Testimony re: OneLIC Neighborhood Plan

Written Testimony related to the OneLIC Neighborhood Plan

CEQR number: 25DCP001Q; ULURP Numbers: C250224MMQ, C250179PPQ, C250178PCQ, C250180PPQ, C250176ZMQ, N250177ZRQ

Pratt Center for Community Development works for a more just, equitable and sustainable New York City through participatory planning, applied research, and policy advocacy in collaboration with community-based organizations. We recently mapped the lack of open space in Long Island City for Community Board 2. We are submitting this testimony to express our deep concerns about the proposed OneLIC Neighborhood Plan, an area-wide zoning change to induce the development of high-rent, non-rent regulated housing units in Long Island City without adequate investments in infrastructure and affordability.  

Since 2001, the city has rezoned several different sections of Long Island City, leading to the creation of tens of thousands of new housing units in what was once a largely industrial neighborhood with pockets of low-density residential uses. The Bloomberg administration’s rezoning introduced luxury-branded commercial office and residential towers with little-to-no protections for industrial jobs nor housing affordability. This drastic transition has changed Long Island City’s land and housing market, resulting in significantly higher rents that cause secondary displacement and are racially and economically exclusive. According to DCP, in 2022, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Long Island City was $5,300 as compared to $2,600 in Queens and $3,500 in the city overall. At the same time, following the city’s approach of zoning without planning, the neighborhood has not seen adequate  public investment in infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing population. 

Pratt Center supports Western Queens CLT’s advocacy and calls on Queens Community Boards 1 and 2 to only support this rezoning if the City does each of the following:

• Includes a significant percentage of income-restricted apartments at deep affordability levels that reflect the needs of the neighborhood, not limited to minimum requirements set out by the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) program. 
• Prioritizes the long-standing community-led Queensboro People's Space plan for the DOE-owned site at 44-36 Vernon Boulevard instead of rezoning it. Inclusion of publicly-owned land in the proposed rezoning area is highly problematic because it strips the community’s leverage over future development of these sites by upzoning them for a hypothetical private developer and forgoing a site-specific public review process.
• Builds in and guarantees public investment in nearby NYCHA developments
• Commits a major, binding funding commitment for public transit, school, and sewage infrastructure that is at least proportional to the population increase that the DEIS forecasts.
• Prepares a land acquisition strategy to create a resilient public park connecting Anable Basin to Queensbridge (as laid out in the LIC Coalition/Hunters Point Community Coalition plan).

These financial and programmatic commitments must be specific and binding. They  represent sorely-needed and long-overdue public investments for a community that has been growing due to City-sponsored rezonings for more than 20 years.

In summary, Pratt Center strongly urges Queens Community Boards 1 and 2 to issue a “no with conditions” recommendation unless specific and binding commitments are made to ensure that the OneLIC Neighborhood Plan is actually a community-informed, comprehensive plan and not just a zoning giveaway to private developers to create more luxury housing that exacerbates displacement. 

For more information, contact

PAULA CRESPO
Senior Planner
Pratt Center for Community Development

Note: This testimony reflects the position of Pratt Center for Community Development and not necessarily Pratt Institute.