‘Lots’ of potential: Menin says City Council will launch advisory group to cut red tape, develop small vacant sites for new housing

<table> <tr><td> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/nyc/comments/1swdwfd/lots_of_potential_menin_says_city_council_will/"> <img src="https://external-preview.redd.it/P6ebvgscEOzUXzakaiJAamG5fnPr4AuirV1ALpK1keA.jpeg?width=640&amp;crop=smart&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=58a01f0cbcacc3d1ae25372bf30a9eea2a854911" alt="‘Lots’ of potential: Menin says City Council will launch advisory group to cut red tape, develop small vacant sites for new housing" title="‘Lots’ of potential: Menin says City Council will launch advisory group to cut red tape, develop small vacant sites for new housing" /> </a> </td><td> <!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p><a href="https://council.nyc.gov/">City Council Speaker Julie Menin</a> announced Friday that the city’s legislature would create a new Advisory Group on Housing Affordability, with the goal of reevaluating regulations and cutting red tape to allow housing development on nearly 3,000 vacant lots across the city.</p> <p>The lots the council initially identified are <strong>generally considered too small for development — generally about 17 to 25 feet in width.</strong> But with <strong>a few changes to the city’s construction code</strong>, Menin said on April 24, those lots could potentially generate <strong>up to 35,000 new units of housing</strong> amid the city’s historic housing shortage.</p> <p>Menin did not elaborate on specific codes or regulations that the City Council may look to eliminate, alter, or roll back. She did say that the council would focus on advancing development on the nearly 3,000 vacant or underused lots <strong>for up to eight stories</strong>. She represented these lots as a proverbial Goldilocks zone of development, housing that can be constructed more quickly with a lower cost than large projects to preserve affordability.</p> <p>Still, she acknowledged and assuaged <strong>concerns that deregulation automatically compromises safety.</strong></p> <p>“ For decades, we’ve relied on these regulations to ensure that our bu