a priority. >> And just want to emphasize the importance of it. I just think if community boards are engaged more with understanding the need that New York City needs right now and the type of resources um that are usually needed for big planning um within their communities. I think it'll be much helpful when we're going through these little projects or within these projects with them. Um just wanted to speak uh go back to the Sunnyside project uh for a little bit. Do you believe New York City has a good track record delivering affordable housing through the platforms of train yards? >> Well, I I mean we have few examples. Um but I I think that there is >> What the few examples do you have? Do you think we have a good track record? >> Atlantic Yards is understand that that is one of the few examples. Um I do think however we have a clear commitment in this administration to addressing affordability. We also have a sentiment across New York City where people understand the importance of affordable housing. Um and so, you know, I know that this is still to be determined, but um you know, there's a pursuit to make sure that whatever we move forward with um and whatever we commit to is realized. >> Um so, I know we had Hudson Yards and we have Atlantic Yards. Do you know how much affordable housing was built on Hudson Yards and how much affordable housing was built on Atlantic Yards? We can get back to you with those specific numbers, but certainly there there were h affordable housing commitments as part of those plans. And now in this era that we where we are maximizing and doing everything we can to deliver affordable housing, it is a top priority for us that we're making sure that we're uh maximizing affordable housing opportunities on redevelopment over rail yards. Have economics of housing changed so much that you believe the administration would do any better in delivering affordable housing at Sunny Yards in Queens? Sunny side yards in Queens, excuse me. >> Could you restate the question? Excuse me. >> Have the economics of housing uh changed so much that you believe that the administration would do any better in delivering affordable housing at Sunnyside Yards in Queens? >> I think it's still very early days for Sunnyside Yard. Um but I think we should be looking at all opportunities especially you know big you know big swings you know you can deliver a lot of housing for New Yorkers. >> Yeah I mean the cost of building uh insurance uh we just want to know if the economics uh being changed in this current climate if the administration is going to take any other different approach. I mean 12,000 units is very ambitious. So >> we're going to take all approaches across the city. Sunnyside yard is just one thing that we are pursuing. Um but it is you know uh rail yards do provide um opportunity for us to think big Atlantic yards Hudson Yards even Grand Central you know Midtown of course that's primarily uh office space around Grand Central but when uh New Yorker New York City when we you know think big we can deliver big >> um want to go back to my favorite topic staffing um can you discuss the average salary of a planner at DCP? Sure. We will I'll turn to our CO. We're pulling that information for you. >> No problem. >> Yeah. I um I'm glad to let you know that it has increased over the last few years, uh both with increased staff retention and the citywide economic agreement. across our team it's about $97,000. >> Okay. Um just want to highlight for the record um we're retention planners uh they're probably getting double uh in the private sector. Um even though we we we want to uh do as much for public service. I just want to highlight that we're losing a lot of amazing planners to the private sectors because the pay is so low for them. Uh so just want to highlight that for the record. Um, can you speak to how DCP utilizes outside and private consultants in day-to-day operations at city planning, whether that being large neighborhood resonance or any other process uh within DCP? >> Yeah. Yeah. We try to keep it minimal. Um, we primarily use consultants for largecale environmental impact statements for our neighborhood plans. And generally that's because they're of such scale and we try to do those reviews quickly with council members and communities so they don't get stale and we can get through that. >> Is there a set aside budget um for that? >> Currently it's $3.6 million. Um as we've talked about it fluctuates based on the plans we agree with council members to to deliver. >> Okay. Uh I just want to uh touch on uh city- owned sites under the Adams administration as an executive order. Prioritizing housing production and accilerating the production of housing on city sites require city agencies to identify public land suitable for new housing development to address the city's housing concerns. How many sites has DCP identified to date and where are they located? So, chair, I I I know that uh on day one of this administration, the mayor put into effect the lift task force, which is focused on identifying city- owned sites. Um, and we are contributing and and part of that work. Um, the goal is I think the the lift work should be wrapped up this summer. Um, and we should be able to share more information about the sites that have been identified. >> Um, thank you, Commissioner. Um, do you have a process to identify those sites? So, I know that this is happening across multiple city agencies. Um, and I I don't know if there's more to share at least on the DCPN, but I think cities identifying the the various sites that they own and operate. Okay. I just want to state for record, we've been joined by uh Chair Lee and majority leader Shauna Breu. Okay. All right. So uh going back to urban uh designing, urban design is very critical uh and we uh heard you speak about it earlier with council member Carion. Um for providing a healthy environment is also crucial to maintaining public support for growth and development. How does DCP plan on having a coordinated urban design policy without a central urban design division? Can I get new mics y'all? >> Okay. Um, yes, thank you for your question. Uh, again, urban design remains a core value and function at the department of city planning. Uh, we still have a chief urban designer uh at at the department who has a general oversight across um the urban design work across our agency. Um we again we have urban designers distributed throughout the agency many divisions and in every burough office and and also strategic planning offices. Um we are uh urban design is critical and and as you as you mentioned chair Riley in making sure that we have you know buyin and beautiful great livable neighborhoods. So this work that our urban designers are doing across the agency they'll be doing this work from day one from project inception across the agency. Okay, I'd now like to ask a series of questions about the implementation of the effectiveness of the city of Yes reforms. Starting with ADUs. ADUs are largely uh excuse me, ADUs are a large percentage of the projected citywide increase in housing production from the city of Yes for housing opportunity, but the implementation has been slow and we've seen some criticism from advocates that the regulations are too complex and costly. How many permits to date have been issued for ADUs? >> Thank you for your question. Um, we are very excited to say that we have over 150 ADU applications uh in the hopper right now. Um, we've been doing a lot of work in the past year to make sure that folks seeking an uh to build or provide an ADU have the tools. Uh just last week the city launched a toolkit that has ready to go designs for ADUs and also guidance on financing these ADUs. Earlier last year we promaggated rules uh to make sure ADUs are safe and the ADU application portal was opened at do last fall. So we're really excited to see a lot of activity um in the ADU applications. >> Do you have a breakdown of 150 um burrow wide? We have um we have uh Queens and Staten Island leading the way. Um I will give you uh the uh I can get you the specific numbers uh afterwards. >> Is DCP involved in making sure NYC has a workable ADU regulations? >> Absolutely. All these efforts are are about making sure that we have not just workable but easy to use and and great regulations to help homeowners who want to provide an ADU provide one. Thank you. And that's the website you just mentioned, right? >> Yes, the website. >> Okay, good. Uh, with that being said, I do want to commend the administration on the new website you just released for homeowners to navigate the process for ADUs. It has been uh very useful for those who are interested in it. Um, office conversions. Is DCP monitoring the progress on office conversion developments? And if so, are the zoning reforms from city of Yes. and tax incentives proven to be effective in supporting increased conversions. >> We are so excited to see the boom in office conversions with city of yes regulations and the state's 460M state program. Together, we're seeing this incredible surge in delivering housing by also by repurposing vacant or lowperforming office space. >> Okay. Do you know how many office conversions have gone forward to date? I don't know how many buildings per se, but I know that the pipeline is is it includes 12,000 new homes uh a quarter of which are permanently incomerestricted. >> Okay. Um city of also included the transit oriented development and town centers proposal to allow three to three to five story multif family housing more broadly as of right in low density areas. Is DCP monitoring the implementation and uptake by developers of these proposals? And how many TOD's and town center proposals have been filed across the city to date? >> Uh we're working with DB to compile the uh filing permits um at at the locations and we'll be able to share this with city council soon. Um but we're really excited to see that um the uh three, four, five story buildings that are long long long have been loved in New York City have been relegalized and um we're seeing more housing uh developed across the city in in the in these missing middle uh typologies. >> Okay, I'm going to ask some questions on environmental review reform and then I'm going to turn it over to Chair Lee to ask our questions. >> Hi, how are you? Thank you. Oh, sorry. >> I'll be right with you, Chair Lee. So, the governor is proposing to broadly exempt residential projects with up to 500 units from environmental review. Under the governor's proposal, developers would not even have to study ground, air, and noise pollution. This raises fundamental environmental justice concerns. What is DCP's position regarding the governor's proposal? Uh I just wanted to note that the the governor's proposal as I understand it and their competing bills in Albany focuses different uh housing limits in different density areas. So 500 would be in the most dense parts of the city uh be lower elsewhere. And the proposals that I've seen apply to only areas where homes are being proposed in existing residential units. So or existing residential districts. So today as you can go and get a building permit and an area zone for residential without doing those environmental reviews. Uh this would be very similar to that. >> So DCP is in favor of the governor's position. >> We we do think that this is a smart reform that will shorten our process and speed the creation of housing across the city. >> Okay. Yeah, >> I would just add that um as noted right much of this is still in the proposal phase and so um we're in conversations with the state and we'll continue to work through the details. >> Thank you. When DCP proposed green fast track, it limited the exemption to projects to residential projects up to 250 units which is half the size of what the governor is proposing. Why did DCP limit its expect excuse me exemption to 250 units and does the extensive data analyze you perform established that projects up to 500 units have no environmental impacts? >> So we we were proud to do research for green fasttrack but I I think when looking at the green fasttrack we were looking within the universe of state secretro law. uh so the things that we could not change despite uh the lack of mitigations or number of housing units. So we we still for example had to go through certain processes and there were limits that we uh could not overcome. >> Okay. Um just to push a little bit on that. So you were looking at the secret laws in order to come up with that um assumption. But um I think the push back that we want to uh say within that is that within that exemption of the 250 units um do you feel like that is suitable uh for the green fast track um because uh there are a lot of members that have concerns about this? I I think within this process within we're we're trying our best to make sure that we're investing as much in our communities as possible. We do understand that this is a process that takes a long period of time, but this is how a lot of those issues are going to be addressed. So, being that you