City Council Votes Down Sherman Plaza Rezoning Application

INWOOD, NY — The Sherman Plaza rezoning application has officially been defeated. Two City Council committees — the Zoning and Franchises subcommittee, and Land Use committee — voted Tuesday morning to reject a spot rezoning application on the corner of Sherman Avenue and Broadway.

Both bodies voted to unanimously reject the applications after City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez — who represents Inwood — said he would not support the proposed rezoning during a rally Monday night.

"We have not been able to get to a point where I feel it is in the community's best interest to move this spot rezoning forward," Rodriguez said Monday. "Therefore I tell you that at this moment I will not be supporting the rezoning of Sherman and Broadway."

For months Rodriguez and the City Council negotiated with developer Acadia Sherman Ave LLC to work out a deal that would be mutually beneficial, but the two sides could not make a compromise, Rodriguez said. The developer agreed the building would offer 50 percent of its units below market rate, but other concerns stalled the deal. Specifically, the council was concerned that the developer could flip the property after rezoning and that the rates of affordability were not appropriate for the neighborhood, Rodriguez said before Tuesday's vote.

After Tuesday's vote, Acadia Sherman Ave will have several options on what approach to take with the property. It could go back to the drawing board and reapply for another spot rezoning, build a development allowed within current zoning regulations or sell the property.

Rodriguez also faced a lot of pressure from his constituents, who formed a coalition that vocally opposed the Sherman Plaza rezoning. The group, called Northern Manhattan is Not for Sale, was formed by like-minded community organizations such as the Metropolitan Council on Housing, Uptown for Bernie, the Riverside-Edgcomb Neighborhood Association and many more.

During his remarks Tuesday, Rodriguez praised community members for their ability to organize and make their voices heard, a sentiment echoed by council members from other districts.

Although the council members voted in solidarity with Rodriguez's decision, they did lament the missed opportunity to strike a deal with the developer.

"Despite the enthusiasm and applause today in the chair's view it is not a happy day," said City Councilman David Greenfield, who serves as chair for the Land Use committee. "And the reason is because we were not able to find a compromise which is something that we always try for."

Greenfield listed two issues that the council and developer could not compromise on: the proposed building's scale, and the affordable housing levels. But despite the fact the council could not support Sherman Plaza, Greenfield said the need for affordable housing developments in New York City cannot be ignored.

"Our city's challenge is not if we grow, but how we grow," Greenfield said.

If the zoning application passed committee it would have been voted on by the full City Council later Tuesday. The application would have upzoned the building site on the corner of Sherman Avenue and Broadway and would have declared the site a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) area.

These changes would allow the developer to build a 17-story mixed-use building containing 413 apartment units, according to an application filed with the city.

The MIH area would require the developer to offer 20 percent of the building's apartment units at a rate of 40 percent of the area median income or 30 percent of its units at a rate of 80 percent of the area median income ($62,150 per year for a family of three), which residents said was too much money.

[Photo: Patch]