The City Planning Commission (CPC) has revealed proposed amendments to the 1961 New York Zoning Resolution, calling the changes the "most comprehensive effort of any U.S. city to remove zoning obstacles to the construction and retrofitting of green buildings." Dubbed "Zone Green," the amendments were drafted in conjunction with mayor Bloomberg's Green Codes Task Force and have the potential to create over $800 million in annual energy savings for New York City buildings, according to the CPC.
Zone Green would allow solar panels, green roofs, skylights, and other green features to be installed on buildings in spite of existing restrictions within the existing 1961 code. It would also authorize building owners to install wind turbines up to 55 feet above rooftops on waterfront buildings and buildings taller than 100 feet. (Free standing turbines would be permitted on waterfront blocks in commercial and manufacturing areas.) Other key provisions include allowing shades and screens to extend from building facades over required open areas and a waiver of floor and height limits on the top of non-residential buildings in order to encourage local food production.
The amendments will now proceed through the public review process, which could take up to six months. They would join a number of other recent green legislative initiatives led by the Bloomberg administration: the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan and the work of the mayor's Green Codes Task Force, 38 of whose 111 recommendations to green New York City's building code have been enacted to date.
Stephen Del Percio is a construction attorney in New York, N.Y. Tags: