New York City Council · Oct 6, 2026 · 11 minutes
The committee considered five rezoning proposals involving affordable housing in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, including discussion of the Park Avenue and 289 Kent Avenue projects. It approved all items as described by the chair, with 12–0 votes except LUs 135 and 136, which passed 11–1.
The meeting opened with a welcome and reminders to silence electronic devices and not approach the front desk; the chair was invited to begin.
Good afternoon and welcome to today's New York City Council vote for the Committee on Land Use. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time we please ask that you silence all electronic devices. At no point in time is anyone to approach the front desk. Chair, you may begin.
Chair Riley welcomed committee members, identified those attending in person and remotely, noted that five items were scheduled for votes, and thanked subcommittee chairs for their leadership.
Good afternoon and welcome to a meeting of the Committee on Land Use. I am Councilmember Kevin Riley, chair of this committee. I want to welcome my esteemed colleagues joining me here today, which includes remotely Councilmember Brooks Powers and Councilmember Caban, and within the chambers, Councilmember Osei, Councilmember Salaam, Councilmember Banks, Councilmember Zhuang is also online, Councilmember Encarnacion, Councilmember Justin Sanchez, Councilmember Thomas Henry, and our minority leader, Councilmember David Carr.
Today we are voting on 5 items, including various proposals referred by our subcommittee, and I would like to thank Chair Lewis in Zoning and Chair Marte in Landmarks for their ongoing leadership.
The chair outlined five rezoning proposals: Sojourner-Troup Mapes; Fort Hamilton Muse, with proposed R7D mapping and MIH Option 1; Park Avenue Brooklyn, removing MIH Option 2; 69-67 108th Street, removing Option 2 and adding Option 3; and 289 Kent Avenue, also removing Option 2 and adding Option 3. The chair described the projects’ proposed housing and affordability plans.
Today we will vote to approve LUs 135 and 136, relating to the Sojourner-Troup Mapes rezoning proposal in Councilmember Feliz's district in the Bronx for a zoning map and zoning text amendment to facilitate the development of a mixed-use, 100% affordable residential project, including approximately 457 apartments in total, to be provided to 2 neighboring development sites. We will also vote to approve with modification LUs 131 and 132 related to the Fort Hamilton Muse rezoning proposal in Councilmember Santos-Suazo's district in Brooklyn for a zoning map and zoning text amendment to facilitate the development of a mixed-use residential project in Bay Ridge with approximately 292 apartments, of which up to 88 will be permanently affordable using the MMIH program.
Our modification will be to map the rezoned district as a proposed R7D district, and we will also modify the proposed text amendment to add MIH Option 1. We will also vote to approve with modification LUs 133 and 134 related to the Park Avenue Brooklyn rezoning proposal in Councilmember Ressler's district. Oh, we're also joined by Councilmember Ressler. Sorry, Councilmember Ressler.
I'm deeply offended. In Brooklyn for a zoning map and zoning text amendment to facilitate the development of a mixed-use residential project, including approximately 391 apartments in total, of which up to 101 will be permanently affordable through the MIH program. Our modification will be to remove MIH Option 2. We will also vote to approve with modification LUs 137 and 138 relating to the 69-67 108th Street rezoning proposal in Councilmember Schulman's district in Queens for a zoning map and zoning text amendment to facilitate the development of a mixed-use residential project in Forest Hills. including approximately 59 apartments, of which up to 18 will be permanently affordable through MIH.
Our modification will be to remove MIH Option 2 and to add Option 3. Finally, we will also vote to approve with modification LUs 139 and 140 related to the 289 Kent Avenue rezoning proposal in Councilmember Ressler's district as well in Brooklyn for a zoning map and zoning text amendment to facilitate facilitate the development of a mixed-use residential project in Williamsburg, including approximately 278 apartments, of which up to 83 will be permanently affordable through MIH.
Our modification will be to remove MIH Option 2 and add Option 3.
Councilmember Ressler described work with property owners on the Park Avenue rezoning, citing housing and school seats as anticipated benefits and criticizing agency cooperation during environmental review. Ressler also described the 289 Kent Avenue housing plan and support for Triskelion Arts, and urged colleagues to support both projects.
I would like to recognize any of my colleagues for any comments or questions. Councilmember Marissa. Thank you so much, Chair Riley. I, I don't generally have the privilege joining you in this committee, and it's good to be here. We're voting on 2 projects in, in my district today, or 2 rezonings in my district today. One is the Park Avenue rezoning.
