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When Zoning Promises Aren't Guaranteed ...
By: Barika Williams
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Last week’s City Limits article details the collapse of the long-contested Rheingold Brewery development deal. The Rheingold saga teaches an important lesson that is especially relevant today because of the many upcoming rezonings.
Last week’s City Limits article details the collapse of the long-contested Rheingold Brewery development deal. The Rheingold saga teaches an important lesson that is especially relevant today because of the many upcoming rezonings.
When rezoning promises aren’t guaranteed, communities are left footing the bill.
In 2013 developer Reid Properties sought a rezoning on the Rheingold Brewery site in Bushwick to allow residential development on a site previously designated for manufacturing. In exchange, the developer agreed to build as many as 200 units of affordable housing and to dedicate funds for community parks, schools, and resident services.
This agreement was codified in a written Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) memorandum signed by Reid Properties and local community groups; but the agreement was not written into the text of the rezoning. It does not run with the land and so it is not binding for any parties that didn’t sign on. Reid Properties has since sold off all of the Rhinegold lots to other developers. To date none of the new developers have agreed to fulfill the terms of the previously agreed-to CBA.
It’s a cautionary tale of just how much uncertainty there can be in a rezoning.
When communities and elected officials look at proposed rezonings, they want to be sure of what the overall impact will be. Sure that all developers will have to build affordable housing; that the additional school seats they need will be added; that local transit capacity will be expanded; that the community’s parks will be improved; that local residents and businesses will be proactively protected from displacement.
And given the past experiences of unfilled promises by the developers and the City, communities are understandably wary of any promises that are not accompanied by legally binding commitments.
Communities should not be asked to accept significant zoning changes to their neighborhoods without concrete commitments on local priorities.
Making sure that present-day commitments will be enforceable in the future is not always simple. But the development that results from zoning changes is permanent – and the corresponding community benefits and protections should be, too. The Coalition for Community Advancement: Progress for East New York / Cypress Hills attempted to address this challenge in their community proposal which included creative ways to ensure that school seats, community facilities, and other local priorities are in fact legally guaranteed. The City should welcome that approach and mustdevelop new, innovative tools that make commitments to local communities outside of zoning text both binding and enforceable.
We must all take the disappointing situation of the Rheingold Brewery site and learn from it so that communities, elected officials, and the Administration can all do better for our neighborhoods.