Modified Inwood Rezoning Passes City Council Committee

INWOOD, NY — A modified version of the city's plan to rezone Inwood was approved in City Council committees Thursday and received the endorsement of the neighborhood's local council representatives.

City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez announced that he would support the city Economic Development Corporation's vision to upzone much of the Northern Manhattan neighborhood in an effort to spur residential and commercial development in the area. Rodriguez's support of the plan hinged on the elimination of a zoning change for Inwood's main commercial streets and the formation of a first-of-its-kind system for commercial rent regulation.

The modified version of the plan passed without opposition in the City Council subcommittee on zoning and franchises. The committee approval and support from Rodriguez point to a likely approval from the full city council on Aug. 8, which will bring an end to a three-year process to rezone Inwood.

Rodriguez called the rezoning plan an "important" step in solving the affordable housing crisis facing Inwood. The neighborhood is located in the community district with the highest number of rent-regulated housing units in the state, but as units have fallen out of regulation the area has seen little new affordable housing added.

The councilman said Thursday that 1,500 affordable units will be created within the first year of the plan and that the city has targeted several publicly-owned sites in the neighborhood for 100 percent affordable housing developments.

But Rodriguez wasn't supportive of the city's entire plan, specifically the reshaping of Inwood's main commercial corridors of Dyckman Street, West 207th Street and Broadway. The area — called the "Commercial U" by city planners — was set to be upzoned to allow developers to build 11- and 14-story buildings. The plan passed Thursday does not include rezoning the Commercial U, except for the redevelopment of the Inwood Library.

"I have carefully listened to my residents and the local small business owners," Rodriguez said. "I have hear loud and clear that the rezoning was too large and would definitely change the character of our neighborhood."

Rodriguez also announced that the city would create a new rent-control program for commercial businesses in the rezoned parts of Inwood in order to protect small businesses. Any developer that builds in the area using city subsidies would be required to provide a 10-year lease to commercial businesses with controlled rent increases.

Elected officials were also able to secure more than $500 million in investments to the neighborhood by negotiating with Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration, Rodriguez said. These investments include $50 million for the George Washington High School complex, an immigrant research center and performing arts complex and investments into neighborhood parks and waterfront improvements.

In the weeks leading up to the City Council's votes, detractors of the rezoning plan have held several rallies asking the body to vote down the city's plan, calling the rezoning a trojan horse for displacement and gentrification. Critics of the plan have argued that an upzoning to increase density will accelerate gentrification by allowing a large influx of market-rate housing to the area. Opponents of the rezoning found support from elected officials such as Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer — who voted against the plan — and Congressman Adriano Espaillat — who said he would only support a plan that guarantees 5,000 affordable units at prices appropriate for the neighborhood.

A contingent of protesters took to the steps of City Hall Thursday morning to hold signs reading "don't zone us out," and "vote no on Inwood."

Rodriguez, the first elected official to publicly support the rezoning plan, said Thursday that the thinks the modifications will please rezoning detractors.

Despite receiving City Council approval, the rezoning plan was met with mixed reception throughout the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. Community Board 12 passed a resolution agreeing with some aspects of the plan, but advocating for sweeping changes, Borough President Gale Brewer opposed the plan and offered a set of conditions for her approval and the City Planning Commission approved the plan as proposed.

Read more about the city's original plan here.

Photos by Brendan Krisel/Patch