ZONING FOR COASTAL FLOOD RESILIENCY

Buildings in both NYC’s expanded 1% annual chance floodplain and 0.2% annual chance floodplain now have access to rules that allow building owners to invest in resiliency improvements that fully meet or exceed flood-resistant construction standards.

• Applicability: By expanding the applicability, building owners throughout the floodplain can proactively incorporate resiliency improvements and design or retrofit their buildings to pre-emptively meet flood-resistant construction standards. Optional resiliency provisions are now consistent citywide and expand to include City Island, Bay Ridge, East Harlem Corridors, Inwood, Hudson River Park, Battery Park City, Governers Island, Downtown Far Rockaway, and Bay Street.

ZCFR makes permanent allowances for building envelopes, ground floors, and other design features to facilitate compliance with the flood-resistant construction standards of Appendix G. Zoning allowances, paired with design rules, facilitate buildings and sites to accommodate sea level rise projections, without negatively affecting their unique neighborhood aesthetic or street.

• Building Envelope: Zoning now allows building owners to physically elevate habitable spaces and other building support features above expected flood elevations and proactively meet the resilient construction requirements. No longer are resilient construction efforts triggered only by new construction, severe storm damage, or major renovations. Additionally, ZCFR allows building height to be measured from the Flood-Resistant Construction Elevation (FRCE), creating a consistent framework that encourages building owners to address long-term climate change and resulting in lower insurance costs and usable spaces at grade.
• Ground Floors: Ground-floor regulations now incentivize floodproofing, encourage active uses to be kept at the street level, and promote internal building access. More consistent floor area exemptions for wet-floodproofed spaces (typically residential) and dry-floodproofed spaces (typically commercial) promote long-term resiliency improvements and useful ground floors.
• Streetscapes: More consistent streetscape requirements and greater design options provide consistent thresholds for all building types in the floodplain and allow a wider range of design options to help mitigate potential blank walls and elevated access.
• Special Conditions: Additional flexibility for special conditions common in older neighborhoods allow those buildings to become resilient, enables construction that better matches neighborhood aesthetics, and can accommodate better layouts.
• Discretionary Action: Discretionary options address unique situations to ensure that all buildings and neighborhoods can be resilient. Revisions to the existing BSA special permit a wider range of zoning rules to ensure buildings can meet flood-resistant construction standards.

Zoning for Coastal Flood Resiliency includes allowances to assist building owners who wish to invest proactively in small changes which improve their buildings’ resiliency. These provisions are optional and do not require the entire building to fully comply with flood-resistant construction standards. These partial resiliency strategies are aimed at supporting industrial, multi-family, and commercial buildings to gradually incorporate resiliency measures.

• Mechanical Equipment: More options in the placement of mechanical equipment allow for movement to the roof or outside of buildings. The construction of new mechanical buildings on larger campus-style housing sites is supported where centralizing equipment into a single structure is more efficient.
• Support Spaces: Key spaces that are often located within basements or cellars, especially those that help support businesses such as offices or storage rooms, can be located above flood levels, improving the long-term resiliency of commercial corridors.
• Flood Protection Measures: Flood protection measures can be installed when they are required for compliance with flood-resistant construction standards or where alternate flood protection strategies may be warranted.
• Waterfront Sites: Waterfront sites can now better accommodate contemporary resiliency measures and address sea level rise. Modifications to waterfront yards, visual corridors and other rules for waterfront sites enable the design of soft shorelines and bi-level esplanades, providing public access both at the water level and at a higher elevation to meet flood elevations at the building level. ZCFR provides flexibility for the grading of waterfront yards and visual corridors and to the design of the shoreline, helping balance flood resiliency with the public experience.

The zoning framework facilitates recovery from future disasters making it easier for damaged buildings to be reconstructed, allowing residents and neighborhoods to recover faster, and enabling NYC to offer disaster assistance more quickly to those impacted.

• Power System: More options to locate power systems on lots throughout the City make it easier for properties to provide backup energy, especially in the event of a disaster, helping to reduce the burden on the energy grid.
• Accessibility: Permitted obstruction modifications enable accessible designs like ramps and lifts for people with physical disabilities in all types of required open areas.
• Vulnerable Populations: Nursing homes would be limited in high-risk areas to lessen the health consequences and logistical challenges of evacuating the residents of these facilities.
• Disaster Recovery: Hurricane Sandy demonstrated that a lengthy process to update zoning regulations can present obstacles to fast-paced disaster response. A series of disaster recovery provisions are now available through a text amendment when a disaster occurs to offer a roadmap for the public, planners, and decision-makers.