Not all community boards support more housing in their neighborhoods. Manhattan Community Board 4 is out to prove it isn’t like all community boards.
The board on Thursday unveiled a plan calling for 23,000 more homes within its borders on the West Side, the New York Times reported. It includes 1,400 affordable homes in the district, stretching from West 14th Street to Columbus Circle.
The board has no power or funding to implement such a plan. But board support can be crucial to winning political support, which is necessary to rezone for more housing. And in this case, West Side Council member Erik Bottcher is in favor, having come to embrace mixed-income housing development as a way to make the city more affordable.
So has Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who unveiled a comprehensive housing plan Thursday.
The alignment of Community Board 4, Bottcher, Adams and the mayor paves the way for upzoning the West Side, which in turn would attract developers, as it has in Gowanus. City and state leaders are making a concerted attempt to add housing.
“This plan is really meant to be an opportunity, a gift, to the city and the state from a community saying: Build these apartments here,” board chair Jeffrey LeFrancois told the Times.
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The board’s plan specifies how it would achieve its lofty goal. One way is to develop housing on sites owned by the state. In July, the Empire State Development Corporation requested proposals to convert the former Bayview Correctional Facility in West Chelsea into supportive housing. It is among the sites in the board’s plan, which says 115 units could go there.
The community board isn’t a rubber stamp for development. In April it voted against an affordable housing project at 806 Ninth Avenue. The City Council ultimately gave the green light to Hudson Companies for 112 units.
— Holden Walter-Warner