Syracuse, N.Y. – The Syracuse Common Council today unanimously approved a sweeping rewrite of zoning rules that city officials hope will spur the development of affordable housing and livelier neighborhood business corridors.
ReZone Syracuse, as the new zoning ordinance is known, will allow builders to develop bigger buildings packed closer together in some of the city’s most built-up neighborhood corridors.
The new rules also require developers of apartment buildings with 20 or more units to make at least 10% of the apartments affordable for people with below-median incomes.
Syracuse is the first large Upstate city to require such an affordable housing component in large developments, city planner Owen Kerney said.
ReZone relaxes some restrictions in parts of the city where detached, single-family homes are the norm. Those areas will now be open to row houses (attached residences) or to accessory dwelling units (small dwellings next to or within a single-family home.)
ReZone is the first comprehensive revision of city zoning in six decades. The new regulations and zoning map have been under development for more than six years, delayed in part by the Covid pandemic.
ReZone takes effect July 1.
City officials say ReZone cuts the number of different zoning districts by half and creates a simpler, streamlined review process that should facilitate development without sacrificing quality.
Over time, ReZone should produce a greater quantity and variety of housing and more mixed-use developments clustered along neighborhood business corridors, Kerney said. It will “address the zoning needs of our growing community,’’ he said.
Critics have argued that ReZone does not go far enough to address Syracuse’s need for quality affordable housing or to protect low-income residents from gentrification.
The New York Civil Liberties Union has called upon city officials to, among other things, expand the requirements for affordable housing and to remove barriers to the development of multifamily buildings in “whiter, wealthier neighborhoods’' that are zoned primarily for single-family housing.
The council voted today at a special meeting that was called after Councilor Jen Schultz blocked a vote Tuesday, saying she had unspecified concerns that she hoped to address.
Schultz tried to introduce a minor amendment to the ReZone map today. She asked to preserve the R-1 residential designation for a neighborhood on Lafayette Road, where some neighbors have complained that the new R-4 zoning will allow a multifamily apartment building near their single-family homes.
Schultz could not get a second councilor to support her proposal, so it was defeated. After that, she voted along with the other councilors to approve ReZone. She has a few minor concerns that she thinks can be ironed out over time, but supports the new zoning in general, Schultz said.
Lawmakers said they expect to amend ReZone ordinance as they find room for improvement. “This is a living document,’' said Helen Hudson, council president.
Today’s approval could bear fruit quickly.
Developers have already touted tentative plans for large mixed-use buildings that ReZone will allow. Under the old zoning rules, such projects required special permission – difficult to obtain – to exceed tighter restrictions on building height, setbacks from the curb or other standards.
In neighborhood business corridors – South Avenue, for example, or James Street in Eastwood – the regulations encourage mixed-use buildings, with retail or commercial space on the ground floor and residences above.
The largest development projects would still have to pass a site plan review by the city planning commission, but city officials anticipate fewer requests to bend the zoning code. That should pave the way for more projects to get done quickly.
At recent public hearings, one of the concerns raised was the potential for gentrification in areas targeted for new development. Attorney Lanessa Owens-Chaplin, director of environmental justice for the NYCLU, said ReZone should include more protections for residents at risk of being displaced by new development. Otherwise, low-income residents may be priced out as property values rise, she said in written comments.
Following today’s vote to pass ReZone, Owens-Chaplin issued a statement saying the zoning ordinance favors developers over residents.
“Today, Syracuse lawmakers have sent a chilling message to its Black and brown residents: that developers’ interests are more important than those who endured the fallout from the racist decisions of the past,’' she said.
Kerney said ReZone is “an important first step” in creating more affordable housing. It allows a greater variety of housing, encourages development near jobs and transit, and removes delays for developers, he said.
He said city officials may amend the document in the future if there are ways to improve housing options for low-income residents.
Perhaps the most novel change in ReZone is the allowance in residential neighborhoods for accessory dwelling units, sometimes called “granny flats.”
Under the new zoning, any owner-occupant of a single-family home can establish a second residence on their property. The ADU could be attached to (or within) the main house – think built-on addition or converted basement – or it could be detached, like a renovated garage or newly built cabin.
The owner could rent out the ADU for income or use it as a home for relatives. The owner must live on site.
ReZone includes these rules for ADUs: Only one ADU per property; the ADU can have only one bedroom; the ADU must have a separate entrance and its own cooking, sleeping and bathroom facilities; if the ADU is a separate structure, it must be behind or to the side of the main house.
In neighborhoods zoned for large apartment buildings, ReZone is intended to promote a mix of income levels.
For every large multifamily development – new construction or renovations that create 20 or more apartments – the city would impose a mixed-income requirement: At least 10% of the apartments (or 12% in developments with more than 75 units) must be rented to income-qualified people at below-market rates.
City officials will set the income limits annually. They have not yet been specified. The idea, Kerney said, is to include residents who earn too much to qualify for rental subsidies but too little to afford market rents.
The obligation to preserve the affordable units would last for the life of the building, regardless of any change in ownership. Developers who can demonstrate a “practical hardship’' in complying can reduce the number of affordable apartments required by 25% if they pay a fee to the city’s “affordable housing trust fund.” That fee would be set by the Common Council.
Critics, including the NYCLU. argued that the city should require each new apartment building to make at least 30% of units affordable.
Read more:
Syracuse redefines what makes a home: granny flats, row houses and other affordable housing
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Syracuse must encourage homeowners and investors to fix decayed housing, study finds
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Changes to obsolete Syracuse laws could spur Westcott project, shape city’s future
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