New York City is working to create a permanent, streamlined Open Restaurants program. As part of this program, the Department of City Planning and Department of Transportation propose a zoning text amendment to remove geographic restrictions on where sidewalk cafes can be located within NYC. Learn more about the Permanent Open Restaurants Text Amendment.

The Department of City Planning is proposing to update and expand the FRESH food stores program, which supports convenient, accessible grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods. The update would bring the FRESH program to more communities across the city, among other changes to ensure FRESH stores are evenly distributed and financially viable. Learn more about the FRESH Food Stores Update.

Gyms, martial arts studios, licensed massage therapy, and many other health-related businesses require special permits from the Board of Standards and Appeals to open in most parts of New York City. The Department of City Planning is proposing new rules to ease these restrictions, cutting red tape for small businesses and providing valuable health amenities to all New York City communities. Learn more about the Health and Fitness Text Amendment.

Zoning for Accessibility (ZFA) seeks to make our transit system more accessible, more quickly and better coordinated with the streets and buildings around it. Through ZFA, developers would work with the MTA to set aside space where needed for station elevators. It would expand incentives for developers to build elevators and related station upgrades in new, high-density buildings. Learn more about Elevate Transit: Zoning for Accessibility.

The Citywide Hotel Special Permit aims to create a consistent approach to hotel development citywide. The proposed zoning change would require City Planning Commission approval for new and enlarged hotels and motels, tourist cabins and boatels in commercial, mixed-use and paired M1/R districts. Learn more about the Citywide Hotel Text Amendment.

The NYC Comprehensive Waterfront Plan aims at making New York City’s 520 miles of waterfront accessible, active, and resilient. This plan provides a vision for the city’s waterfront for the next decade and beyond. The plan will be released  by the end of 2020. Learn more about The NYC Comprehensive Waterfront Plan.

Since Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the Department of City Planning worked with stakeholders across New York City’s floodplain to develop zoning strategies that help promote resilient buildings and neighborhoods and reduce flood risk in the city’s most vulnerable areas. Zoning for Coastal Flood Resiliency improves upon and makes permanent existing zoning rules that were adopted on an emergency, temporary basis after Sandy. Learn more about Zoning for Coastal Flood Resiliency. Adopted 05/12/21.

The Unenclosed Spaces report looks generally at the uses of “unenclosed spaces,” such as balconies, arcades, stilts and more, in medium- and high-density districts in New York City. The report provides examples of these types of spaces and discusses how they are regulated.

The Department of City Planning (DCP) proposes a zoning text amendment for residential buildings in Special Purpose Districts within central business districts (CBDs). The proposed zoning text follows the previously adopted citywide Residential Tower Mechanical Voids Text Amendment. Central Business Districts: Residental Tower Mechanical Voids Text Amendment

The Department of City Planning proposes a city-wide Zoning Text Amendment for residential buildings in high-density districts to discourage the use of excessively tall mechanical floors that elevate upper-story residential units above the surrounding context. Residential Tower Mechanical Voids Text Amendment. Adopted 5/29/19

The FRESH program was developed in response to a DCP citywide study, Going to Market, which highlighted the widespread shortage of neighborhood grocery stores that provide fresh food options in several communities. The Program offers zoning incentives and financial benefits in these underserved areas. The City Council adopted a text amendment in 2011 to expand the program to Queens Community District 12. Learn more about Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) Program.

As New York City’s population and employment numbers hit record highs, competition for scarce buildable land is growing especially strong. Light Manufacturing zoning districts present some of the city’s last reservoirs of buildable land, but in the last decade, there has been rapid increase in hotels in these areas. This is due to a combination of rapid growth in tourism in the city and the current zoning framework, which in M1 districts offers hotels a competitive advantage over most other permitted uses. Accordingly, the NYC Department of City Planning proposes a zoning text amendment to require a CPC Special Permit for new hotels within M1 districts, to achieve of a balanced mix of uses and jobs in neighborhoods and ensure that sufficient opportunities to support industrial, commercial, residential and institutional growth remain. Learn more about the M1 Hotel Text Amendment. Adopted 12/20/18

In November 2015, Mayor de Blasio announced a 10-point Industrial Action Plan, which aims to strengthen NYC’s most active industrial areas, invest in industrial and manufacturing businesses, and advance workforce development opportunities for New Yorkers. In this context, self-storage facilities are seen as a low job-generating use that occupies sites, which could provide future siting opportunities for industrial, more job-intensive businesses.As a result, the NYC Department of City Planning proposes a zoning text amendment to impose appropriate restrictions on new self-storage facilities within NYC’s most active industrial areas. Learn more about the Self-storage Text Amendment. Adopted 12/19/17

PLACES Neighborhood Planning Studies are comprehensive studies that examine and address key land use and zoning issues in a variety of neighborhoods, but also take a broader look at current and future community needs to identify a wide range of strategies and investments that accompany the land use and zoning changes and support neighborhood-specific growth and vitality. Learn more about PLACES Neighborhood Planning Studies.

