Upper East Side expected on list that strips Council of rezoning votes

The Department of City Planning could publish its final Bottom 12 list on Oct. 1 at the earliest, and the Upper East Side is expected to be on it. Landing there would mean housing rezonings in the neighborhood no longer go before the City Council. Independent analyses by NYU’s Furman Center and other groups point to the neighborhood’s inclusion, but the department would not confirm it ahead of the announcement.

What the Bottom 12 housing fast track changes

The rule was put on the ballot while Eric Adams was mayor, and voters approved it last year. It speeds up review of new housing. It also removes the Council from rezoning decisions in the dozen community districts that built the least affordable housing in the last five years.

City officials and housing policy experts say the change could save developers money, because they would no longer wait months or years on vacant or underused land for local lawmakers to sign off. Larger buildings could also become easier and cheaper to put up. Existing city law would still require a quarter of the new apartments to be affordable to low- and middle-income households.

Community leaders are pushing back. They stand to lose a voice in future planning and may be unable to stop buildings they see as a poor fit for the blocks around them.

Upper East Side housing: tall towers, few new units

Two new high-end condominium buildings near the corner of East 75th Street and Third Avenue illustrate the trend. Prices in one begin at $8.5 million, and the other is asking nearly $17.9 million for a penthouse. Property records show the pair contain 77 condos combined, roughly matching the count in the smaller buildings torn down to make room for them.

Across the neighborhood over 15 years, owners tore down or merged 2,687 units and built 4,598, according to City Planning data. That leaves the area with 1,911 more homes than before. The Furman Center found that under 300 of the new units were affordable to low- and middle-income households.

Council Speaker Julie Menin, whose district covers the area, said its density has made affordable housing difficult to build. Brad Greenburg, the Furman Center’s executive director, said building there has not stopped. “It’s just not what the voters said they wanted, which is more affordable housing,” he said.