The SoHo/NoHo Neighborhood Plan is moving forward. On May 17th, 2021 the Department of City Planning certified the ULURP application, officialy marking the beginning of the rezoning. You can stay up-to-date with events, progress on the rezoning, and all related public documents on the Zoning Application Portal.
The City Planning Commission hearing marked the initiation of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), following the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. In accordance with the ULURP process, Manhattan Community Board 2 (CB2) had 60 days to respond to the plan. They held a number of hearings in response, and you can read the resolution CB2 passed, in opposition to the plan, here.
The NYC City Planning Commission held an initial hearing on the process on Thursday, September 2nd, during which nearly six hours of testimony was received. Since then, Gale Brewer released a statement outlining her concerns and comments on the plan, which you can read here.
Read our statement here.
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which forecasts expected changes and affects that will be caused by the rezoning in detail, can be found here. You can also view the Zoning Text Amendment and proposed map of new zoning districts in SoHo and NoHo.
In the spring of 2019, the NoHo BID participated in the Envision SoHo/NoHo as one of the eighteen stakeholder groups that guided this process. We are still actively involved in this rezoning. For detailed information on the Envision SoHo/NoHo process, click here.
Per the Department of City Planning (DCP): “Building on the foundation of the Envision SoHo/NoHo process and report, DCP has prepared a draft scope of work for environmental review and is initiating the next phase of public engagement to inform the Neighborhood Plan. Scoping for environmental review will take place in 2020, followed by the development of a zoning proposal that is expected to enter the formal public review process (ULURP) in 2021.”
On Monday, October 26th, 2020, DCP hosted a public informational seminar on the draft proposal and more info about the environmental and public review process. A recording is available here. You can also view recordings of other public meetings from throughout this process here.
The City’s proposal for SoHo and NoHo can be found here.
The de Blasio administration has officially filed for the rezoning of SoHo and NoHo. You can view the application here. We recommend checking the Department of City Planning’s webpage on the rezoning for updates, by clicking here.
Recommended Resources:
A summary of what is being proposed by the Department of City Planning can be found here.
Gothamist published an article that outlines some of the important context to this rezoning, including why it’s happening now, what it could mean, and more. Read it here.
The American Institute of Architecture hosted a panel on how the potential rezoning could make SoHo/NoHo more equitable. It’s an interesting conversation, and we encourage you to listen here.
The New York Times published an interesting article on the challenges and concerns regarding arts, historic preservation, and our neighborhoods’ cultural history. These worries are serious and are important to understanding the rezoning process. Read it here.