The New York City Waterfront Revitalization Program (WRP) establishes the City’s policies for development and use of the waterfront. The recent revision to this program, adopted by the City Council in 2013 and approved by the State and Federal governments in 2016, will require the consideration of climate change in project planning and design, among other updates. Learn more about the New York City Waterfront Revitalization Program.

DCP, in collaboration with other agencies, has undertaken a number of initiatives to build the city’s resilience. These studies are focused on land use and zoning changes as well as other actions needed to support the short-term recovery and long-term vitality of communities affected by Hurricane Sandy and other areas at risk of coastal flooding. Learn more about Climate Resiliency.

Following Hurricane Sandy, the City developed a detailed action plan for storm recovery and the long-term resiliency of NYC’s coastal communities, buildings and infrastructure. As part of this, DCP is leading place-based initiatives called Resilient Neighborhoods where DCP works with communities in the flood zone to identify strategies most suitable for their neighborhood context. Learn more about Resilient Neighborhoods.

The 2010 award-winning Active Design Guidelines provides architects and urban designers with a manual of strategies for creating healthier buildings, streets, and urban spaces. Bringing active design to planning projects and neighborhoods encourages more active lifestyles, which ultimately helps improve the health of neighborhoods and residents. Learn more.

The Active Design: Shaping the Sidewalk Experience, study builds on the Active Design Guidelines to focus in on the point of view of the pedestrian – not those who drive past or construct sidewalks, but those who actually use them – and provide a methodology that can help designers grapple with the complexities involved in shaping that space. Learn more Active Design Guidelines.

Resilient Retail is a planning initiative to strengthen commercial retail corridors within NYC’s floodplain, as part of NYC’s effort since Hurricane Sandy to promote long-term resiliency. The goal will be to develop land use recommendations to help businesses and the neighborhoods they serve withstand and recover quickly from future storms and floods. Learn more about Resilient Retail.

Transferable Development Rights as outlined in the Mayor's housing plan, reviews the role of Transferable Development Rights (TDR) mechanisms among the range of zoning and planning tools available in NYC. Learn more about Transferable Development Rights.

The Retrofitting Buildings for Flood Risk report is the most comprehensive analysis to-date of retrofit options for NYC’s wide variety of building types in the floodplain, or the land areas adjacent to rivers and streams subject to recurring inundation. The complex interaction between new Federal, State, and City codes has changed the regulatory landscape and made it all the more important to offer guidance on how owners can best retrofit Learn more about Retrofitting Buildings for Flood Risk.

The New York – Connecticut Sustainable Communities Consortium is an unprecedented bi-state sustainability initiative for coordinated regional and local planning. The group has, for example, looked at ways to develop growth centers around the region’s commuter rail network to connect more residents to jobs. This initiative prompted several DCP-led studies, in East New York, the Bronx Metro North Corridor, and citywide-level efforts. Learn more Sustainable Communities.

Inner Ring Residential Parking Study examines the relationship between the cost of providing parking, residents’ vehicle choices and zoning requirements for parking within a geography referred to as “the Inner Ring”, or neighborhoods in Upper Manhattan, the South Bronx, Western Queens, and Northern and Central Brooklyn where there may be the greatest potential to reduce parking requirements and improve other transportation options. Learn more about the Inner Ring Residential Parking Study .

Open Industrial Uses Study is an outgrowth of various prior initiatives and designed to help industrial areas be greener, stronger, safer and more resilient to climate change. This study assesses cost-effective pollution prevention controls and stronger safeguards for industrial operations in open spaces and will generate recommendations for zoning text amendments and other legislation. Learn more about the Open Industrial Uses Study.

Vision 2020: The NYC Comprehensive Waterfront Plan, the culmination of a year-long, participatory planning process, sets the stage for expanded use of our waterfront for parks, housing and economic development, and of our waterways for transportation, recreation and natural habitats. The 10-year plan lays out a vision for the future with new citywide policies and site-specific recommendations. Learn more about Vision 2020: The NYC Comprehensive Waterfront Plan.

POPS (Privately Owned Public Spaces) are provided and maintained by building owners for public use, in exchange for additional floor area in their buildings. In 2019, the City Council adopted an amendment to POPS regulations, including requirements for signage with a new logo and the allowance of movable tables and chairs in older spaces where it was not previously permitted. Learn more about Privately Owned Public Space (POPS).

Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) is one of the more than 50 initiatives that make up the Mayor’s 10-year affordable housing plan. This proposed zoning text amendment would, if approved, establish a mandatory Inclusionary Housing Program to ensure the housing marketplace serves New Yorkers at a broader range of income levels. Learn more Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) - Adopted 03/22/16

Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA) is one of the more than 50 initiatives that make up the Mayor’s 10-year affordable housing plan. This proposed zoning text amendment would, if approved, update certain existing zoning regulations, drafted a generation ago, that unduly burden or restrict affordable housing development and quality design of recent buildings. Learn more about Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA) - Adopted 03/22/16