Hochul pulls proposed zoning plan from executive budget

Five Towns officials decry Hochul’s zoning plan

If the idea is to get a rise out of Long Islanders and stir them to vote, Gov. Kathy Hochul appears to be doing a better job than the grass-roots organizations that typically lead get-out-the-vote campaigns.

We are very, very concerned, and it’s a good idea that the villages band together.”

George Pappas Mayor, Atlantic Beach

Gov. Kathy Hochul pulled her proposed zoning plan on Feb. 17 to compel local municipalities to expand the use of accessory residences such as apartments on single-family properties. A similiar proposed measure is still floating through the State Legislature.

Below is the Nassau Herald story prior to the governor's decision. 

If the idea is to get a rise out of Long Islanders and stir them to vote, Gov. Kathy Hochul appears to be doing a better job than the grass-roots organizations that typically lead get-out-the-vote campaigns.

First, Hochul put in place mask mandates that many area residents opposed, triggering legal action. She has lifted the directives for specific public places, but they remain in place for schools and health care facilities until next month.

Now, the governor, running for election this year, has poked the suburban hornets’ nest again, introducing a $25 billion plan in the proposed state budget that could override local zoning regulations, jettison single-family zoning and order municipalities to allow what are known as accessory dwelling units on owner-occupied residential property.

An accessory dwelling unit is a smaller independent residence on the same lot as a single-family home. The plan aims to increase the affordable housing stock in a real estate market with escalating prices. Local government would not have the power to prohibit ADUs.

Opposition to the plan is strong. The Town of Hempstead has a petition on change.org — Stop Governor Kathy Hochul’s Urbanization Plan! — and more than 9,800 people had signed as of press time.

“The governor is attempting to basically mandatorily require that anybody can put an accessory unit on their house,” Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin said at a Feb. 3 news conference. “We are not standing for it.”

The mayors of the three largest villages in the Five Towns are opposed to ADUs as well.

“Because anyone could turn a one-family house into a two-family house with the state’s blessing, and suburbia is damaged with quite a few more people in the neighborhood and more traffic,” Lawrence Mayor Alex Edelman said, adding that the plan would be detrimental to home values.

Cedarhurst Mayor Benjamin Weinstock said he opposed having the governor telling everyone on Long Island how to govern their local municipalities. “People live in villages to control its destiny,” he said, and if Hochul’s plan were to pass, “there would be no point to having [legal] control over the community.”

Weinstock said that village officials are closest to their residents, and are the “most accountable, responsive and have the best idea, best understanding” of a community’s character and how it should evolve.

He noted that legal zoning can allow “mother-daughter” residences, one-family houses with two fully equipped apartments. “This not unheard of, but we don’t want to open the floodgates,” Weinstock said, adding that elected officials across the county who oppose Hochul’s plan are focused on a political solution. “We want to maintain a semblance of consistency and what people moved here for,” he said.

Loss of zoning control and the potential for an increase in traffic and a decline in quality of life are the primary reasons Atlantic Beach Mayor George Pappas said the village opposes Hochul’s plan.

“We fought for zoning in the village,” Pappas said, referring to when Atlantic Beach took legal action — all the way to federal court — and needed a countywide public referendum in 2002 for approval to create a village zoning board. “We are very, very concerned,” Pappas said, “and it’s a good idea that the villages band together.”

There is some support for Hochul’s proposal. Lawrence Levy, dean of Hofstra’s National Center for Suburban Studies, told the Herald that the provision could help solve the affordable housing crisis.

“It’s easy to understand why the folks running the county, towns and villages don’t want Albany telling them what to do, but the potential law reflects the frustration with advocates for more and better affordable housing,” Levy said. “This could be one of the solutions to the lack of affordable places to live and an opportunity for homeowners to get a little more revenue to defray the high cost of property taxes.”

Have an opinion on the governor’s plan, or on accessory housing? Send a letter to jbessen@liherald.com.