guys did look at that law, um do you feel like that has been efficient to date? >> David mentioned that when we proposed city uh excuse me, uh green fasttrack, we were looking at it within the existing SRA uh uh regulations. Um we have reviewed the governor's proposal and found that over the last 10 years, 99.6% 6% of the projects that would qualify for the governor's proposal had no impacts. So that's virtually all of them had no impacts. >> Thank you. >> Okay. The environmental review process is critical to addressing environmental justice needs and local infrastructure needs, specifically funding for our local parks and playgrounds. the creation of new open spaces, space for schools, and creating more early childhood facilities. By exempting the projects from environmental review, projects would no longer have to contribute towards the basic needs of our communities. If the governor's reform is passed, what is DCP's strategy to provide our communities with those needed investments um such as schools, parks, resonance, libraries, and those facilities to make sure that our communities can still thrive with density? So I think as Edith just noted the vast vast majority of these projects do not have impacts today and I think uh the answer to your question is is thinking holistically about capital planning across our city. Uh which is something we are strong advocates for in partnership with other agencies. Uh we also look at this whenever we look closely at a neighborhood or through a citywide text to look at the provision of public services. Okay. All right. I'm going to turn off to Chile Lee. I'm just going to ask if DCP could share that analysis of the 99.6 uh percentage. Uh Chile, >> sorry, my ears are half working these days. Um thank you so much for being here. Uh just really quickly, um who uh has been identified at DCP for the uh chief savings officer? >> Hi. >> Oh, nice. Okay, great. Um, I know that they were due last uh Friday, but are you able to share any of the proposals for savings within DCP's budget? And are you anticipating any potential revenue loss uh resulting from implementation of the savings plan? >> So, thank you, council member. Uh, we take we took very seriously the the guidelines in this proposal to find savings that were both sustainable but did not impact the provision of services. So right we do not expect uh services to be diminished or revenue to decrease. >> Perfect. Um and especially if revenue generating positions are reduced uh such as headcount for planning staff who facilitate neighborhood studies and resonings. Is that still also not going to impact? >> That's correct. >> Okay. Um the two for one hiring restrictions, is that is that still in place or >> uh yes. >> Okay. Um, and when do you anticipate the timeline for >> So, it was uh as part of the chief savings officer program, the the goal was to release agencies from the two for one uh hiring prize. >> Okay. Um, sorry, just going to the OMB report because I know that it's in the financial summary, the headcount is pretty much the same. if there's like it seems to be one position difference between FY26 and 27, but there's quite a decrease in the overall budget. And I'm just wondering, I know you mentioned in your testimony that a lot of the decrease is due to um the grants or funding, temporary funding going away, but is there anything else that's in that or is it mostly that reason? >> It it's that's the vast majority. Two big things that I'll cite. Uh so uh environmental consulting dollars that were for prior administration projects that are no longer needed. That's about uh almost $3 million and $2.5 million uh is funding for the Jamaica reasonzoning that came through a federal grant and that with the council we were excited to complete. >> Yes, definitely. Um okay. And then in the OTPS, what's the reason for is it the same issue of That decrease is that also because of the funding going away or is that a different category of funding? >> That that's the the lion share of it, right? The >> Okay, >> that's Yeah. >> Okay. And then in terms of the uh preliminary uh plan changes, I know that in FY26 um for new needs it pretty much went up from 603 to 1.3 and then other adjustments also increased. And so I know in your testimony you've outlined funding for the census to address that. So is that most of the line share of where the new needs is going towards? >> Uh yes, it's uh 716,07 headcount for the census. >> 760,000. >> 716,000. So >> 16,000. Okay. And then what about the rest? >> So we received 300,000 in personnel dollars to activate uh dormant headcount for city map changes. uh dormant head count for I'm sorry >> to for uh city map changes. So we are we are expected to take on uh address assignments by January of next year and the city map over the next uh two following years from the burough present. So we're working on establishing the plan for that with this early investment. >> Okay, perfect. Um and then just in terms of the neighborhood planning, um I know the neighborhood studies and subsequent subsequent resoning and plans have a large economic impact um by facilitating housing development and driving activity for small businesses and increasing the tax base. Um have you done an um have you evaluated the economic benefit that a fully staffed department would have on your ability to undertake a greater number of these plans because I know that it's going to increase. So, uh, you know, we think these plans are tremendously impactful in different neighborhoods that we work in, both in adding, uh, both, uh, construction jobs and long-term jobs and then homes for people during this this uh, significant housing crisis. We have not done a full economic impact, but we've looked to see the outcomes of our work both in terms of jobs and housing. And, you know, we look forward to speaking to all council members. Okay. So, you have done a full impact study on it. >> We we have looked at the outcomes of past zonings. Correct. >> Okay. And can you share what some of those would be? >> You repeat the question. >> Can you share what some of those would be? >> Uh I I don't have that information with you. I'd have to get back to you. >> Okay. Perfect. And then um what have been some of the impacts on city revenue from past resonings like East New York or Inwood? Uh we at city planning have not done an analysis of I assume you're you're talking about tax revenue. We have not done that type of analysis. >> All right. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. >> Thank you. Uh we'll hear next from Council Member Felder, followed by Majority Leader Breu, then Council Member Kaban. >> Thank you. Uh I I first I want to address the comment uh before I start. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> And good luck. >> Uh you know that the you're only going to get complaints from everyone including us. So >> so at least today you're not getting any complaints. >> Yeah. That's the nature. um your colleague had mentioned something about the voters of New York with the charter commission and yeah so I just want to comment on that is that I think I and I'm not looking for an answer because the thing is going to go off and we won't have time to debate it but historically we you know first of all the way the questions are asked that's how the answers are are given and that's that that's not my creation that's in a general statement and that's how the charter questions go uh you know for since you know since I could remember depending on how the questions are asked that's that's whether they get approved or not so I don't believe that referring to the voters of New York approving the charter and we I have deep respect for the voters of New York. But I I'd be willing to bet that if somebody spent time uh with vote the voters explaining in detail what they voted for, they would tell you that they had no understanding of that that that's what it meant. Period. So that's that. Second, in terms of the comments that you made about reaching out to the community through the community board and the bar president, again, deepest respect for some of the community boards. I I'm not speaking for my colleagues. I'm speaking for my own district. I have community boards that are very active and really do the job well. And clearly uh I think your reference uh would have been accurate. And I have others that it that the time you spent with those community boards in those neighborhoods, I don't know what they told you, but they have no idea what they're talking about. Period. Uh you call. So, so I don't think that uh that you'd really get a good picture about what's going on and and uh what I what I what I would like to know, you know, here's the question the you know the all sorts of things go into the uh the uh property building uh you know whatever else The thing that that I do not hear is about the the you know they talk about parking other things about play area for the children that that that should be something that's part of the requirement just like uh you know you do anything else unless unless there there's a uh unless the you know that's not Uh, I don't know what to tell you. To me, you know, I think it's critical and I would just say is that under federal law, I keep on looking at the clock because uh I I I you know, depending on uh you know, if I'm behaving or not, they they make it go quicker when I'm talking or slower. Yeah. So, so no, I just want to tell you that in the city of New York, I I dare say, and this is nothing to do with this administration, but because you just started, in the city of New York, there are only two playgrounds in the entire city that accommodate disabled and special needs children. Every other playground accommodates them by having one red or orange I don't sure swing. That's how they're accommodated. It's it's embarrassing and outrageous. And I dare criticize it because because I have a grandchild with a disability. I had no idea until until he was born what that meant. And I and the one is in Queens and one is in Felder's district, believe it or not. >> I would just ask and beg that that be taken into consideration among your many priorities. >> Thank you, Council Member Fel. >> Thank you, Council Member. and absolutely you have our commitment to giving attention to that. >> Uh next we're going to hear from majority leader Bru followed by Kaban and Thomas Henry. >> Thank you Chair Riley. Last year DCP announced it was pursuing an initiative dubbed city of yes for families with potential citywide zoning reforms to support uses like childcare facilities that help families stay in New York City. Is DCP still working on this initiative? I think so much of what we of our work is centered around making sure New York City is a great place for families that they can stay, they can grow and flourish here. Um, we are doing a so much work across the board to make sure that this is the case. Um, we've seen in our neighborhood plans the the delivery of of parks improvements, of schools, of safer streets. These are really important elements in making good neighborhoods. Is the city pursuing this initiative dubbed city of yes for families? >> We're pursuing many initiatives um per maybe not under a specific >> but this specific initiative this specific initiative that was dubbed city of yes for families in the past administration is this administration taking on that specific initiative? >> Uh we are taking on many initiatives under the umbrella of making making sure New York City is a great place for families. Is there anything currently in place with respect to potential city-wide zoning reforms to support uses like childcare facilities? >> Well, you I think we've all seen and heard that it it is a top priority for this mayor. Um and we are seeing really exciting action to make sure daycare is much more affordable for New Yorkers. It doesn't sound like to me that there is a current pursuit of this city of yes for families as was envisioned by the prior administration. Is that fair to say? >> Um >> because you're not committing to whether or not you're you're following this specific initiative. It's okay if you're not. >> Um we are following many of the initiatives that we were think certainly that were developing and developed under city of Yes for Families. It'll probably come under perhaps different branding or um come under uh uh uh other initiatives, but we are 1,000% committed to making sure that New York City is a great place to grow families. >> I understand there's a commitment to the issue. >> Uh but it doesn't sound there's something specific in work in the works right now. >> Can I just please Yeah. >> Can I just add whether um it's being called city of Yes for Family. I think as the executive director shared the the components are are in play, right? making sure there are safer streets, making sure that we're taking into account school seats, all of the things that are needed to support thriving families, as well as making sure that we're facilitating access to the types of facilities that families need. Um, I think it may not be called that same umbrella, but the components >> the components are a priority and hopefully will be part of future plans. