What better way to spend a rainy Monday evening than at the SoHo/NoHo Neighborhood Plan Information Session? It's a great day to upzone the rich!

Apparently there are over 300 people on this #SoHo Zoom webinar with @NYCPlanning

Next meeting will be the environmental scoping meeting on Dec. 3rd. Get excited!

More on the plan here: http://nyc.gov/sohonohoplan 

DCP will be alternating between questions from folks who want to unmute themselves to speak and folks who feel more comfortable submitting written questions - I kind of love this! Makes the process more inclusive.

It's a long road, friends. We don't do this to get quick wins!

DCP recapping the 40+ stakeholder and public meetings that went in the Envision SoHo/NoHo process.

The proposed rezoning aims to "foster a more equitable, diverse & inclusive SoHo/NoHo, support economic resiliency & strengthen mixed-use, celebrate SoHo/NoHo's role in the arts & creative economy, and shape future development to enhance historic character"

This plan will require affordable housing in SoHo/NoHo for the first time ever and leverage the strong market in those neighborhoods to get it done. DCP: "Zoning flexibility is one of the tools we have to support recovery."

3,200 new homes, including 800 affordable homes.

Draft Scope of Work for SoHo/NoHo to be released on Wednesday 10/28. Mark your calendars, nerds.

A lot of steps to come but against all odds the Draft Environmental Impact Statement will become the Final Environmental Impact Statement, the CB will hold public hearings, CPC and the Council will have hearings and votes. It's a big lift but did we mention it'll add 3,200 homes?

It was kind of amazing to watch the hardworking public servants at DCP get through a whole presentation without any disruption from incumbent residents against change! One of many nice parts of having these meetings on Zoom where they can't be such shoutfests.

Time for some live questions

Questioner Barry wants to know about traffic patterns, landmark buildings, minimum sf for residential, and light and air. Standard grab bag! Though I did not realize that SoHo has 1,200 min sf for resi. That is... a lot bigger than my apt.

DCP explains that SoHo has a 1,200 sf min unit size and that min unit reqs are "not always a good tool to make sure that housing units are produced to be inclusive of various incomes and different needs." Preach!

Andrew B. from GVSHP is up next, asking about planned changes for retail (not my thing), why NYC wouldn't req aff housing without it being tied to an upzoning (idk what the tool for this would be). He's worried about "out-of-context development."

DCP responding with clarification about the process, explaining that the environmental analysis identifies the "outer bounds" of the potential change. Emphasizing that you can add density, housing, and aff housing w/o creating tall, skinny towers in SoHo.