A zoning change that could bring more eco-friendly upgrades like solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicle charging and energy-efficient building fixes to New York passed its final vote in the City Council on Wednesday.
The initiative, dubbed “City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality,” was introduced by the Department of City Planning in April, the first of three “City of Yes” amendments intended to ease outdated zoning restrictions.
In a statement Mayor Adams said the passage “will pave the way for a more sustainable future.”
The 17 adjustments are meant to enable a variety of decarbonization projects to cut harmful emissions as the city aims to be carbon-neutral by 2050.
The most immediate changes New Yorkers are likely to see as a result of the new law include more rooftop solar panels, solar awnings over parking areas, green retrofits to homes and more opportunities for EV charging, according to City Planning chair Dan Garodnick.
“New York City has some of the most ambitious climate commitments in the world, but our zoning has not kept up. Unfortunately, many of our regulations were crafted before the urgency of the climate crisis was understood and before our clean energy technology even existed,” he told the Daily News. “Fundamentally it modernizes what is a 20th century zoning resolution to keep up with and meet our 21st century climate goals.”
The plan would make it simpler to install rooftop solar panels, get rid of oil- or gas-powered boilers and add electric heat pumps to some 1 million homes in 50,000 buildings where zoning currently restricts such retrofits; more than double the area where EV charging stations are allowed in commercial districts; create more public parking options for bikes; and make it easier to develop rooftop greenhouses and offshore wind turbines.
Councilwomen Alexa Aviles and Pierina Sanchez both voted for “Carbon Neutrality” but were critical of City Planning, with Aviles expressing her “deep disappointment” and saying the views of advocates “were not taken seriously” during the process.
“Many concerns of the environmental justice community and advocacy organizations were not addressed,” added Sanchez. “[I] hope that in the future conversations, discussions and policy changes around the city’s decarbonization and climate mobilization policies we are able to account for their concerns.”
New York declared a climate emergency in 2019. The city has been hit with catastrophic flooding, extreme heat, poor air quality and other devastating impacts as a result of the crisis.
The “Carbon Neutrality” deal green-lit Wednesday is the first of three prongs in the Adams administration’s much-touted City of Yes zoning package. The second, which boosts economic development, is currently being presented to community boards. The third, which deals with housing development, is expected to enter formal public review next spring.
Passage of the “Carbon Neutrality” regulations comes a month before the implementation of Local Law 97, another climate-centric initiative that caps carbon emissions from large buildings and imposes steep fines for those that don’t comply.
But that law has proved contentious. Some environmental groups say that an allowance that would give owners who show good-faith improvements another two years to comply weakens the legislation, while some owners have argued the rules are still too burdensome.
New York’s million-plus buildings are the city’s single largest source of carbon.
Alia Soomro, deputy director of New York City Policy with the New York League of Conservation Voters, applauded the passage of “City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality.”
“I think this is a really exciting thing because zoning is a huge part of why and how things are built in the city,” she told the News. “So updating our zoning resolution to fight climate change is a really big thing.”
