In a 40-page report, the New York City Council proposed a new zoning plan to spur the city's manufacturing and "creative" economies in an effort to reverse a six-decade decline in the city's manufacturing sector, Crain's reports.
The council aims to create three new kinds of zoning districts: an "industrial employment district," a "creative economy district" and a "real mixed-use district."
An industrial-employment district would require "a rewriting of the use regulations to focus on the protection and growth" of industrial businesses and "additional density to create the option for more space for new and existing firms to expand."
The council describes the creative-economy district as a "dynamic combination of industrial space and commercial office space" that would wield zoning laws to reduce competition from "incompatible uses like mini-storage or nightlife or ... unproductive warehousing of property in hope of future residential rezoning."
The real-mixed-use district would be attempt to create neighborhoods like SoHo, Gowanus, Long Island City and Williamsburg that host a variety of industries, including retail, restaurants, hotels and light manufacturing, as well as being a desirable place to live. "A zone which supports and requires the creation of commercial and compatible industrial space alongside residential would create dynamic new neighborhoods instead of just residential development," the report reads.
