Editor’s note: This letter responds to Phil Zisman’s recent columns on the Domino Sugar rezoning. Read those pieces here and here.
Phil Zisman’s recent articles criticizing the City Council’s rezoning of the Domino Sugar property in the downtown waterfront area suggest that instead the Council should have flipped the zoning process on its head.
Mr. Zisman, who usually provides thoughtful analysis, in this case suggests the Council should have delayed any rezoning until after a developer emerged with a plan for the now-shuttered 25 acre site.
But good zoning steers future development, rather than reacts to it as Mr. Zisman proposes.
The DMX zone was created years ago after an extended planning process and was designed to facilitate growth of the City’s downtown, and especially the former industrial brownfields along the waterfront. It has successfully facilitated the development of thousands of new housing units and a public linear park that opened the waterfront to the public for the first time in many generations.
Domino Sugars understandably opposed any rezoning of its own property, which would have become a non-conforming industrial use. But now that it is closed, it is logical to extend the immediately adjacent DMX zone to now include it.
Far from abandon its responsibility as Mr. Zisman claims, the City Council decided to extend the DMX classification to its logical next step.
What this means is that potential developers know exactly what they can build – how much, how high, and how dense. It provides certainty for both the City and potential developers. Yonkers is more likely to attract well-funded and able developers by providing this certainty than it would have by leaving the process unclear and subject to the vagaries of political agendas.
Even so, any development will still be subject to SEQRA and the City’s planning review process. The public will have multiple chances to weigh in. The City will undoubtedly require significant public open space along the river along with other amenities.
And, since in the last decade well over 20 percent of all new housing built in Yonkers has been classed as affordable, it wouldn’t be surprising if the 10 percent minimum threshold is exceeded here as well.
Not everyone loves the DMX zone. Some people are happy with the downtown’s growth while others want nothing but low rise. That’s a legitimate argument to have. But the City Council has decided the DMX zone works. That’s providing leadership and making a decision, not stepping aside as Mr. Zisman claims.
Jim Cavanaugh is a retired City of Yonkers official who served as Deputy Mayor (2017–2021), President & CEO of the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency, and Acting Commissioner of Planning & Development. He previously served as Town Supervisor of Eastchester and President of the Battery Park City Authority.
