Good morning, Chair and members of the Committee on Land Use. My name is Marcel Negret, and I am the Land Use Director at the Regional Plan Association (RPA).
RPA is an independent, non-profit civic organization that has worked for over 100 years to improve economic opportunity, housing affordability, mobility, climate resilience, and quality of life across the New York metropolitan region. We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2027 as it pertains to the Department of City Planning (DCP) and the city’s broader planning capacity.
The Essential Value of Urban Planning
Robust urban planning is not merely a regulatory exercise; it is the blueprint for a functional, equitable, and resilient city. Effective planning serves several critical functions:
Economic Vitality: By optimizing land use, the city can foster job growth and ensure that commercial hubs are integrated with transit.
Environmental Sustainability & Resilience: Planning is a key tool for mitigating the impacts of climate change, from coastal flooding to extreme heat.
Social Equity: Intentional planning helps correct historical inequities by ensuring all neighborhoods have access to affordable housing, parks, and essential services.
Infrastructure Efficiency: It ensures that new developments are supported by the necessary transportation, school seats, and utility capacity.
Without a well-resourced planning department, the city will risk falling into “reactive” mode, struggling to keep pace with the evolving needs of its eight million residents.
RPA’s recent research underscores that our housing and climate challenges cannot adequately be addressed without expanding proactive and well-resourced planning. In our Averting Crisis report, we calculated that in NYC alone, over 800,000 additional homes will be needed by 2040 to address current and future needs. This demand must be integrated with adaptation strategies to reduce our risk to on-going and future climate risks. The housing and climate crises necessitate a coordinated planning approach to tackle the land-use, infrastructure and resilience strategies we need to implement - and NYCDCP is the agency positioned to lead.
Sound planning is also critical to delivering on the expectations of the NYC Streets Plan and expanding it to create a more vibrant and safe public realm. In our Re-envisioning the Right-of-Way and Building Better Streets reports, we highlighted strategies to repurpose how our streets and sidewalks can deliver more benefits for New Yorkers. Land-use and transportation planning must be closely aligned to achieve our goals, and DCP is the agency that can align zoning, urban design and capital planning across agencies.
We know it takes time and resources to effectively plan. Recent neighborhood rezonings took several years and incurred significant costs to properly engage with the community and develop a cohesive plan. The new administration is focused on delivering more affordability and accountability to New Yorkers and NYCDCP is the agency that can lead that change for the built-environment. It is critical they be given the resources to do so.
Concerns Regarding DCP Staffing and Capacity
While we recognize the fiscal challenges facing the city, RPA is concerned that the Preliminary Budget proposes essentially no change in current staffing levels at DCP.
The current staffing model, especially within the Borough Offices, significantly limits DCP’s capacity. In the previous term, the city managed to complete only five neighborhood-scale plans. While these accomplishments are noteworthy, they are not enough to tackle the magnitude of the housing crisis and the pressing need for climate adaptation across all five boroughs.
Increased Demands on the Land Use Process
Maintaining the status quo is, in effect, a step backward given the projected increase in workload:
Neighborhood Planning Goals: To meet the city’s ambitious housing and resiliency targets, DCP must have the bandwidth to lead multiple proactive, community-based planning processes simultaneously without sacrificing depth or engagement quality.
Charter Modifications: We are anticipating a significant influx of private land use applications resulting from the City Charter modifications approved last year. These changes are expected to streamline certain processes but will inevitably increase the volume of technical reviews, environmental assessments, and coordination required of DCP staff.
Conclusion
If we want a city that is more than the sum of its individual development projects, we must invest in the people who coordinate that vision. We urge the Council to advocate for increased technical and staffing capacity at the Department of City Planning. Ensuring that the borough offices are fully staffed is the only way to move from a “project-by-project” approach to a holistic, neighborhood-centered planning strategy.
Thank you for your time and for your dedication to New York City’s future.
