Chaotic Meeting Kicks Off Move To Rezone SoHo And NoHo

SOHO, NY — Dozens of SoHo and NoHo residents flooded an over-crowded, chaotic rezoning meeting meant to kick-start the Department of City Planning's public process for a possible rezoning of the neighborhoods.

Much like a typical community engagement meeting, the open house held on Wednesday night featured large poster boards about the neighborhood, opportunities to write personal feedback on note-cards for planners to read and myriad city planners on-hand to discuss what people like and don't like about the neighborhood. Even City Planning Chair Marisa Lago attended.

But a lack of adequate seating, no formal presentation and no microphone for people to hear caused the meeting to erupt in chaos.

Dozens huddled around Pratt Institute and Columbia University city planning professor Jonathan Martin, who attempted to explain the six-month public process.

"To remove the confusion, what we are doing here tonight is beginning a six-month process of community outreach on recommendations to improve SoHo and NoHo," said Martin, who is also a city planning consultant with BFJ Planning.

Attendees grumbled, asking, "how can we trust this process?" and "is your assumption that it needs to be improved?" and "how much are you getting paid by the real estate industry?"

Others shouted out criticisms of the Real Estate Board of New York and Councilmember Margaret Chin — who is often mis-trusted by some constituents in this neighborhood because of her support for the contested plan to build affordable housing for elderly seniors and on site of the beloved Elizabeth Street Garden.

Last month, Borough President Gale Brewer, Chin and the Department of City Planning announced the beginning of the possible rezoning. Existing regulations set in the '70s mark the neighborhood largely for manufacturing uses.

But now the neighborhood includes high-end lofts and retail outlets — and the latter are often considered "over-sized" – an issue that has long-angered SoHo residents and small business owners. Much of the ground-floor retail and apartments have been permitted through grandfathering clauses or special permits.

"We need to hear from you," Chin told the crowd. "This is where you have to raise your voice. ... We are facilitating this process."

"Instead of letting us find out what are our shared concerns and giving voice to these concerns, they are saying you as an individual go on the side and fill out a form," said Shlomo "Solly" Angel, a New York University city planning professor and SoHo resident.

Martin "telling us that he's working for us has no weight at all," Angel said, noting he wouldn't support massive lifting of restrictions in a rezoning but, rather, believes in "re-regulation."

"I'm against just opening it up for developers to just come and do whatever they want," he said.

Others from the group Open New York attended the meeting in support of a rezoning, so long as it would increase density to build more housing.

"In this environment, we need every bit of housing we can muster, but that won't be possible if we don't zone for it," East Villager Will Thomas of Open New York wrote in prepared remarks, thinking the meeting would be organized for attendees to speak.

After a series of more public workshops in the coming months, a recommendation report is expected to be released this summer.

Image credit: Sydney Pereira Image caption: Dozens huddle around city planning professor at Pratt Institute and Columbia University, Jonathan Martin, at a SoHo and NoHo community engagement meeting about a possible rezoning of the neighborhood.