New Yorkers Warn Kathy Hochul’s ‘Incomprehensible’ Zoning Plan Will Demolish the Suburbs

By John Binder
Article Source

New Yorkers living in the suburbs outside of New York City say Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) zoning plan to override local laws would effectively demolish their communities, forcing them to accept hundreds of thousands of new housing units.

After failing to impose the plan last year, Hochul is once again attempting to strip the state’s suburban communities of their zoning autonomy with a plan that would force suburbs to build a percentage of new housing and if they do not comply, the state will take control of their local land use laws.

In an op-ed, Bronxville Mayor Mary Marvin writes that her village of just 6,600 residents would be required by the Hochul plan to build 75 new housing units by the end of 2027. Marvin suggests that the plan would force Bronxville to accept more than 10,000 housing units in the village which is far beyond the community’s existing 2,600 housing units.

“The ramifications of this proposal to our Village are enormous and quite frankly incomprehensible,” Marvin wrote, urging residents to contact Hochul’s office.

In total, Hochul’s plan would mandate that New York’s suburbs accept nearly a million new housing units even if such density flies in the face of local zoning laws.

Even Democrats have raised alarm over Hochul’s plan, according to Politico:

“There’s a lot of resentment when the state or a regional entity tries to come in and tell people how they should make their communities. It’s not a winning strategy,” said Laura Curran, the former Democratic Nassau County executive who was defeated by Blakeman in 2021. [Emphasis added]

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“There’s hardly a word that you can poll that polls worse on Long Island than state mandates,” said Michael Dawidziak, who is based in Suffolk County and has worked with both Republicans and Democrats. “To me, this is not good politics for the governor.” [Emphasis added]

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“I’d rather not override zoning,” Latimer, a former state senator, said. “But I think it’s important to disconnect the narrative that exists out there, which is, the city wants to develop housing and the suburbs don’t. The suburbs are not monolithic.” [Emphasis added]

On Long Island, local activists have said they will not stop fighting Hochul’s plan until it is thrown out. Angie Carpenter, representing the town of Islip, told the Center Square that local officials are already working to create more housing that is in line with their community’s zoning standards.

“New York state is attacking our right to govern ourselves, decide what our neighborhoods look like, to turn us into the city,” Carpenter said. “I will not let that happen.”

Real estate developers and investors served as huge campaign cash bundlers for Hochul’s reelection bid last year against former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R). A new report details how the governor’s zoning plan would funnel loads of taxpayer-funded tax breaks to those donors.