A grumpy and defensive lawyer representing the American Institute for Architects got a little more than he had bargained for when he came to pitch the trade group’s six proposals for changes to the city zoning code (known as “text amendments”) at last week’s Community Board 7 meeting. While the objections raised by the community at the three-hour meeting are too numerous to adequately cover in this space, one potential ramification of enacting the AIA’s suggestions particularly grabbed our attention. The architects (who stand to benefit if the code becomes more pro-developer) have suggested that a building’s height be allowed to be increased by up to 25% up to the height of an adjacent building (something, like all the proposed changes, that can often be achieved by variance). (For example, in an R8 district, a building that otherwise would have been restricted to 60 feet could now be 75 feet if one of the buildings on either side is that tall.) The downside of such a move would be two-fold: 1) The immediate negative impact on light and air of a single application of the proposed change; 2) The far scarier potential for a domino effect longer-term by which a whole block of otherwise two- or three-story buildings gradually could be increased to match the tallest building on the block. Poof! There goes the neighborhood.
AIA Trying to Upzone the Downzoning? [Brownstoner]
Proposed Text Amendments [AIA]