EDITORIAL
City should not have to fight for light and air
Open light and air are two seemingly simple concepts of the citywide design blueprint that, when viewed from the street, make New York’s skyline appear one of a kind.
But with the flurry of construction still continuing apace in every nook and cranny of Manhattan, the value of every square foot in the city has reached an unprecedented premium.
Hoping to increase their capacity to design into New York’s ever-limited space, the NYC Chapter of the American Institute of Architects recently submitted a controversial six-point proposal to amend the city’s Zoning Resolution. It contains revisions the AIA claims will employ a “more efficient use of space” by filling out areas where light and air now flow freely—space that is currently protected from development by laws aimed at retaining aesthetic diversity and unbuilt space in the constricting metropolis.
Opponents have expressed outrage at the proposal they warn will irreversibly change citywide planning. They charged the AIA with submitting the proposal surreptitiously to avoid broader public review, which is a necessary and customary procedure before such far-reaching changes are allowed to pass through the Department of City Planning and on to the City Council.
One of these six amendments seeks to boost by up to a fourth the maximum allowable base heights of buildings across a broad cross-section of zoning areas. This increase would permit them to align with their adjacent structures, which could effectively eliminate setbacks on some buildings. In essence, it would allow the initial façades on some structures to be developed a full 25 percent higher than currently allowed, creating a more uniform “canyon” streetscape that lacks creativity and shuts out light and air.
The city’s Historic Districts Council and some other pro-preservationists have already cried foul, charging the AIA with attempting to simply earn more buildable space—and thus more money for developers. Even Chelsea/Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen’s Community Board 4, which acknowledged its community would remain mostly untouched by many of the AIA’s provisions, sided with HDC on rejecting the base height amendment, stating that such an increase risks “inappropriately high base height to spread to adjacent buildings.”
The AIA naturally downplays the impact this would have on building design with renderings that illustrate a best-case scenario: a minor tweak here, a small adjustment there—all for the greater good in an evolving city.
But the originally adopted Zoning Resolution took measured care to avoid the generic design now sought by the AIA, which seems to act here as just another lobbying arm for developers who know the soaring value of each square foot. Community boards in the outer boroughs, where the other amendments will have an even greater impact, risk losing even more of the light and air that drew residents to their communities in the first place.
Manhattanites freely admit they sacrifice more open space to live in their borough. Still, shouldn’t they be afforded the greatest protections against construction that could eventually choke out dwindling free space? Many have probably not heard of this proposal yet, which is currently wending its way through City Planning after an initial approval.
If developers had it their way—the same ones who donate so generously to the coffers of our elected officials—the zoning regulations would be chipped away bit by bit until almost unrecognizable.
Board 4 admits that “we agree in principle with the stated goals of removing or updating old and outmoded provisions and making the Zoning Resolution work better for a largely built-up, mature city”—taking language directly from the AIA proposal.
But they would nonetheless likely look to the Jane Jacobs—and not the Donald Trumps—when determining the future of their New York City.
Developer-fueled proposals, whose impact aims to increase buildable square feet and in the process cut down on available light and air, move us in the wrong direction.
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