Photo illustration of Mayor Bill de Blasio (Getty, iStock)
Within the next eight months, the de Blasio administration hopes to rezone two neighborhoods and upend hotel construction citywide. At the same time, more than four dozen private rezoning applications aim to win City Council support — or risk restarting negotiations with a new regime.
Any election year would add urgency to the approval process for zoning changes, special permits and other types of applications, but this year the pressure is even greater because the city suspended its Uniform Land Use Review Procedure for six months during the pandemic, causing applications to back up.