The first project to make use of an accelerated review process for housing will turn a parking lot in the Bronx to 84 affordable homes. Voters approved ballot measures last year that will enable the city’s housing agency to seek project approval within 90 days.
This empty city-owned lot at 351 Powers Ave. in the Bronx is slated for 84 new apartments. (NYC HPD)
ULURP’s faster, younger sibling is making its debut in the Bronx.
A new development on Powers Avenue in Morris Park will be the first city project to take advantage of a new expedited approval process for affordable housing, turning a vacant city-owned lot into 80 apartments and community space.
The Expedited Land Use Review Process, dubbed “ELURP,” will allow the city to dispose of the land faster, providing 60 days of simultaneous review by the local community board and borough president, followed by 30 days for the City Council.
The speedier review was one of several ballot measures passed by New York City voters last year to speed up the process to build affordable housing and give city agencies new tools to use public land for development.
The city’s existing land use process, called the Uniform Land Use Review Process, or ULURP, produced costly delays that prevented new housing, according to the NYC Charter Commission that wrote the ballot proposals. The expedited version pushes select projects through faster.
“Instead of a seven month process over to our development partners, we can now do that in just 90 days,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing Leila Bozorg.
The City Council was critical of the ballot initiatives last year, which they said cut out community voices in the planning process.
But new Councilmember Elsie Encarnacion, who represents the Morris Park area where the site is located, said this development was a collaboration with the community. It will have a workforce development training center on the ground floor, a theater, and recreation space.
“I’m really proud of this project, because throughout that whole planning process, community was at the table making sure that they demanded what they will need for the future of this community,” said Encarnacion Friday.
351 Powers Ave. is eligible for expedited review because it takes city owned land and turns it into 100 percent affordable housing.
The building, called Powerhouse Apartments, will have 84 units—24 studios, 18 one bedrooms, 31 two bedrooms, and 11 three bedrooms—including 30 apartments set aside for formerly homeless New Yorkers.
All 84 units will be affordable using the city’ s extremely low and low income affordability standards—a program which Mayor Mamdani touted as an example of true affordability on the campaign trail. Families living there will make about half the median income on average—around $73,000 for a family of three.
“Speeding up the development timeline and creating a more predictable process for public approvals, makes our projects more affordable,” said Michael Sandler, associate commissioner for neighborhood strategies at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).
Mamdani set an ambitious goal of building 200,000 “truly affordable” units in New York City within 10 years.
In his first few days in office, he passed an executive order asking agencies to identify city-owned sites that could be developed as housing. Lots like 351 Powers, which was used for parking at an adjacent school, could be good candidates.
“This is the new era of turning ready-to-build sites into quality, affordable homes at the speed this housing crisis demands,” said HPD commissioner Dina Levy at a press conference Friday.
Officials also said they will also be using the expedited approval for an environmental project on Staten Island which will expand the Saw Mill Creek Marsh park.
Other housing projects could qualify for a “fast track” approval process next year if they’re located in districts that have produced little affordable housing in recent years.
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