SoHo Rezoning Plan Clears 2nd To Last Hurdle For Approval

SOHO, NY — A New York City Council subcommittee voted on Thursday to approve the SoHo/Chinatown rezoning plan, clearing the way for the final vote next week by the entire Council.

"It marks a critical change to the city's historic practice of focusing neighborhood rezoning on communities of color, moving us toward a more equitable future where all neighborhoods contribute their fair share to our ongoing housing crisis facing New York City," Council Member Carlina Rivera, who represents a large section of the area that would be rezoned, said in the Council chamber before the vote by the Zoning subcommittee.

Predictably, not everyone was happy with the decision to approve the rezoning.

Village Preservation, a leading opponent of the Lower Manhattan rezoning, issued the following statement after the Thursday vote.

“It is deeply unfortunate that several Councilmembers voted to approve this sham plan, which will line the pockets of developers who donated generously to Mayor de Blasio," said Andrew Berman, the Executive Director of Village Preservation.

"Study after study showed that the plan is likely to produce little if any affordable housing, and is almost surgically designed to discourage the construction of affordable housing, and the modifications made by the City Council will do little to change that."

Mayor Bill de Blasio and other supporters of the SoHo rezoning say the plan would create 3,200 new homes to be built in the historically business and arts-centric community, including around 800 affordable housing units.

The subject of how much housing will be allowed to be added in the final version of the rezoning project has become the topic's central question in recent weeks.

One Lower Manhattan group has pushed to lower the residential density allowed in parts of NoHo, which could open up an avenue for developers to build more commercial projects instead of affordable housing units.

You can read more about the possibility of residential housing getting cut in the final version of the SoHo rezoning plan on RealDeal's website.

The Department of City planning also has a section on its website explaining why the specific Lower Manhattan neighborhood was chosen to rezone.