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Right. Great. Uh, regarding City of Yas implementation, uh, the universal affordability preference from City of Yas created zoning incentives for affordable housing in all high density districts R six or higher. Is DCP monitoring the implementation and our developers using the UAP as expected? >> Yes, we're we're very uh very excited to see that UAP is being taken up. We are seeing over 150 applications for UAP. So, that's wonderful. Um we are uh uh collecting more and more data working with DOB to be able to share out some more information about how UAP >> that's great and 150 UAP applications across how many sites do you have that information? >> I don't have that uh specific number but we can get back to >> if you can share that with this committee that would be great and my last question is on development on houses of worship. City of US implemented several zoning changes intended to make it easier for houses of worship to devel develop affordable housing. Are we seeing an increase in development of faith-based organization sites as a result of the city of yes reforms? >> Let me get back to you with specifics on on on on sites and applications. >> Sounds good. If you could just get get that information to the chair, that would be great. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member. >> Thank you, Majority Leader. Council member Kaban. >> Thank you very much. So, I I want to start with um asking about neighborhood plans. Obviously, they play a significant role in securing housing potential and neighborhood investment. What's the process DC takes to make sure that the planning efforts are equitably distributed across the the city? >> We're taking a hard look across the city for opportunities for neighborhood planning. I think a top priority >> like mine, we've got a neighborhood plan. >> Well, thank you actually. Thank you very much, council member, for your for your ex community work on on on looking at looking at a story and the surroundings. >> Well, thanks to our land use division because they did that. They saved you guys a lot of money by doing that in house. So, >> well, it it is it is, you know, certainly that's uh uh working work getting recommendations directly and work from council member is is hugely important to us and and and certainly very motivating. um when we're looking at opportunities across the city, we are certainly keeping our eye on areas that have historically underdelivered. So that is also one of our motivating factors. >> Yeah. I I mean I I understand that that's a motivating factor, but then there there is the alternate issue of like for example, you have a district like mine or a district like CM WS where they're we're doing our fair share and it is you know housing development is exploding but it is not happening in a way that really is grounded and rooted in community. And so while we will you know there are plenty of us who will be like yeah some of these other districts need to do their fair share. um while we're trying to do the the right thing, we want to make sure that the administration has a plan for um investing in our neighborhoods so that these resonings uh are are sort of um community driven. So, so I guess that leads into my next question of like there's this issue where if there's an appetite for upzoning like there is in in my district um but only if there's funding for infrastructure, how are you considering that? >> Yeah. So, I think council member, to your point, um we want to make sure we're taking a holistic approach. And so, while there's a focus on communities that haven't delivered, um to the city's housing supply in the past, a community such as yours, we also want to make sure that we're working in partnership with you for communities where people may be experiencing displacement, development pressures, um and making sure that we're taking a more holistic planning approach that also brings in the capital needs and all of the other components that come with a neighborhood plan. Um, I think moving forward, right, it's sort of a two-fold approach. Looking at where there's need, social economic characteristics, all of the things that we know impact neighborhoods, as well as having um a really important focus on communities that have not contributed in the past. >> Well, we're ready. And so, can I can I get a commitment from you guys to at least follow up with with me on on our district plan? Um, something that I'd really like to to see done. We had a lot of community engagement on it. Um, and some of the areas do also involve manufacturing. So, I want to ask about manufacturing districts in in general that like there are reasonzonings in manufacturing districts that aren't prepared for residential. How does DCP plan for the infrastructure improvements needed in in those areas? >> I heard two questions or or but I I can do the second. >> No, just Well, okay. So there's the added challenge of where we're looking to to reszone, right? Um in districts that have been heavily manufactured, but historically heavily manufactured. Like for example, in Atoria, we actually did, I think it was 2012, 2014, a redistricting of what was mostly manufacturing into residential except there hasn't been any building. but with the surrounding area also there are things that need to be done to make it liveable as as residential zoning. So whether it's there or in other places when you're looking at those particular types of reszoning um where you manufacturing districts that they're not prepared for residential necessarily, how do you plan for the infrastructure improvements in those areas when you're moving from manufacturing to residential? >> Thank you, council member. Um, with any major neighborhood uh plan, including reszoning from manufacturing to allow for for residential, we take a hard look at at the potential effects and and and the services and the infrastructure so that we are prepared to and and we're making sure that the area is is ready for for residents. Um, with respect, >> what what does that look like? Like >> in many cases, it's a it's an environmental review. the the ULIPS that we've seen for transitioning manufacturing areas to deliver residential have had a very complete environmental review where we're looking at categories across the board. >> Okay. And then what do you do once those environmental reviews are done? Like what are some of the things that you are investing in and actually doing in in those scenarios? >> Well, there may be mitigations that are required in that environmental review. Um and and mitigations are required to be carried out. um they are uh and with and with respect to industrial areas, not all industrial area is the same, right? So there are many areas that may be more ready and and ripe for non-industrial uses. Um the uh city council uh directed us uh at city planning to work with our city agencies to develop a strategic plan, a policy plan for our industrial areas. And we're very pleased to report that of last uh just this past December, we issued the city's first strategic plan for industrial for the industrial sector, the industrial plan as you all know. And one of the strategies laid out in the industrial plan is looking at areas and classifying them whether they should remain core and primary for manufacturing or industrial or secondary or even you know areas that may be ready and more more ready for uh non-industrial uses. So um >> chair can I ask one more followup? So, and and I also appreciate that there is a need to maintain and preserve um some of our manufacturing areas and and shout out to council member Gutierrez who I think has done just like a lot of work on that front. But I I just in addition to environmental review I understand that districts are different. I just would love to know what some of the other concrete things that y'all are looking at or investing in when making those changes. So there's the environmental review. Are you doing street safety? Like what what else is happening? >> May I add one thing before before the commissioner? Um I was remissed to say that when we're doing um you know uh uh holistic neighborhood planning that that's ushering in, you know, major new uses, you know, moving a manufacturing to housing, let's say. You know, it's not just mitigations we're looking at. We do extensive uh uh uh and collaborative discussions with the community, with the stakeholders, and with the electeds to see what the needs are in these neighborhoods. So, um, there are a number of commitments sometimes that come out of neighborhood plans and we see them carried out through, uh, POA, which is tracked very closely by the city of New York. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. >> Thank you, Council Member Kaban. Council member Thomas Henry. >> Thank you. Um, Chair, I do want to echo Councilman Felder's comment about playgrounds. I had a real life instance in my district with Willlets Point. I took a tour a couple of months ago and asked that very question. It was 880 units and no out outdoor space for kids. And I'm happy to say when I went back around, they did designate an area outdoor specifically to build a playground. So, I think this is something very important when we're thinking about building more units that are supposed to be familyfriendly to make sure that there is outdoor space for those um families. Um, kind of piggybacking off um, Council Member Kaban's question, when we do these planning, how does transportation come into play? And I would, you probably don't have it now, but I would be interested in knowing the transportation plan for Willitz Point. Currently, with the new bus redesign, there was a new bus route that was placed there, but the only accessible the only train station is the number seven line, which on a good day is terrible, and it's not ADA accessible. So curious to know how transportation comes in in general with um these neighborhood plans, but also if you guys could get back to me specifically with Willlets, what the transportation plan is. >> Sure. Transportation and access is key when we are planning anything in New York. Uh we have a uh transportation division at the Department of City Planning and overall our agency. We work very closely with the city's DOT and with MTA um you know we are uh just generally um a transit oriented uh transit oriented development city. We should be more so we should be taking all opportunities to leverage this incredible asset. It's really unparalleled um maybe in the world. Uh we have an incredible transit system. Um it's not just subways, of course, it's bus and other modes of of of uh of moving around. Um with every neighborhood plan, we make sure that there is good transit or improved transit to so that we are maximizing our our we're leveraging um transit and neighborhood planning to help each other. >> And who can I follow up with for the Willitz Point plan? Ex exactly. Okay. Um my last question is last year a former JFK Hilton hotel in Queens was converted to over 300 units of affordable housing. As um hotels seem to become the preference to house individuals, is there a long-term plan to do more conversions like this into afford affordable permanent housing? >> We we look to uh uh the property owners and operators. Um there's not a plan per se from from our side um to see more of those conversions. >> As someone who lives near airport, I would and a lot of those hotels have been converted. So if there if that is something that um land use could look at that would be great. >> Thank you, council member. Um just wanted to touch on the racial equity reports. Um, so under the leadership of public advocate Williams and then committee land use chair Salamanca, this council passed legislation requiring developers to conduct racial equity reports for large scale developments. Um, chair commissioner, I know how important this is to you. Um, a lot of times when we're doing these large resonance, uh, displacement is a word that tends to be put out there. Um, even when I'm thinking about my neighborhood planning planning, I don't want anyone to be displaced. Um, so as we're doing these large uh plans, I just have a question. How does DCP continue to work with developers to ensure projects don't negatively affect minority communities? >> Sure. So, thank you for your question. Um, um, and yes, this is obviously very important to me. I know that the racial equity reports went in effect in 2022. Um, since then they have been used as a tool to help reach deliberation as uh, applications go past certification. Um, I know for the CPC and the city council, for instance, they've been used to help reevaluate NIH levels in certain projects. And so, we certainly want to make sure that that's a tool that we continue to use um, moving forward and strengthen. Um, back to the housing strategy as you guys are developing this. It's no secret housing projects face