DCP Gets New Executive Director

NEW YORK CITY—The NYC Department of City Planning has hired an executive director and created a COO position, which it plans to fill in the near future.

The agency's newest hire, Purnima Kapur, is the director of City Planning's Brooklyn office, where she has spearheaded several large scale planning efforts and overseen a period of unprecedented growth and development in the borough. Kapur reportedly was instrumental in increasing the proportion of affordable housing in the Domino project.

“Purnima Kapur has a distinguished record of achievement and strengths in planning, urban design, managing staff, engaging communities, negotiating with developers and forging consensus that are essential for the successful management of our ambitious agenda,” says CPC chairman Carl Weisbrod. “From working with communities throughout the five boroughs to identifying opportunities for growth and redevelopment to creating strategies for a more resilient and sustainable city, I am confident that Purnima's wisdom, experience, intelligence and interpersonal skills, will serve our Department and the City of New York very well indeed.”

Kapur began her career at DCP in 1989 as a planner, rising through the ranks to lead the Bronx and Brooklyn offices. In these positions, she developed and oversaw some 40 department-initiated area-wide rezonings, working with diverse communities and neighborhoods to foster housing and economic development, access to waterfront and open space, preserving and protecting stable neighborhoods and directing growth to transit corridors.

Among the major initiatives she led were the comprehensive plan for Coney Island, as well as the review of developments on the Greenpoint Williamsburg waterfront, Downtown Brooklyn and Gowanus. Watch for an UPDATE to this story with input from Kapur.

"Purnima demonstrates an understanding of the complex and nuanced issues of growing neighborhoods and how zoning and policy changes work to achieve big picture goals for the city,” says Tucker Reed, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. “When we worked together to reform Downtown Brooklyn parking regulations, she addressed the needs of the development community, surrounding residential communities, retailers and business owners by reducing and rationalizing parking requirements, ensuring a more lively and pedestrian friendly street environment and ultimately decreasing the cost of development especially for affordable housing.”

"Over the many years I have worked in Brooklyn I have come to know Purnima as smart, creative and thoughtful, and open to exploring new ideas to address the evolving nature of our industrial and business areas,” says Andrew Kimball, CEO, Industry City. "It is a real asset for the city that she will now get to play a broader role in all five boroughs."

As director of the Bronx office, Kapur oversaw the largest rezoning effort in the borough's history. She led initiatives to foster housing and economic development such as Port Morris and Morrisania, which have been transformed into thriving mixed-use, highly desirable neighborhoods. She also managed several highly complex applications through the land use review process including Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Terminal Market. 

Meanwhile, when hired, the COO will provide high-level support to the agency's critical administrative and operational divisions, and our core planning activities. The changes will build on the momentum of BluePRint, an initiative that is streamlining the land use application process.

This builds on Weisbrod's commitment to begin public review on land use applications when they are ready, allowing changes to be made as part of the 7-month ULURP process, rather than delaying applications to refine them beforehand.