NEW YORK CITY-The government advocacy group the City Club of New York describes Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to have developers pay the city for air rights that would allow them to build large new office towers near Grand Central Terminal as “zoning for dollars.”
Under the plan, developers seeking to build properties higher and larger than city zoning regulations currently allow would pay $250 for every extra square foot. The added revenue would finance pedestrian and transit improvements in East Midtown. City officials say the fund has the potential to reach $500 million. The City Club likened the policy to extortion, and said it would not survive judicial scrutiny, according to the New York Times.
The City Planning Department responded to the City Club's charge by saying the plan is consistent with incentives that have been historically offered to developers. Michael Shilstone, a spokesman for the City Planning Department, says payments to the fund would be “paid voluntarily by property owners” and “used solely to fund transit and pedestrian public-realm improvements within the rezoning area as part of a smart, integrated land-use plan.”
The East Midtown rezoning plan is in the approval process and is expected to reach the City Council in October. See story in the New York Times.
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