multi-year delays in receiving financial subsidies uh through HPD. Does DCP advocate for quicker closing on city-led development priorities? And if so, how do you do so? >> So, obviously there's a need to address the affordable housing crisis with the urgency New Yorkers deserve. Um, I think on our end, right, we shared in this this hearing some of the efforts that we have underway to at least help environmental review move along more quickly and some of the processes that we control. Um, we're certainly, you know, regularly in conversations with our colleagues at HPD2 to do whatever we can to support them as they work towards closing on projects. >> Okay. Because usually, typically after we close out uh of our hearings, it's taken years for developers even to get the shovel uh in the floor. So, I know we're we're everyone's thinking about units units units we have to produce, but just we also have to advocate for how long it takes for developers to actually build. Um, so just wanted to put that out there on the record, Commissioner. >> And I know it's been mentioned um the speed task force, right, that has been launched and so there are multiple agencies that role in the affordable housing pipeline. Um, everyone's at the table to figure out how we can do this more quickly. >> Thank you. Um, fair housing framework. So, local law 167 of 2023, the fair housing framework is for the first time requiring a citywide analysis of housing needs and housing production targets for each community district to be released in October of 2026. In what capacity has DCP worked alongside HPD on this plan so far? So, I know the team at DCP has been hard at work um as well as our colleagues across the city to develop the such a comprehensive fair housing um framework with to your point targets across districts. Um and so I can certainly perhaps you could lend more on the collaboration with HPD. >> Uh it's we we work very closely with HPD on a number of things and certainly on on this uh framework. Um, and uh, this is of course a direct result of the city council legislation and we're really excited to use this framework to help guide our to help us guide our work moving forward. >> Does DCB have an adequate budget uh, line for this framework? >> Yes, and I would just add fair housing is not uh, ancillary to the work, right? It's poor business and so um, staff across the organization will be part of shaping this work. Does DCP intend to use the community district targets as part of its evaluation of where to undertake neighborhood resonance? >> I think that should inform the work that we do. Absolutely. Um, you know, part of the the city fair spare housing goals are to address the patterns of segregation, make sure um that we're working to connect people to high opportunity communities, addressing displacement, all of that should inform how we pursue neighborhood resonings and planning efforts. Um to piggy back off of Chair Kaban, um Chair Lewis wanted me to ask this specifically. Um within her district, uh they are looking forward in moving forward with a neighborhood resoning plan, but similar uh to my neighborhood resoning, it's not receiving, uh as much attention as possible from DCP. Can you com please commit to um moving forward with that attention and resources for the neighborhood plan in Council Member Kaban and Council Chair Lewis and Council Member Joseph's district. So it it is exciting to me that there are a number of council members who are looking to proactively plan for their communities. >> Means you have a lot of work to do. >> Yes. And so um as noted obviously, you know, just just got here certainly assessing um where where where we will go um but happy to get out to everyone's district and really understand what the issues are so we can make sure um to prioritize that in our early days. >> Thank you, Commissioner. I just have two more questions. This is from uh Council Member Brooks Powers. Um she wanted me to ask these two questions on her behalf. As a part of the city of Yes. for housing opportunity, DCP has begun approving accessory dwelling units. By law, ADUs in the basement, sellers or backyards are not permitted if they are located in coastal and inflamed flood areas. How is DCP coordinating with D to ensure that all new ADU construction and environmentally feasible excuse me is environmentally feasible and safe for residents and their neighborhoods? >> Sure. I can you can share more about the criteria. >> Sure. Uh uh as I mentioned earlier there we have been hard at work plummeagating very uh strict uh rules for safety of ADUs. Um and uh this is coming a out of after the city of yes legislation legalized uh adus. We have to make sure that all these are safe. Um so we work uh uh we have worked very closely with the agencies uh moving forward. Do are looking very carefully uh do in particular at the applications for each individual ADU. As DCP looks to support the city's effort to expand affordable housing, how is the agency considering transportation access or lack thereof as a factor in new zoning amendments? >> Oh, transit is is so key. We are a um a transitoriented city. We should be even more so. I think it's really uh uh incumbent upon all of us to look for opportunities that leverage our incredible transit across the city. is not just subway. It's also bus and bike and all modes of transit of of transit. Um transit provides great places to locate homes, access to jobs, growth of institutions, uh you name it. So, uh access to transit is um a ve transit provides access and access to transit is a very important motivator in our neighborhood planning. >> Okay. Well, thank you so much for your testimony today. Thank you for answering our questions. Uh, Commissioner, looking forward to working with you. Thank you so much to the DCP team. Um, and we'll be in touch. You're excused from the panel. >> Thank you very much, council members. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we're going to go to public testimony after we hear from um LPC. So, we're going to hear uh from Landmarks Preservation Commission first and then we're going to go into public testimony. Okay. Okay. Uh before we go into uh the um testimony, I'm just going to allow Chair Marte to give his opening statement. Thank you, Chair Riley, and thank you to the leadership of the Landmarks Preservation Commission for being here today. We are here today to discuss the preliminary financial plan for fiscal 2026 to 2030 preliminary plan, which includes a proposed fiscal 2027 budget of 8.1 million and a fiscal 2026 budget of 8.96 million for LPC, both which are unchanged from the November 2025 plan. The preliminary plan did include a slight miscellaneous revenue increase for LPC of $150,000 in fiscal 2026, reflecting an increase in landmarks permit fees collected due to larger projects submitting application for review. In addition to budget and resources, my questions focus on the following topic. LPC's process and plan for researching and designating new landmarks and historic districts and LPC's oversight and stewardship of existing landmarks. In particular, we have seen a concerning trend in the demolition of historic landmark landmark sites due to neglect and poor maintenance. The members of this committee and I are interested in hearing about LPC's effort to reduce instances of demolition and encourage proper care of landmarks to ensure we preserve these historically significant site. Thank you again for joining us today and I will pass it to the committee council to administer the oath. >> Perfect. Thank you chair. Uh could you please raise your right hand and state your name for the record? >> Lisa Chris Savage. Steven Thompson. >> Stephen Thompson. >> Akim Basheru. >> Uh, please keep your right hand raised. You swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth in your testimony this morning and in your uh response to council member questions. >> I do. >> I do. I do. >> Thank you. >> You may be good. >> Okay, great. So, thank you, Chair Riley and Chair Marte. Um, good afternoon to you and to members of the committee on land use subcommittee or excuse me, the council committee on land use and the subcommittee on landmark sightings and dispositions. I'm Lisa Kavage, executive director. I'm pleased to be here today to speak about the Landmarks Preservation Commission's fiscal year 2027 preliminary budget. I am joined today by Akim Bashiu, our director of financial management, and Steven Thompson, director of community and intergovernmental affairs. The commission's mission is to protect the significant architectural, historical, and cultural resources of our city. We do that by designating buildings and sites as landmarks and subsequently regulating changes to them. The preservation of historic resources supports communities, fosters economic development, and contributes to the vitality of New York City. To date, the commission has designated and regulates more than 38,500 buildings and sites throughout the five bureaus, and the agency issues about 12,000 work permits annually. Since we last testified on our AY's budget, LPC has continued advancements in our efforts to make city government work for New Yorkers by increasing the efficiency, transparency, and accessibility of our permitting process, designating significant historic resources across the city, and prioritizing those buildings and districts that reflect the city's diversity and tell the story of all New Yorkers, and educating property owners about permitting processes and grant opportunities. I will begin our testimony today giving a brief overview of LPC's budget and how resources are allocated. LPC's preliminary budget for fiscal year 2027 is 8.15 million which consists of 7.45 million in city funds and u nearly 700,000 in federal community development block grant funds. LPC is fundamentally an agency of professionals. Almost 90% of the preliminary budget of $7.3 million is allocated to personnel services and only 10% about $865,000 is allocated to other than personnel services. Our budget supports the agency's five departments including the research department responsible for evaluating and vansing properties for designation. The preservation department which permit which reviews permanent applications for work on designated properties. the enforcement department, which investigates complaints of potential violations and helps owners correct non-compliances, and the arch archaeology and environmental review departments, which assists city, state, and federal agencies in their environmental review processes. The AY's total headcount in fiscal year 2027 preliminary budget is 78 full-time staff. We also have five part-time staff. Of the CDBG funding, about 82% is allocated to personnel services supporting critical community development related functions such as survey, environmental review, archaeology, community outreach, and education. While 18% or approximately $115,000 is allocated for our historic preservation grant program for low-income homeowners and not for-profit organizations. I will now discuss the work of the commission. Um, these resources support research and designations. LPC is committed to equitable representation and designations with a focus on communities and neighborhoods that have been less represented by landmark designation. And we work closely with agencies like the Department of City Planning to find opportunities for designation in areas of growth um and development citywide. In fiscal year 2026 to date, LPC has designated five new individual landmarks and two historic districts for a total of 433 buildings. The two new districts are in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Beverly Square West Historic District, and Dipmas Park West Historic District, comprising a total of 427 buildings. These two districts of distinctive freestanding houses contain some of the finest residential residential streetscapes in this part of Brooklyn. The five individual landmarks are in Midtown South Manhattan and are related to the garment industry. Barbie building, fashion tower, Furcraft building, 29th Street Towers, and Leftc Court clothing center all designated as individual landmarks in August. Designed by many of the city's leading architects of the time, the buildings are some of the garment district's most impressive examples of early 20th century commercial architecture and together tell the story of Midtown Manhattan's transformation at the 20th century at the turn of the 20th century into a global center of garment and furrier industries and a hub for the nation's growing labor movement, particularly for women. The commission's designation of these buildings was done in coordination with DCP's Midtown South mixeduse plan. With the resoning and the designation of these buildings, they can be adaptively reused for housing and any excess air rates could be transferred to create additional housing opportunities. Earlier this month, LPC held public hearings for the proposed designation of three sites in Brooklyn and Manhattan as individual landmarks. U public