One hundred years ago, New York became the first city in the U.S. to pass a city-wide zoning ordinance. The new rules, intended to address severe overcrowding and health problems, altered the physical and social character of the city. Revisions to the code 50 years later established standards that are largely still in effect. At RPA, we’ve recommended changes to parts of the code that have become outmoded or counter-productive, and expect to suggest more reforms in the fourth regional plan next year. It’s worth taking a look at how the code evolved to understand its role in the changing city.

Before 1916, walking New York City streets in lower Manhattan during the day was anything but bright. High buildings were stacked up against one other, preventing both light and air from reaching the streets of the city. This led to congestion, overcrowding, public health concerns and lower property values. Darker offices and apartments sold for much less compared with those which were exposed to sunlight, hurting real estate and business interests, and damaging neighborhoods and communities.

In 1913, the city established a commission of building heights to evaluate the impact that varying building sizes and uses were having on the city. The findings painted a dark picture:

“An occasional building of extreme height is not a matter of great public importance, but when as in parts of the office and financial district such buildings are crowded together, shutting off light and air and congesting the streets, the evil becomes one of grave public concern…lack of sunlight and continuous use of artificial light undoubtedly have a direct relation to health, eye strain, and general physical and mental efficiency”.

The large-building-to-narrow-street ratio also presented a fire safety risk. Firefighters were unable to combat a fire more than 85 to 100 feet above the ground. Packed buildings and heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic compounded the risks. The absence of comprehensive zoning created little public control over building development. ​“The present almost unrestricted power to build to any height, over any proportion of the lot, for any desired use and in any part of the city, has resulted in injury to real estate and business interests, and to the health, safety and general welfare of the city,” claimed the commission.

The completion of the 40-story Equitable Building in 1915, which cast a 7-acre shadow, further darkened lower Manhattan and drew even more attention to the issues of unregulated development.

1916 Zoning Resolution

The 1916 Zoning Resolution called for a dramatic shift in how the city had been developing. It imposed strict regulations for residential areas, restricting heights in relation to the width of the street. Regulations were imposed, calling for certain vertical limits, after which a building would have to be set back from the street line. Once a building was set back enough that it covered no more than 25% of the lot, there was no limit on its height. These regulations enabled the development of New York City’s famous skyscrapers, and led to its ​“wedding cake” style of buildings. The resolution also tried to slow the mixing of uses, limiting the ability of new factories and industry to locate near residential areas.

1961 Zoning

Fifty years later, a major update to the zoning code established floor area ratio (FAR, or the ratio of building floor area to lot size) as a basic means for regulating size and build of buildings. The code also improved provisions for public space and created a set of parking requirements for new development in the city. Though changes have been made to these regulations, the bulk of the 1961 code is largely still in effect.

RPA and Zoning

Civic organizations slightly older than RPA, such as the Municipal Art Society, helped establish the zoning code of New York. While the early work of RPA began after the 1916 zoning resolution, RPA’s first regional plan published in 1929 introduced a slew of ambitious recommendations tied to zoning, including proposing that in the Central Business Districts the ​“maximum cubage measured in floor areas should not exceed the equivalent of 12 floors on the total area of the lot” – an early version of the FAR concept later established in the 1961 code.

Today, RPA is advocating for a revision of elements of the zoning code including, ironically, lifting the current restriction limiting residential buildings to 12 times their lot area in areas like midtown, and rezoning them to abide by New York’s new mandatory inclusionary-housing law. RPA’s director of community planning and design, Moses Gates, said in a recent op-ed in Crain’s that adding affordable housing in areas with access to jobs, transit and services is the most logical move. Other revisions to the zoning, both in New York City and the region at large, will be explored as we continue to develop the fourth regional plan, to be released in 2017. Until broad changes are made, New Yorkers will continue to have a zoning code that was largely written 50 years ago.

Photo: Map showing heights of buildings in midtown and lower Manhattan

Source: ​“Report of the Heights of Buildings Commission to the Committee on the Height, Size and Arrangement of Buildings of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment of the city of New York” 1913