Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration on February 20 launched the city’s first-ever Expedited Land Use Review Procedure, beginning the review for a disposition of city-owned land at 351 Powers Ave. in the Bronx that the administration said would create approximately 84 affordable homes.
Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg made the housing announcement at the Powers Avenue site at 10 a.m. that Friday, according to the mayor’s public schedule, which listed the event as open press.
The new procedure, known as ELURP and approved by voters in November, offers a streamlined public review process for modest housing and climate resiliency projects, the administration said. Reviews under the procedure conclude within 90 days, down from roughly seven months under the standard process, according to the mayor’s office.
Alongside the Bronx project, the Department of City Planning will begin the review process for the city to acquire a parcel next to Saw Mill Creek Marsh Park on Staten Island as part of ongoing restoration and conservation efforts, the administration said.
The administration also said it has advanced a separate initiative, the Affordable Housing Fast Track, which would accelerate public review for affordable housing proposals in the 12 community districts that the city said produced the least affordable housing over the past five years. The City Planning Commission has proposed a methodology to identify those districts, which the administration described as transparent, efficient and accurate, intended to ensure the program makes every neighborhood part of the solution to the city’s housing crisis.
Details of the proposed Fast Track methodology are available through the city’s rulemaking portal at rules.cityofnewyork.us.
Later that morning, at 10:30 a.m., Mamdani was scheduled to make a workers’ protection announcement with Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Sam Levine and Councilmember Sandy Nurse, according to his public schedule, which said footage would be pooled by ABC7 and distributed afterward.