school 15 annex in Brooklyn, the Church of Ma uh St. Mary uh located in the Lower East Side and the Lithuanian Alliance building in Midtown Manhattan. In addition to their architectural significance, these buildings are all related to New York City's rich immigrant history with all three serving important functions to educate, uplift, and provide social services to their respective communities. Moving forward, we will continue to prioritize designations that tell the full story of all New Yorkers and represent the diversity of the city and are located in areas less represented by landmarks. Um, I will now turn to our preservation and permitting operations. It is a top priority for LPC to support property owners of designated landmark buildings and to ensure an efficient, transparent and accessible process for applicants. Our job is not to prevent change but to manage it so that we can ensure these significant buildings and sites are protected and also remain vital. LPC's preservation department is the regulatory arm of the commission and is the largest department within the agency. Our staff are professionally trained preservationists who work with property and business owners to help them obtain approval for work that meets their needs and is sensitive to the sort building and context. Each year, approximately 94 to 97% of permits are issued by staff pursuant to the commission's rules. The remaining 3 to 6% of the applications are reviewed by the full commission. LPC staff works closely with property owners to ensure they understand the criteria and review process and to help them put together complete application and presentation. In FY25, the commission received 11,748 permit applications and took action on 11,324 applications ranging from restoration, adaptive reuse, additions, and new buildings. As of March 1st, we have received about 7,600 applications and are roughly on track to match the FY25 total. The projects approved by the commission not only preserve historic buildings, but also help create new housing, support New York City's iconic cultural institutions, and help drive economic growth across all five burrows. Two years ago, LPC launched the AY's online application portal, Portico. Designed with uh New York City small property owners in mind, Portico has had a transformative effect on LPC's permit application process, making easier and faster for applicants to obtain permits to perform work on their designated properties. Since its launch, Portico has driven significant improvements in the efficiency of LPC's permitting process with a 30% reduction in the average time it takes the agency to issue the three most common types of staff level permits and a 36% increase in the number of applications received and reviewed through LPC's expedited services, including the AY's business express service. A December 2025 report from the New York Controllers Office highlighted these gains, finding that Portico has increased both the efficiency and transparency of LPC's permitting process. LPC works hard to make our application process easy to understand and accessible. In the last year, we updated our permit guide book, which helps applicants file complete applications so the agency can more quickly issue permits. The update incorporated newly adopted rules that allow for staff level review of certain applications. Work to adopt new rules is ongoing because it allows a faster and more streamlined review of some applications which allows the agency to be more responsive to property owners. I will now share some further details about the essential outreach and education work that LPC conducts. Outreach and education are essential to our success. Our goal is to make information accessible to everybody, especially property owners, business owners, and faith-based organizations. as a substantial number of owners directly file for permits with LPC. In recent years, we've increased community outreach efforts and now placed special emphasis on meeting with communities across all five bureaus. In the last year, we have partnered with several council members and community boards to host events to share information on permits, grants, and financial incentives for property owners in historic districts ranging from Sugar Hill and Hamilton Heights in upper Manhattan to Sunset Park and Bedford Cyverent in Brooklyn and St. George and Stapleton Heights on Staten Island. And in the months ahead, we look forward to holding events in Longwood, in the Bronx, and Ridgewood, Queens. These in-person engagements make regulation and funding opportunities accessible through direct conversations with LPC staff members. Um, we often are accompanied by language and interpreters. Um, and LPC staff can answer questions in real time and maintain contact with property owners as they prepare permit applications. We also work to celebrate Lamark designations and provide educational tools for New Yorkers to engage in the city's history. In the last year, LPC released two enhanced online mapping pool tools, the discover New York City landmarks map and the AR archaeology report finder that make it easier for users looking for information on a given landmark site. These are accessible on LPC's website along with other tools including story maps featuring sites and immersive heritage trail of abolitionist and underground railroad sites in Brooklyn. Before I conclude, I want to return to the historic preservation grant program, a modest federally funded program targeted for low and moderate income homeowners and not for-profit organizations to help restore or repair the facades of their landmark buildings. In FY25, the program awarded three $35,000 grants, two to homeowners and one to a nonprofit organization. Homeowner grants supported restoration work at the properties in Crown Heights North Assort District in Brooklyn and the Cambria Heights Historic District in Queens, including Brownstone and soup repairs, window replacement, and lead paint remediation. The nonprofit grant supported roof replacement at the office building at Frederick Douglas Memorial Park and Individual Landmark on Staten Island. In FY26, thus far, LPC has awarded three grants ranging from 11,000 to $35,000 to one homeowner and two nonprofit organizations. The homeowner grants support window replacement and restoration of brownstone stoop and trim at a property in Morris Heights Morris High School Historic District in the Bronx. And the nonprofit grants include window replacement at a religious property in the Chelsea Historic District in Manhattan and work at the Metro Theater and Individual Landmark on Broadway on the Upper West Side. In summary, we are excited for the future of historic preservation in New York City and thank the administration and city council for your continued support and the and for the resources provided in this budget. We are a small agency and nearly the entirety of our budget is personnel-based. LPC has a hardworking, dedicated, and professional staff with an outsiz impact on our city responsible for the protection and preservation of its most significant buildings, districts, and sites. Our commitment is that we will continue to do this important work with the resources provided and strive to do so equitably efficiently and transparently. Thank you again for allowing me to testify. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> Thank you, Lisa. Um, I just have a couple of questions and one request. Um, and then I'll turn over to Chair Marte. Um, is my impression that in the past couple of years uh the number of landmark uh applications have decreased. Could you please discuss the trend and why? >> Um, and so could I just clarify your question? Are are you talking about landmark designations or permanent applications for work on >> designations? Oh, designations. Okay. Um, it is true that um, you know, in the years during the pandemic and following the pandemic, the number of landmark designations um did decrease. Um but as you know I just noted um our numbers already in FY26 are are substantially higher. Um so um you know I think it's important to understand that for our designations um the the numbers are really a snapshot in time and don't necessarily reflect um you know all of the surveys and studies that that are ongoing or the work with owner outreach. Um so sometimes in a in a fiscal year you know it'll look especially slow because we've been doing a lot of studies or a lot of outreach. Um these you know all landmark designations take uh time um and so you know it's important that we do things uh you know correctly and we do a lot of robust owner outreach. >> Thank you. Is the average age of landmark buildings going down as more older buildings have already been landmarked? the average age of landmark buildings. >> Yeah, newer buildings. >> Oh, it's an that's an interesting question. I don't think I have an answer for that, but it's something that we can we can look into. Um I'm sure our research department would love to to check that out. Yeah, I think still probably the probably it's um sort of late 19th century, early 20th century row houses are probably still make up most of the designated buildings. >> Okay. And last, just a request. I know that you're doing a lot of community engagements. I see you have one in the Bronx in Longwood. Um, I would love if you come to the Northeast Bronx to do some community engagement as possible. So, if you could do some outreach to our office to do so, I would really appreciate that. >> Absolutely. >> And I'll turn over to Chair Marte for his lines of question. >> Thank you, Chair Riley. Um, I'm going to skip to to the designations just to follow what Chair Riley was questioning. Uh in the preliminary mayor's management report indicates that during the first four months of fiscal year 2025, all five individual landmark designation came as a result of DCP's Midtown South mixeduse plan. Uh why in 2025 was there only one designation outside of this resoning plan? And why are so few landmarks being designated independently of resoning plans? >> Right. Well, actually the um Midtown South uh buildings were designated in FY26 actually. Um and we were very happy to work with city planning on that. Um you know, as I noted, when there's um a neighborhood resoning plan um and there are preservation opportunities, we do try and work with DCP on that. Um and so, you know, we had um been working with them throughout that process. um you know the last year the um buildings that were designated um it was admittedly you know a lower number um and that included the Whitney building um interior um the Jacob Day residence um which is a very important um abolition site um and the modulator building um interior um so so those were the four designations of FY25 so thus far in FY26 six, we've done the five uh Midtown South buildings and then two historic districts in um Brooklyn >> and then we have three calendared buildings. >> Thank you. Um one thing you mentioned to the chair was that you can't look at these in a moment of time. You have to look at them at a wider scope. U you know since 2020 an average of 5.5 individual landmarks has been designated per year compared to 20.7 for the past previous 5 years. Can you explain the downturn in design designations? >> Yeah, you know, I do think that um you know, 2020 um the pandemic and then coming out of the pandemic, um you know, I think we were really focused on making sure that our agency was addressing critical needs related to our, you know, our permitting and helping the city with recovery. Um so I think it's not surprising that we were designating fewer buildings at that time. Um and you know but our research staff was focused on surveys. Um you know we've been doing they've been doing a lot of um uh analysis. We're working on a big technology project. So there was there's a lot of work that goes into the identification of historic resources that builds the foundation for future designations. So our focus during that very difficult and dark time in New York City was really on building that foundation. >> Okay. All right. I'm going to go now to vacancies. LPC had vacancy rate of 15.4% as of January 2026. What challenges is LPC facing to backfill vacancies? >> At the at the moment we um have less uh than that. We're about 9% um and so we have seven vacant positions. Um and we are working with OM um to fill those as appropriate as we can. Um can you tell us some of those plans to ensure that these vacant pos vacancy positions are filled during the next fiscal year? >> Yeah. Um you know we were able to fill quite a few uh positions at the end of December and early January. Um so and we're actually in the process of um hiring the deputy director of research. That's a approved position. Um and then the other positions um you know we'll be working with OM um to see how we can fill them. >> Um there are currently two commissioner positions vacant uh with one being the chair which requires mayoral appointment and city council approval. How critical is it for these two commissioner positions to