Manhattan Borough President Forces Council Vote Over New Housing Development

CHELSEA, NY — The future of affordable housing in Manhattan could be at the mercy of the itty bitty details of city legislation.

A tiny loophole in permit rules is allowing a developer to go through with building a new residential building in Chelsea without requiring the usual number of affordable housing units, and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer wants none of it.

After the City Planning Commission approved a special permit for 42 W. 18th St. on Monday, Brewer immediately used what's called the "triple no" provision to force the City Council to vote on the special permit application.

A "triple no" is a provision of the City Charter that allows the borough president to file an objection requiring a City Council vote on an application if the local community board and borough president both reject an application and the City Planning Commission approves it anyway. It's a very rare occurrence — it's only been invoked 21 times since 1995.

Brewer invoked the provision because she said the decision on 42 W. 18th St., referred to as the "Adorama," would set a precedent for how much affordable housing would be required in future new developments in New York City.

City Planning Commission officials argued the development at 42 W. 18th St. is exempt from Mandatory Inclusionary Housing rules because the project wouldn't increase the maximum permitted floor area of the building. Instead, the project increases the amount of units in the lot (by 26) by changing height and shape rules, and therefore doesn't require an affordable housing quota. The developer and city planners have called the project a "rejiggering" of the zoning as opposed to an "enlargement" of it.

But Brewer responded by saying the difference between increasing the permitted floor area and increasing units was simply "splitting hairs." In an op-ed in the New York Daily News last week, she threatened to pull the "triple no" if the commission voted in favor of the permit:

The rules spelling out mandatory inclusionary housing clearly state they must apply "where a special permit application would allow a significant increase in residential floor area." Not an increase in maximum permitted floor area. Just an increase in floor area, period. This special permit application fits that bill, by relaxing the rules in a way that will allow the developer to construct a building with more square footage.

"Adorama" is one of the first projects to be held to the standards of the Mayor's new affordable housing rules, which were passed earlier this year after two years of contentious debates.

Mandatory Inclusionary Housing rules require 20 to 30 percent of units be sold at below-market rates.

Local elected officials, including Brewer, are concerned that developers will be incentivized to challenge the new affordable housing rules in the future if this permit vote comes out in favor of the developers.

The CPD, on the other hand, expressed concerns to The New York Times that if the city pushes the housing rules too far against developers, the developers will actually be more motivated to file suit against the regulations city officials fought so hard to put in place.

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