Tag Archives: self-storage

City Steps Back from their Industrial Action Plan

Almost two years to the day since Mayor de Blasio announced his historic Industrial Action Plan, the City seems to be stepping back from their plan. Yesterday, the City Planning Commission voted on a proposal to mix manufacturing and self-storage in core industrial areas. Rather than vote on the City’s own original proposal to limit self-storage, which was supported by the majority of community boards and industrial service providers, the Department of City Planning (DCP) put forward an amended proposal that will continue the self-storage industry’s as-of-right access to our core industrial areas. As the final stop in Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), the City Council has the power to make alterations and corrections to a proposal before the text is enacted.

Two years after the Action Plan, the Administration is losing sight of some of the Mayor’s goals. Land-use policies that protect good jobs are an important part of an equitable economic development vision for the City. Employment-dense, blue-collar manufacturing uses are increasingly being displaced by non-manufacturing uses, including and especially self-storage, across the city.

The reforms that would have limited self-storage and hotels in the Industrial Business Zones were announced in the Action Plan two years ago. While the process for self-storage is reaching the end of its ULURP, the ULURP on hotels has not even started. All the while, these and other competing uses have continued to go up in core industrial areas, placing rent pressures on manufacturers to either pay up or get out. At this point, the City has the opportunity to fulfill one of these long-overdue promises to strengthen the IBZs.

But to do this, the City must ignore the self-storage industry and listen to the diverse set of manufacturers, developers, community boards, borough presidents, and city councilmembers, who are fighting in support of the Mayor’s original vision.

The self-storage text amendment (in both the original and A-Text forms) is unique in that it would finally map the Industrial Business Zones in zoning maps, creating a foundation for future use group reforms. However, the A-Text that passed yesterday only creates a foundation for more carve-outs in our core industrial areas, essentially putting a bullseye on the Industrial Business Zones. Once the City opens the door to the self-storage lobby to shape policy, you open the door for arguments about manufacturers needing hotels or big box retailers nearby, the next important fight. This same tactic – watering down a protection through a mixed-use proposal – can be re-applied in any future attempt at use group reform. It is true that this proposal is setting a major precedent; it is crucial that the City and Council ensure it set the right precedent.

Councilmembers know from their local Industrial Business Service providers and manufacturers that Industrial Business Zones need to be protected with meaningful zoning protections. As the core areas of industrial and manufacturing activity, Industrial Business Zones are hubs for good paying jobs and engines of economic opportunity. The Council has historically led and must continue to lead on strengthening Industrial Business Zones and championing industrial issues. ANHD and the Industrial Jobs Coalition look forward to continuing to work with the City Council to strengthen the IBZs, protect and grow industrial jobs and businesses, and keep the engine of opportunity running.
Armando Moritz-Chapelliquen, ANHD’s Campaign Coordinator for Equitable Economic Development

City Supports Quality Jobs with New Land Use Action, but Self Storage Industry Fights Back – Here’s Why We Have To Win

The City recently certified a land-use proposal to limit self-storage development in core industrial areas. This step forward is a significant victory for City Council members and community groups that care about a progressive industrial policy that promotes quality jobs and equitable economic development. But the self-storage industry association is pushing back, and we have to make sure that we keep the momentum to win this important step forward.

With speculation and rising real estate costs in industrial areas making it harder for manufacturing tenants to stay in the city, it is crucial for this proposal to move forward. Advocacy from communities and within the City Council ensured the Mayor would include use group reform as part of his 2015 Industrial Action Plan, and this same advocacy will ensure this commitment is fulfilled.

Here are 5 key facts to remember as the proposal moves forward:

1. Industrial and manufacturing jobs are good paying jobs.

The industrial and manufacturing sector has historically played a key role in creating a robust working middle class. While the sector has changed since its peak in the middle of the 20th century, wages remain strong. Average wages in the industrial sector are over $50,000 a year, significantly more than average wages in retail or food service. In a city where affordability is a constant challenge, retaining the kinds of jobs that allow people to stay in the city is crucial to an equitable economic development strategy.

