Despite vocal opposition from local government officials, New York Governor Kathy Hochul is pushing forward with a plan to mandate 800,000 housing units over the next decade to be built on Long Island.
Some are calling it Kat’s housing order for a “sixth borough.”
From The New York Post:
“She seeks to solve New York City’s housing crisis by turning Long Island into the sixth borough of New York City,” state Sen. Steven Rhoads (R-Massapequa) said at a Friday press conference in Mineola alongside six GOP colleagues.
“The proposals in the Governor’s Executive Budget are a reckless and irresponsible attempt to defy both local government’s right to control local zoning and the right of each and every Long Islander to preserve their safety and suburban quality of life,” said Rhoads, who unseated Democratic incumbent John Brooks last year.
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Her housing plans include new mandates on communities surrounding New York City to increase their housing supply by 3% each year while requiring suburbs within 15 miles of the city to allow at least 50 housing units per acre within a half-mile from any transit stations, with lesser requirements for communities further from the city.
State Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick (R-Rockville Centre), who flipped a longtime Democratic seat last fall, said she has nothing against the five boroughs – but hardly wants Nassau to look like them.
“If we wanted to live in different conditions, people would live in Queens versus Nassau County, but now we’re changing the character of the communities that are on Long Island,” she told The Post.
Some local Reps. have concerns about whether or not the current infrastructure can withstand such an influx of new residential homes.
“The water systems for those areas, the sewer systems for those areas were designed to accommodate single-family homes, the entire systems would have to be upgraded to take on additional, the kind of additional density that the governor is proposing,” state Sen. Jack Martins (R-Great Neck) said while arguing how villages like Mineola, where he previously served as mayor, might need “tens of millions of dollars” alone.
Hochul is proposing $250 million to expand infrastructure —but will it be enough?
More over at The New York Post:
GOP pols accuse Kathy Hochul of colonizing Long Island in housing order https://t.co/nhFT9W4XH4 pic.twitter.com/yjsoclCiwx
— New York Post (@nypost) February 3, 2023