A housing project in the Bronx will go through a speedier land use review process, the first to test out one of three housing-related ballot measures approved by voters in November.
The Powerhouse Apartments project will go through the Expedited Land Use Review Procedure, or Elurp, which will last 90 days instead of the usual 200-plus days required under the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.
Developers Lemle & Wolff Companies, HELPDevCo and True Development New York plan to add 84 affordable housing units to the site at 351 Powers Avenue, which is currently being used as a parking lot for the city’s Department of Education.
Voters approved Elurp in November, as part of a package of ballot measures aimed at speeding up housing approvals. The other changes included the creation of an appeals board that can reverse City Council rejections of projects that add affordable housing in one borough and a “fast track” approval process for projects proposed in 12 community districts that have added the least amount of affordable housing. The administration recently proposed rules for identifying those districts. The fast track is expected to become available in January.
Another “fast track” path allows the Board of Standards and Appeals to instead sign off on certain publicly-financed housing projects.
The Bronx project, planned in a medium-density residential district, doesn’t require a zoning change but would have needed to go through the full Ulurp process under previous rules as a disposition of city-owned land.
Under Elurp, the local community board and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson will have 60 days to review the application, which will run concurrently.
Because the project is seeking an Article XI tax exemption, review will end with the City Council, which has 30 days to consider the proposal. Other Elurp applications that aren’t seeking that kind of tax exemption can instead receive final approval from the City Planning Commission.
Projects seeking zoning changes can also qualify for Elurp, so long as they increase residential capacity by no more than 30 percent (if located in a medium- or high-density district) or, if in a low-density district, are no taller than 45 feet and have a maximum floor area ratio of two.
The Powers Avenue project underscores the hoops that even a small, 100 percent affordable housing project on city-owned land must go through, even without zoning changes, absent the ballot measures and other recent changes. For instance, the project is able to bypass environmental review through the city’s “green fast track,” because it has fewer than 250 units and will be all electric.
Environmental review can sometimes add years to a project’s timeline, on top of the seven-month Ulurp process. As part of her executive budget, Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed exempting more projects from environmental review.
The project has already been a few years in the making. The Adams administration selected the development team in 2024 after releasing a request for proposals in 2022.
The project will also include 30,000 square feet of community facility space, P.S. 65 Mother Hale Academy public school, nearly 4,000 square feet of community theater space and 30 parking spots to replace the existing staff parking.
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