be filled? Has the administration given a timeline to LPC about filling these two positions? >> Sure. Um that is correct. We have two vacant commission um positions. Um and I'd really have to refer that question on timing to the administration. >> Right. >> LPC had no changes to their budget in the fiscal 2027 preliminary plan. What are are there any additional resources or operational changes that could help LPC to address its vacancy rate? Um I believe we have the resources in place that we need um you know to address those vacancies and make sure that we are able to do our critical services. >> Yeah. You know in the past LPC was targeted for vacancy reductions to find savings. Uh what positions has historically been targeted for those vacancy reductions and are there vacancies in those positions now? Um well, previous vacancy reductions have tended to be positions um like our landmarks preservationists where there's um you know, we have it makes up 55% of our staff so that we have we're able to continue to do our critical services. Um but uh you know I can't speak to any um plans right now for vacancy reduction and and typically too those um vacancies have been restored as well. So we've had all of those um positions restored to us. >> Okay. U we know that there's been a chief saving officer in in every agency. Can you share any findings uh from the chief saving officer now that their proposal has been submitted? >> Sure. That um proposal was submitted on um Friday and since it's still under review um with OM and um city hall um you know I think it's premature for us to share any um you know findings on that but um you know with time that will be shared. >> Is there a timeline for when the public will have more information on those findings? >> I don't have that information. Um, does LPC still have the two for one hiring restriction in place first imposed by the previous Adams administration? >> Um, that has been changed um, recently. Um, and so the um, LPC will have the ability to hire up to a revised um, budgeted headcount. >> Okay, cool. Um, I'm going to move to towards violation and complaints. >> Okay. Um, according to LPC's data, since 2014, there are 2383 violations that are still active. That is 43% of all violations issued over this time, some issues over 10 years ago. Can you explain the status of these violation and why so many remain active? >> Sure. And you know, I just want to preface my this by saying that our enforcement department is really focused on compliance um and not necessarily taking um you know issuing penalties. So we really are trying to work you know very closely with property owners on um you know addressing the the violation. So because of that because our focus is is on um on compliance you know we have uh many steps to we take before we say issue a penalty and that you know is is kind of staff intensive and and takes longer. Um, and I will also note I we did look into that uh the 43% um I think it it's actually lower than that but I think you know um when you look at recent years like in FY26 we have 90% of our violations are open because we're still working with the property owners. So when you go back in time it reduces the percentage reduces um dramatically but um in more recent years we have more open violations because we're still working with those property owners. Um but we um we spend a lot of time really working with with homeowners, property owners to um find a resolution. >> Yeah. And and for the for the general public that doesn't know the process, there's typically a warning letter that's sent before issuing a violation. Is that correct? >> That's correct. And actually, um we have found that 50% of the violations are cleared after sending that warning letter. >> Yeah. And I I think one one of the issues I really want to concentrate on is that last year we saw 790 complaints less than that of which have have received a warning letter. Can you explain the the rise in complaints and why the majority in them uh result in no enforcement or at least not being issued a warning letter? >> Sure. um you know I we um our the number of complaints has has gone up um and you know it's another thing that during the pandemic the number of complaints dropped quite a bit um and they've been climbing upward and I think that probably says something about um just generally the economy of the city and work being done on buildings um and so um we think that you know it's related to just sort of generally people seeing work done on landmark properties and also that um you know potentially uh advocacy groups you know sending them in. Um but we investigate every single complaint. Um but not all of them have violations. These are things that come in from the public um who might think there's a a violation um and there isn't necessarily one that we see. So that you know there's not a one forone correlation between the complaints and the violations by any means. >> Okay. Um, I'm gonna move to oversight over existing landmarks and demolition by neglect. Uh, demolition by neglect is when landlords allow landmark designated properties to fall into such a state of disrepair that demolition is the only reasonable outcome. LPC has also indicated that they can take a compliance approach to enforcement activities, preferring to provide guidance and resources or send stop work orders and warning letters to property managers rather than issue fines and fee as as you stated. How many applications for demolition has been rejected by LPC in the last year and also in the last five years? Yeah. And I do want to separate out, you know, applications for demolition, which could be something like a rear yard garage that's not contributing versus the actual demolition by neglect. So, in terms of the demolition by neglect, exactly what you said is true. Um, it is buildings that are not in sound um condition and, you know, at at risk of deterioration. Um and so the number of buildings that have been demolished um that were considered demolished by neglect is is very small. Um you know it's we believe in since uh 2018 about 13 buildings um were demolished um by an order of do because they were in um a state that needed that they were a threat to public safety. So, you know, out of our 38,500 buildings, it's a it's a tiny percentage, but I recognize that um it's it's very upsetting to lose any of these buildings. Um we work very hard to not let buildings get to that place. I think people might think sometimes that it's a, you know, a developer, somebody like that that or a bad actor, but it's oftentimes property owners who are struggling. And so that is why we spend a lot of time really trying to help those property owners, trying to help them get the building to a better state of repair. Um, and again, we're really focusing on compliance instead of um issuing violations. That said though, if um you know, if we need to, we do have the power to um you know, enter into litigation and and we do do that. We have four um cases right now. Um so you know I think that we have a good balance in this program of um you know trying to really get to the compliance um without being punitive but also you know trying to save as many historic buildings as we can. >> Yeah. You know as many of us know many u tenement buildings in historic districts or that are landmark contain affordable housing units. Do you know how many affordable housing units were lost um as a part of the the number that you mentioned have been approved for demolition? >> Um I do not know that. Um but in these not all of these buildings are residential uh for one thing. Um we could try and look into that but I think these are largely smaller rowhouse buildings but we could certainly try and look into that and understand it. >> Thank you. Um, would LPC be supportive of legislation to strengthen enforcement around owner neglect and to restrict an owner's ability to demolish their landmark building? >> Um, you know, I think that the um the system that we have and the legislation that we have is is sufficient. Um, and I also want to note that in 2023, we did launch a vulnerable building action plan. Um, that has really made a difference. Um, and we've been focusing on earlier detection of at risk buildings. Um, and we do that through having do share more information with us. Um, but also we've been really focusing on outreach to community groups, um, to elected officials so that if people see that a building may be deteriorating that they let us know and we can start monitoring it. Um, so I think these changes to not necessarily to, you know, any laws, but to how we practice have really made a a big difference. >> Great. Um, those are my questions for right now. I'm going to kick it back to the chair. >> All right. Just want to stay for the record, we've been drawn by Council Member Banks. Council member Banks, uh, you can ask your question. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, first of all, thanks again. Uh the landmark commission uh preservation commission has identified quote uh demolition by neglect unquote as a growing issue uh where landmark uh properties fall into despair due to uh lack of maintenance. uh given that um given that uh the agency is operating with a vacancy rate of over 15% and a largely uh flat budget. Uh how is the uh FY27 preliminary budget strengthened in enforcement uh capacity to address this issue? >> Oh, thank you for that question. You know, our enforcement department is is fully staffed. So, we don't actually have any vacancies in that department. Um, and you know, I I I don't think that we're necessarily seeing uh, you know, more demolition by neglect. I know that it's, you know, every time it happens, it's very upsetting. Um, but, you know, right now in in FY26, I haven't seen any. Um, we are undertaking some litigation for some properties. But um you know I think that if we continue to you know keep our department staffed and continue to work with our vulner vulnerable building action plan um I think that we can um address this important issue. >> Thank thank you for that information. Uh also uh how is the commission uh using its current resources uh to intervene earlier whether do enforcement actions um or uh facilitating uh responsible ownership transitions uh to prevent the loss of historically significant buildings. >> Sure. And I think that uh one way is that we're getting information from department of buildings. So we have um you know data sharing on buildings that might have violations that are landmarks that have violations with DOB so we can start to have better monitoring. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And while there's been an increase uh in landmark designations recently uh how is the uh current budget supporting uh the continuation and the expansion of that work particularly in communities that have historically been uh under reppresented uh in the landmark designation. Sure. And um you know designating in places that have um been less represented by landmarks is really important to us. Um you know our research department um is uh you know we don't have a high rate of vacancy there now. We're working on hiring a deputy director of um research and um you know I think that we've undertaking a lot of studies that will enable us to you know pursue landmark designations um moving forward. Thank thank you for your response on that. And my last question is actually deals with NICHA. I want to know are all NICHA buildings are they landmarked? >> Um I believe that there's only actually two NICHA buildings or complexes that are are landmark but I we can get back to you. There's a number that are on the national register of places. >> Um and there you know that enables them to take advantage of federal tax credits. Right. >> Have there been any recent uh or or or have there been any recent or over the history has there been any submittable landmarking applications for Nitra buildings that you know of? >> Um well we we don't have applications for landmarks but we do have requests for >> evesting. Yeah. >> And um I believe that there's been some over the years and I could we could certainly pull that information together and share that with you. >> Okay. would love to find know the status of those uh applications whether accepted or rejected. Thank you. >> Thank you, chair. Thank you, council member. Uh just a few more questions. Um has LPC reviewed any proposals for ADU since city of Yes. zoning for housing opportunity came into effect in late 2024? >> Um we don't believe that we have had a a an application for an ADU proper. Um we have uh you know lots of multifamily um buildings and outuildings that we regulate. Um but we are excited by the opportunity with ADUs. We are planning to release um guidance and um maps that are very specific to landmarks issues to try and encourage people to build them. So we're excited to get applications. >> Is there a different type of approach for ADUs and historic districts that you guys are creating a plan for? Um well, I would note that um there's three types of ADUs that are