'City of Yes' plan receiving mixed reviews from Bay Ridge business owners, community board
Current zoning laws stop new small stores from opening in residential areas – which the "City of Yes" plan would change.
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New York City has a new plan to modernize zoning regulations known as the "City of Yes" plan, but the Bay Ridge Community Board is starkly against part of the plan.
The part of the plan that received backlash from the community board focuses on zoning changes for business expansion. Members of Brooklyn’s Community Board 10 say the new rule does too much in the merging of business and residential areas.
Current zoning laws stop new small stores from opening in residential areas – which the "City of Yes" plan would change, allowing not only those stores to open in residential areas but also allow businesses with three employees to operate out of a home.
"It stuns us when we read these proposals to move commercial into residential on the second floor or in residential areas on a corner because the concern is it won't stop there. It will just expand,” said one member of the Bay Ridge community board.
Some local businesses like Henry’s Florist are in favor of the change, saying that business on commercial streets is needed for local businesses to succeed.
"They have to find some kind of solution,” said Henry, owner of Henry’s Florist. “Right now we have banks but that doesn't help people. We need to draw people in."