Community members came to me about this rezoning before I had even taken office as a councilmember in 2021, and we were able to work together with approximately 10 property owners to rezone their properties. DCP insisted that this be one joint zoning action, which caused a whole lot of different challenges. And I will tell you, the city agencies involved, especially the Department of Transportation, were entirely uncooperative in the environmental review process and made me want to pull my hair out.
Parks Department was better— was better, but not that much better. And— but we were able to eventually get this project to move forward. And it will generate many hundreds of units of housing, but even more importantly, it will generate 2,500 school seats. And You know, we hear from families every single day in our communities who are struggling to get by, who are struggling to afford to live in New York City, and access to affordable housing and access to affordable, high-quality schools, child care all the way through, are the things that our communities need.
And so I am thrilled that we are making this long-term investment in the future of Bed-Stuy and South Williamsburg with this rezoning that will really create educational opportunity for thousands upon thousands of families for generations to come. Secondly, we're rezoning 289 Kent, which is right on the waterfront in Williamsburg. This site may be familiar to many here.
It was the old headquarters for Vice. It's a vacant building, and we're going to be building some housing modeled kind of after the building just down the block at 325 Kent. This will be a step-down kind of housing development with more density on the Kent side, less density toward Wythe. We'll be generating nearly 300 units of housing here.
So So we're adding about 1,000 units of housing across our district today. And these are really good projects. The owner at 289 Kent is also very graciously helping to support one of the cultural organizations in our community to help them stay in our neighborhood long-term, Triskelion Arts, which I really appreciate. I really want to thank my team for their hard work on this, particularly Hannah Aida and Molly Haley.
And I want to thank the land use team for their smart and thoughtful advice. Thank you. Um, Lena, Brian, William, Anne, and every— Omar, whoever else helped, thank you all. I really appreciate you, and, uh, I hope my colleagues will support these projects. They're really good, uh, projects that will— that are the right type of development for our community long-term.
The chair called for votes on all five proposal pairs, with modifications as described. The clerk called the roll; members recorded their votes, including one no vote on LUs 135 and 136. The clerk reported 12–0 approval for all other items and 11–1 approval for LUs 135 and 136, with no abstentions; all were approved as described by the chair.
Thank you, Councilmember Ressler. Any other members? Okay, I will now call for a vote with the support of local members to approve LUs 135 and 136. For the Sojourner Truth Mapes rezoning, and to approve with modification the LUs 131 and 132 for the Fort Hamilton Muse rezoning, LUs 133 and 134 for the Park Avenue Brooklyn rezoning, LUs 137, 138 for the 69-67 108th Street rezoning, and LUs 139 and 140 for the 289 Kent Avenue rezoning.
Would the clerk please call the roll? Thank you. Excuse me. Thank you. Good afternoon. William Martin, committee clerk. Roll call vote, Committee on Land Use. All items are coupled. Chair Riley? Aye. Lewis? We'll come back. Brooks Powers? Please come back to me. Sure. Thank you. Kaban. Congratulations, Councilmember Ressler, and I vote aye. Thank you, Councilmember. Abreu. Osei.
I vote aye. Salam. Congratulations. I vote aye. Banks. Congratulations to those members on their tough negotiations, and I vote aye. Thank you. Thank you, Banks. Aye again. Excuse me, sorry. Zhuang. Aye. Thank you, Councilwoman. Congratulations. Thank you. Encarnacion. I vote aye. Sanchez. I vote aye with the exceptions of LEUs 135 and 136, for which I vote no.
Thomas Henry. Aye. Carr. Aye on all. Councilmember Lewis. Aye on all. Thank you. Brooks Powers. I vote aye on all, but it's my hope that there could be, um, a resolution before it comes to a full vote. between FIPS and the commitments needed for the community. But I support Councilmember Oswald, at least on the project, so I'll vote aye on all for this committee hearing.
Thank you, Councilmember. Following results, all items have a vote of 12 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative, and no abstentions, with the exception of land use items 135 and 136 have a vote 11 in the affirmative, 1 in the negative, no abstentions. All items have been approved by the committee as described by the chair.
The chair announced that business had concluded, thanked participants and staff, and adjourned the meeting.
That concludes today's business. I would like to thank the members of the public, my colleagues, council staff, and the sergeant-at-arms for participating in today's meeting. This meeting is hereby adjourned. Thank you.
Transcript and chapters are generated from the Council’s video and may contain errors. Check the original recording for context.