um allowed in historic districts. New buildings um are the are the one type that are exempt in historic districts, but um we think there's a real growth opportunity with the ancillary structures um to be converted to ADUs and also attic and basement ADUs are allowed. >> What kind of public engagement do you undertake when determining boundaries for new historic districts? So when we um identify a historic district, we do quite a bit of outreach. Um so we typically will start with um a public meeting where we invite everybody that's um in the proposed historic district. Um and sometimes we have one, two, or three meetings um you know depending on the you know the amount of interest and questions. Um, and then we very frequently do one-on-one meetings with property owners as well to um, understand if they have concerns or if they have work underway. Um, that kind of outreach is incredibly important to LPC. >> How is your plan affected when community members want a larger area designated um, opposed to what you initially proposed to them? >> Well, it's very important that we make merit-based decisions. So when our research department draws boundaries for historic districts, it it's really based on the merit of the of the buildings and you know that's that's kind of a hard thing sometimes to ex explain or for people who would like to be in a historic district. So that's it's you know we we we work too hard to explain our findings, but it can be um disappointing to people. I I recognize >> Thank you and we thank you for your work. Um there being no more questions for this panel, this panel is excused. Thank you so much. Great. Uh we're going to transition into public testimony. Uh first we're going to begin with uh those who are here with us. I'm going to call up and excuse me if I butcher your name. You could correct me um when you come up. Um Miguela Crater, uh Loga Ferris, Andrea Goldwin, and Sharon Frey Stater. Uh being we have three seats, it's just three. >> Um >> yeah, >> online. >> Okay. So, we're we're gonna get your form. So, you know what? We'll just take three now and then we'll do another panel. So you could take away the chair and we'll do the next panel. Okay. Um Walter, can you just give her a form so she can fill out? Thank you. Um sorry, miss. What was your name? Sharon. All right. I'll call you on the next pan. Sharon. Okay. U members of the public are going to be given three minutes to testify. Please, after you hear um the buzzer, if you could just wrap it up 15 seconds after that. Um, we're going to do in-person testimony and then we're going to transition to online testimony. Uh, first we're going to hear from Andrea. >> Okay. Uh, good day, Chair Riley. Um, council members, um, I'm Andrea Goldwin speaking on behalf of the New York Landmarks Conservancy. The conservancy is a 53-year-old organization dedicated to preserving, revitalizing, and reusing New York's historic buildings and neighborhoods. We want to ensure that New York's rich diversity of architecture continues to enhance the city, creating jobs, housing New Yorkers, encouraging sustainability, and welcoming visitors from around the world. We were founded to support the people who own and use buildings that fall under the purview of the Landmarks Commission. Our financial and preservation service programs have worked with many thousands of New Yorkers across the five burrows who are living and working in these historic properties. And this gives us a particular interest in the budget and long-term plans for the commission. We're glad to see that in an era of fiscal restraint, the personnel budget is set to remain level, and we look forward to the appointment of at least one position, the chair. Uh the staff and acting chair continue to keep the agency and the commission running smoothly, but keeping this position vacant is not viable for the long term. Uh the commission staff completes an extraordinary workload every year. They process and complete over 10,000 permit applications. The new application portal portico has increased efficiency for the agency and transparency for teams working on building projects. We appreciate LPC's outreach efforts and have been glad to participate in meetings with constituents. Regarding designations, as noted, over the past several years, the numbers have decreased, but there are still many buildings and neighborhoods that merit designation for architectural, cultural, and historic significance, and designations remain popular with many residents. On the issue of historic districts, you might hear that they are preventing new housing or that there needs to be a moratorium on designations. Please note that across the city, historic districts encompass about 5% of land and lots. Many are in the densest neighborhoods and designation helps limit the demolition of existing affordable housing. There are of course many many reasons why housing is so expensive in New York, but historic districts are a small factor in that discussion. Um I have an attached map which you have uh which illustrates that point. Uh historic districts have proven to be a remarkable success for the city, revitalizing neighborhoods, protecting homes, fighting climate change, and celebrating New York's whole story. Preservation is also a strong economic engine, creating jobs and encouraging his heritage tourism. And again, this is all accomplished in under 5% of buildings and building lot area. We hope that going forward LPC will be able to increase designations to accomplish all of these goals. Thank you for the opportunity to present the conservy's views. >> Thank you. Um, good morning or good afternoon. My name is Logan Ferris. Um, and I serve as the political director at Open New York, a statewide grassroots advocacy organiz organization that advocates for more homes, lower rents, and tenant protections. Thank you, Chair Riley, and members of the committee um for allowing me to speak today. In November, New Yorkers voted overwhelmingly to meaningfully address our housing crisis by making it easier and faster to build homes in every corner of our city. These changes expanded upon the historic project pro progress made in the city of Yes for housing opportunity and the city council city for all which collectively enabled over 80,000 new homes across the five burrows. While these changes mark a massive step towards addressing our historic housing crisis, it also means that we're asking for even more from the Department of City Planning. From small private applications to large neighborhood resonings that will create tens of thousands more affordable homes, all of it requires staff and resources. Cutting DCP's budget by 12% as proposed will save just 6.8 million. Not much in the context of the large city budget. Um the minor savings achieved will be eclipsed by the costs of working people continuing to leave our city taking their talents and tax dollars with them. New Yorkers were were clear this past election. We need to continue to make strides to create more housing and lower the rent. Mayor Mandani and Speaker Menon agree that we must drastically increase the number of homes in our cities in in our city in order to make it affordable for working families. We've made great progress with city of Yes and City for All. Now we must empower DCP to deliver the housing New Yorkers need by funding the agency above and beyond last year's allocation. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. >> Good afternoon. Thank you committee chair Riley and members of the land use committee for the opportunity to testify today. Given time, I've abbreviate ab abbreviated our written test uh submission which provides more details and examples of the concerns I will share with you. My name is McKuela Crater. I am the interim executive director and I'm speaking on behalf of Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation, SBIC for short. For over 40 years, we have served as the industrial business and um businesses and workers of Sunset Park, Red Hook, and Guanas. Across these neighborhoods, more than 2,000 industrial firms power the working waterfront, from food production, garment manufacturing to film and TV, fabrication, wholesale, and logistics. And we have deep decadesl long relationships with these companies and businesses. And we know the pulse of these sectors. We are the local intermediaries that connect them to government. Each year, our organization supports over 250 companies and businesses through direct services and advocacy. And since 2017, we've helped place more than 2,000 New Yorkers into quality, family sustaining jobs. And land use decisions made by the city directly impact and shape the stability of these companies and businesses and the communities that rely on these jobs. SBIC has served as a steward of what is re formerly referred to as the city's in place industrial parks since the late 70s, supporting safety and sanitation and later the evolving needs of what are now referred to as industrial business zones. While these challenges that businesses have and have changed, the need for constant special ed guidance has not. I'm here today because that continuity is at risk. The city is currently proposing to eliminate the only public program dedicated to supporting these small manufacturers and industrial companies, the IBSP program. For SBIC and our brothers and sisters in the industrial service areas, this represents um a significant cut to our budgets for the sector. It means a loss of critical specialized support that no generalist program has positioned to replace. This is being framed as streamlining. It is not. This is policymaking in the name of efficiency with very real and very foreseeable consequences. Industrial companies and businesses operate within highly specialized systems, land use, logistics, workforce and regulation. A generalized approach cannot replace trust expertise and relationships that have been built over a decade and that trust matters. For example, when work fa workspace 11, a gauanas based fabrication firm, faced displacement due to an imminent domain proceeding, SBIC was the first to inform them and the partner that helped them navigate what came next. We guided them through negotiations, financing, and relocation, helping them stay in the neighborhood that preserved over 30 jobs. This is what specialized placebased support looks like, and it can't be replicated by a program that does not know the block, the business, or the history. We are coming coming to your committee because you hold the keys to land use decisions that impact businesses and these are your constituents. We are supporting we support making the city more funding more efficient. And I see I'm out of time. Uh more efficient but not at the expense of the city's ability to provide targeted trusted support to essential businesses. There must be a better way to achieve our shared goals. We urge you to work with administration to remove the industrial services from the proposed RFP that SPS is positioned. extend the IBSP contracts for several years, two years, work with us to build a modern sector specific program. This is about whether New York and its stewards who make or break our small businesses continue to invest in the systems that allow it to function and adopt. