How Some NYC Neighborhoods Could Use City Of Yes To Get Long-Awaited Upgrades

In the Northeast Bronx, residents of a 1.5-mile-long island known for its history as a fishing village have been asking for change — but not the one that city officials are considering.

For City Island residents, the only way on and off of the island is a bridge. NYC’s public ferry service reaches as far as Ferry Point Park in Throggs Neck, a viewpoint that takes 15 minutes to drive to or an hour to reach by bus. For years, nonprofit community group City Island Rising has been asking: Why can’t we have a ferry stop, too? 

As New York City mulls a zoning overhaul, now could be the moment for residents to bargain for that change, land-use and zoning attorneys tell Bisnow.

“When it comes to things like the ferry stop,” said David Rosenberg, counsel at Rosenberg & Estis, “communities that are well organized and are engaged in the process get a lot more leverage to be able to get these kinds of commitments from the city together with a rezoning.” 

City Island is one of a handful of NYC neighborhoods that is zoned as a Special Purpose District. That designation was put in place to “preserve its nautical heritage and low-rise residential character,” per the city's description of the neighborhood.

Paul Sheridan, a City Island resident, told the City Planning Commission during a blockbuster public hearing last month that he is concerned about the changes that may be in store. He said Mayor Eric Adams' zoning revamp, City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, would harm the low-rise, village feel of the neighborhood.

Although Special Purpose Districts have been around since 1969, as long as the rest of NYC’s current zoning practices, City Island’s was upheld as recently as 2011 and isn’t outdated, Sheridan argued. 

“Let us be clear, then, about what this housing proposal does in fact represent: a little more Manhattan in every neighborhood,” he told the City Planning Commission. “These days, not even Manhattanites would wish that on their worst enemies in the outer boroughs.”

But City of Yes won't materially change Special Purpose Districts, Rosenberg said. 

“Most of the special districts, those rules stay intact,” Rosenberg said. City of Yes would basically raise the floor area ratio cap that dictates how big any new residential building can be, he said.

Overall, the proposed FAR cap increase means developers would be able to build slightly bigger buildings if they want to, Rosenberg said. For City Island, its zoning rules are designed to encourage commercial ground-floor use along its main commercial strip and to keep its buildings fairly short. 

“It's mostly zoned for single-family homes,” Rosenberg said. “The concern is that part of what they're calling town center zoning — it's part of City of Yes — would allow new housing types on those blocks that today are really limited to one and two-family homes.”

That change doesn’t mean skyscrapers on City Island, Rosenberg said.

“The town center zoning would allow on some of these sites multifamily housing and would allow a slight increase in floor area to be able to accomplish that,” he said. Height controls would still be in place, resulting in the potential for townhouses to be built on the island in place of single-family homes.

In exchange for accepting that slight increase in density, City Island residents can advocate for the infrastructure improvements they want, Fried Frank partner Anita Laremont said.

“In the De Blasio administration, we did a number of neighborhood rezoning that were hard sells to their communities,” she said. 

The administration was able to get those neighborhoods on board because it created plans and set funds aside for infrastructure to accompany the zoning changes based on what communities said they needed, Laremont said. In the case of City Island, City of Yes could become leverage for some of the changes that residents have been asking for.

“The neighborhoods that are aligned on their perception of these issues and vocal ... they get more serious consideration,” she said. “In the case of the ferry, if you're going to bring more people there, their transport to and from other places is an important issue and having a ferry stop would be very helpful.”

The housing component of City of Yes is still undergoing a review process, with the City Council expected to vote before the end of this year. But local representatives will be under pressure from their constituents, Laremont said.

“If a community is very convinced that its infrastructure needs have not been met, there's a greater likelihood that the council may turn down an upzoning there,” she said.

Transportation is certainly already an issue for City Island, resident Lauren Nye told Bisnow. The island only got 24-hour bus service two years ago, and access to the neighborhood via public transit is still tricky. A ferry stop would help change that — but not having all the infrastructure that residents want isn’t a reason to vote down City of Yes, Nye said.

“When you look at a place that has largely not built anything comparatively to the rest of the Bronx, I think pointing towards infrastructure as the reason is a cop-out on developing housing that's needed,” she said. “I see saying the need to wait for infrastructure before we develop housing as problematic.”