2. The majority of industrial and manufacturing workers are immigrants and people of color.

In terms of who receives these wages, the demographic breakdown of the sector presents a diversity that mirrors New York City as a whole. With a majority of workers foreign-born and over 80% of workers being people of color, the industrial and manufacturing sector provides access to good paying jobs while often not requiring a college degree.

3. The proposed special permit begins tackling the broader displacement of good paying jobs from NYC.

A major challenge to the sector has been the commercialization of industrial-zoned land. The Council’s Engines of Opportunity report recognized the “continued pattern of speculation and warehousing…and lack of suitable zoning.” The overly broad use groups have allowed competing uses to displace industrial businesses and workers, leading to a loss of jobs. The Administration’s Industrial Action Plan aimed to address this challenge by limiting self-storage and hotel uses via a special permit.

4. There is considerable space available for self-storage.

The proposed special permit for self-storage only applies in “designated M-districts,” areas which largely overlap with the City’s existing core manufacturing areas – the Industrial Business Zones – as shown in the map on the left. In other words, new self-storage storage facilities will still be permitted as-of-right in C8 and M zones outside of the “designated M-districts”, as shown in the map on the right. Additionally—while the self-storage industry’s model is still rapidly evolving in terms of space needs—industrial and manufacturing businesses, supporting local supply networks, locate and operate in the city as a matter of necessity.

5. When space is preserved for manufacturing, those jobs stay in the city.

If manufacturers are less concerned about being priced out of their neighborhood, they are able to focus their attention back into running their business, whether through investing in new equipment or scaling up and hiring more employees. Manufacturers have been pushed out of the city due to rising real estate prices, but there has been continuous demand for affordable industrial and manufacturing space. The City has recognized this challenge, launching the non-profit Industrial Development Fund to address this gap and keep more jobs in the city.

Click here to download the Industrial Jobs Coalition Fact Sheet.

About the  Industrial Jobs Coalition (IJC)

‘Fight’ Over Zoning Reform Should Be About Jobs, Not Industry Interests

Tuesday’s Crain’s story on the expected fight between the self-storage industry and City Hall announces industry efforts to weaken City industrial policy. The article recognizes the delay on crucial land use reforms yet improperly frames the state of current industrial policy. The City’s focus on the industrial and manufacturing sector to advance economic equity is the result of extensive research and assessment on the subject. The Mayor’s 10-Point Industrial Action Plan aims to support the creation and sustainability of good paying industrial jobs by limiting non-industrial uses through zoning reform.

The suggested “fight” is essentially the City standing up for well thought out policies that lead to the creation of more good-paying jobs in the City against the self-storage industry’s interests.

An out of control real estate market is the overarching problem for both existing and potential manufacturers looking to locate in the City. As Leah Archibald of industrial business provider organization Evergreen Exchange pointed out to Crain’s, nonindustrial uses that are permitted in industrial areas feed speculation, driving up rents and property values to the point where manufacturers are unable to compete. Jobs that leave as a result of this speculation are unlikely to come back if underlying conditions are not addressed. Competing uses like self-storage or hotels create fewer good paying jobs and drastically alter the composition of a neighborhood and further accelerate speculation.

As concluded in the Industrial Plan, limiting these competing uses through zoning mechanisms like a special permit is a sound policy tool with both local and citywide precedent. The Bridging Gowanus report, which comprehensively examined ways to move the community forward amidst speculative forces, explicitly highlights the need to restrict the capacity of competing non-industrial uses. Citywide, the City Council’s own Engines of Opportunity report on the industrial and manufacturing sector recognized the need for broad zoning reform to advance economic equity. This Administration’s Industrial Action Plan rightfully focuses on addressing competing uses as a way to create more jobs and economic opportunity for New Yorkers.

Now, over a year after the Mayor’s announcement, the Plan still provides a solid foundation for industrial policy to create economic equity. But implementation remains incomplete, to the detriment of employees, businesses, and communities citywide. Jobs are disappearing as the cost of operating an industrial business continues to rise. Delays to the full implementation of this plan – whether logistical or as a result of industry interests – do not change these realities. ANHD and industrial advocates throughout NYC will work with the Administration and the City Council to protect and grow the critical industrial jobs that serve families and their communities.