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you. And I'll just ask if you guys if you haven't already to give us a copy of your testimony. Thank you so much. This panel is excused. Uh the next panel we're going to hear from is Emmy and Sharon. We'll begin first with Sharon followed by Emmy keep. Okay. Hello, my name is Sharon Bryceetter. I come on behalf to you today from organization that's grassroots called Club A Kitchen. We operate in a unofficial city garden called Bushwick City Farms. It is on 23 Lewis Street or 354 Stockton Street. Um we have been using donations from the community members to bring food to the neighborhoods for the past five years every Wednesday and Saturday, rain or shine, without fail. We have never missed a day. Um, so the community garden has recently been reszoned from a commercial uh from a residential space to a commercial space which has increased taxes on the land owner. It's a class 4 commercial space and has increased taxes on the landowner land owner. So he is no longer letting us use the space for free to have our garden where we have trees growing and plants growing and the space that we have been hosting a community distribution center for the past five years. Um, and right now we are at risk of losing the space, a space that we have been trying to work with the New York City's uh government to turn into an official green thumb space for the past few years since 2017. Um, so I am here for your consideration to allocate this space into an official green thumb space to keep using it for the neighborhood as we have been for ever since 2011. So as a humanitarian we have been allowing the people who come every single week to use the space to grow their own food and they are there working on the plots making food growing herbs growing produce as well as standing in our line to receive the food that we have been bringing to them. And we have had volunteers coming from all over the city with cars with whatever they can do to drive over food to reach out to local grocery stores to bring resources to these people. Um, and we adjust with the neighborhood and have been adjusting. So when a men's shelter opened up across the street, we used our funds to buy portaotties or rent portaotties and we cleaned them out weekly. We talked to these men, we gave them food, we gave them resources and find anything that to move them forward and to find jobs. Um, when the egg prices went up and no one was able to buy eggs anymore, we have chickens on the farm that we have distributed dozens of eggs to the people in the neighborhood. Just recently when staff benefits were cut for the city, we were able to gather all our volunteers and funds to buy more food to support the increase of load of families waiting in line to receive produce for the month of November. Um, and as I have mentioned, this garden has been uh a work in progress that we have been working on since 2011. So we have trees that have been growing there for 11 years. We have apple trees, plum trees, fig, mulberry, trees that actively reduce the heat in New York City and increase the air quality in New York City. I personally want to grow chestnut trees with New York City's reg restoration project, but we cannot do that without this being an official green thumb space, and we really hope that you guys are willing to help us out. Thank you. >> Thank you, Shie. >> Hi. Hi. Hi, I'm here today as a member of the community who has been lucky enough to be touched by the work of Bushwick City Farm. This cherished green space located just down the road from Council Member Oay uh in the heart of Brooklyn is at risk of imminent destruction if the city does not act. Uh there are many supporters uh for the farm today, here in person, online, and in the parks committee. Uh Bushwick City Farm has been a vital community resource for years, 15 years to be exact, put at risk by rising taxes, resoning, and the recent reclassification of the space as a tax class for commercial property. The garden is asking the city to acquire the property and turn it into a proper green thumb garden instead of pawning it off to the highest real estate bidder. While I am sure many will speak today and submit written testimony on the specifics of the bureaucratic situation, I want to talk money. In a time with skyrocketing rent and rampant gentrification, the city using its limited resources to acquire a community garden may seem low priority. Uh but make no mistake, this is not a cost to the city because I believe Bushwick City Farm and groups like Club A Kitchen where it operates out of has already served uh sa uh saved the city millions, yes, millions of dollars in its 15 years of existence. The farm transformed an abandoned lot that was essentially a neighborhood dump full of mattresses and needles into a flourishing community space. Um, it's fed thousands of families, rescued and grown and distributed thousands of pounds of food, cleaned up a quite frankly unholy amount of trash, and provided unique educational and cultural opportunities to countless community members, especially kids like aquaponics, concerts, and lessons on food sovereignty. It served hundreds of migrants who were relocated to a shelter across the street that closed down last year. The Bushwick City Farm is not just a community of gardeners. It is a community of people who often using only our lived experiences, Google and each other have acted as farmers, teachers, caregivers, food distributors, social workers, homeless street outreach specialists, uh conflict mediators, legal experts, city planners, harm reductionists for people with who struggle with addiction, uh case managers, translators, uh sanitation workers, uh and crisis first responders. Bush City Farm has truly done it all day in day out for 15 years. Uh, I truly believe the BCF community has saved thousands of lives in addition to the millions of dollars that this labor would have otherwise cost the city. Allocating funds to preserve the farm is not an expenditure. It is breaking even and even more, it is an investment. The labor of the BCF community has sustained the neighborhood for over a decade. When previous administrations of the city failed hungry families, BCF stepped in. When they failed migrants, BCF stepped in. When they failed to provide a safe space for children, BCF stepped in. Now, we need our elected officials to step in. All of Brooklyn is forever in debt to Bushwick City Farm and its founders. Pay it back. Pay it forward. Please invest in Bushwick City Farm. Thank you. >> Thank you so much for your testimony. Um Sharon, uh Brian is going to take your information so we can follow up and see how we could be helpful. Okay. All right. Thank you so much for your testimony. This panel's excused. Uh we're going to transition into online testimony. We just have two uh people signed up online. If you are online and would like to testify, uh please use the raise hand function um and we will promote you up. Uh we're going to begin the first panel or the only panel we have with Leticia Duller and Marissa Mika. Uh we'll begin first with Leticia Duller. Online testimony, you'll be given two minutes to testify. After you hear the buzzer, please give 15 seconds to wrap it up. Uh Leticia, you may begin. Hi. Um, I am speaking as a longtime volunteer at Bushwick City Farms. I've been involved since November of 2020. We started distributing food with Club A during the pandemic. And um, yeah, it was a time where a lot of people needed resources, needed help, and we were able to kind of step up and feed the entire community. The garden has been active for 15 years um and has just provided the neighborhood with countless resources, countless everything. Um when >> yeah when u when an asylum seeker shelter opened up right across from the farm and all of these guys were kind of bust in to New York. Um um yeah we kind of immediately mobilized and were able to provide them with food with meals. There was a long period during which the shelter didn't have any running water and it was hundreds of men. Um and we were able to get a shower bus to come in. We were able to have the guys do their laundry and use the bathroom at the farm, which is, you know, this tiny community space. We were able to have French speakers and Arabic speakers mobilized to um yeah, to provide translation services and just help these guys with their paperwork because, you know, they were not really being offered these resources or the city was overwhelmed. And so that is just an example of how Bushwick City Farms you know, and and similar spaces like this really step up and kind of pick up where the city is failing and we do so, you know, without without getting paid and without asking for anything in return. But now we are at risk of of losing the whole space, which would genuinely Oh, no, no. Which genuinely would be so so devastating to the neighborhood and so and like I I know asylum seekers who were in that shelter and you know and now have their own apartments and they come all the way from the Bronx. >> Your time is expired. Sorry. >> Thank you so much. Uh Leticia, you can start wrapping up in 15 seconds. >> Oh, okay. Yeah. And just this this space is completely invaluable and it would be a huge it would be devastating to to lose this space and we're asking for the city to help us in any way that they can. >> Thank you so much. Uh next we're going to hear from Marissa. Marissa, if you can hear me, please unmute and you may begin. >> Hi, thank you. Yeah, my name is Marissa Matelica. I am a longtime volunteer at Bushwick City Farm as well. Um, since 2012, I've been a volunteer there. And I just want to add a few things to the testimony that my colleagues have already provided. Um, one is that the space um in district 36 is, you know, it's at the crux of um it's right near the the Broadway um the Myrtle Broadway JMZ train. And so um it's right near Bushwick and uh Bedstey where they intersect. And in that area there's a der of green spaces. So actually there's nothing within um a half a mile walking um from the location where Bushwick City Farm is um exists currently. And so on a on a level of you know needing spaces for young people to congregate outside safely. Um we need it for we need to maintain the space for those community needs as well as you know elders who need a third space to gather and rest in the shade in the summertime in addition to the the food that people come to receive and um the other supports that they receive. So, I just want to urge um we have a path uh forward that we would like to propose and we have been proposing and we have actually had several meetings with uh council member Oay's office as well as uh Burough President Reoso's office. Um and so, you know, there is there there is a precedent for this kind of allocation of um of privately held space to be allocated to parks department and turned into green thumb. And that is by um using the discretionary capital funding from a combination of parks department and the council members office and the bureau president's office to purchase the land from the title owner and then turn it over to uh green thumb space. And so that's specifically what we are requesting and we look forward to working with you. >> Thank you Marissa. I see that we've been joined by one more person. So I'm going to ask Sher Sherenne Callahan to unmute and you may begin. Thank you Marissa Sheranne if you could hear me please unmute. >> Okay we lost Sheranne. Uh we're going to stand at ease for 20 seconds to see if there's anyone else uh that wants to testify. Okay. Okay. All right. There being no one else uh signed to testify, this uh hearing is closed. I would like to thank uh council uh sergeant-at-arms uh the land use division and my colleagues of government for being here today and especially our finance division as well. Uh thank you to everyone that signed up to testify. All right, hold on one second, y'all. Um Marissa Marissa, if you can hear me, please unmute. I I think she has her hand raised. There's two Marissas online, so I'm not sure if there's someone that's trying to testify under another. >> Hey, uh, I have my hand up. My name is Tyler man. >> Tyler. Okay, Tyler, go ahead. >> Nice. Thank you very much. Um, I am also, uh, calling to advocate for, um, Brooklyn City Farms. Uh, I'm a Brooklyn reg resident. I'm a native New Yorker. Um, and this garden has existed for like 15 years. Um, Brooklyn is, as people who are here know, a lot of this, you know, burrow is a food desert. A lot of this burrow is a green space desert. Like Marissa said, there's no green space. There's no safe places for kids. And even this garden, it used to be a dump. It used to be a danger to the community. Um, it used to be dangerous. And the neighborhood got together and turned it in to somewhere where it was safe for kids. and it turned up in a space where, you know, kids in the neighborhood grew up there. Um, and thousands of people have depended on the space for free food and access to nature and a community hub and a safe third space. Um, and now this space that so many people depend on is at risk of being completely lost. Um, and yeah, the city needs to help protect this space for the community. there's not enough spaces like this um for anybody. Um and the garden has been advocating to permanentize this space since 2017. Uh so almost a decade now. Um they've been working with the city to try to permanentize it um and protect it from the neighborhood. Um so I'm just calling to advocate for that process. Um and I'm really urging my local government to work with this garden to work with Bushy Bushwick City Farms. um and to protect the space. It's a really really essential green third space. Um we need more. Um so thank you. >> Okay, we have a phone number that ended with 4346. If you could hear me, the phone number ending with 4346. Please unmute by pressing star six. If you're the phone number ending with 4346, please unmute and press star six to begin your testimony. >> Hi. Um, my name is Terry Coker. Yes, we can hear you. Res of Brooklyn. >> Okay. I'm also a resident of Brooklyn advocating for Bick City Farm. Um, I live in Bedstey and this space means so much to me and my community as a place to be. Um, a place where people can be fed, where they can, you know, meet other community members. Um, like I was stated, where they can, you know, be safe and enjoy what the neighborhood has to offer. And I just wanted to say that I think it should be allowed to remain as it has been for the last 15 years and I think the city should have a part in maintaining it. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay, that was there's no one else online uh signed up to testify. With that being said, I'm going to close today's hearing. Thank you so much for everyone who participated. This hearing is thereby adjourned. Thank you.