Mayor Bill de Blasio has asked the city’s planning department to draft a proposal outlining how to implement a city-wide special permit for hotel development, just a few months after a major hotel union endorsed and financially contributed to de Blasio’s presidential campaign.
“The city continues to explore how to implement a citywide hotel permit,” a spokeswoman for the department said in a brief statement. A source at City Planning characterized the mandate as being in a “study” phase.
The request is the first step in crafting what would be a major change to land use policy that could restrict hotel development in the city at a time when tourism has surged, driving demand for new hotel rooms. If such a rule were to be adopted, new hotel projects anywhere in the 5 boroughs would be required to pass through the city’s costly and politically-fraught land use review process – a hurdle that many land use experts said would stymie hotel development.
“If the city is actually contemplating a ban on hotels, it would be a devastating blow to our remarkably resilient tourist economy, to the many service industries that are linked to hotels and to multiple neighborhoods,” said Mitchell Korbey, a land use attorney at Herrick Feinstein. “There is no land use rationale and absolutely no zoning or public policy justification for this.”
The new rule, if adopted, would make hotel development one of the most restricted use groups in the city – beyond even potentially hazardous operations such as petrochemical storage and other businesses that many city residents might find distasteful, including pornography stores, both of which are permitted as-of-right in specified areas.
Since the start of this Administration, we have examined ways to better regulate construction of hotels across the City, including the use of a special permit process city-wide. This pre-dates the June event.
Since the start of this Administration, we have examined ways to better regulate construction of hotels across the City, including the use of a special permit process city-wide. This pre-dates the June event.
The orders from City Hall to explore the policy change come just months after the Hotel Trades Council came out as the sole union backer of de Blasio’s presidential campaign – giving his sputtering bid a lift. A report in The New York Post revealed that about 70% of de Blasio’s presidential campaign contributions have come from the union’s members.
At a press conference with de Blasio in early June to announce the HTC’s support of de Blasio, Peter Ward, the HTC’s president, stated that he would like to see the city pursue a city-wide special permit for hotels, the Post resported.
The city sought to dispel the notion that the HTC endorsement and financial support for de Blasios presidential campaign spurred the decision to move ahead in the special permit.
“Since the start of this administration, we have examined ways to better regulate construction of hotels across the city, including the use of a special permit process city-wide,” Deputy Press Secretary Jane Meyer told Crain’s. “This pre-dates the June event.
Observers say that a special permit would, in most cases, essentially assure that new hotels use the HTC’s labor pool, because of the influence the union holds with City Council members through political giving and endorsements. The special permit process grants the City Council veto power over any project that passes through it, giving the political body the power to leverage concessions from developers on behalf of constituents or financial backers.
“This is pure politics under the guise of planning,” said Kenneth Fisher, a real estate attorney at Cozen O’Connor who served a decade as a City Councilman. “If you have a Councilmember that is supportive of the union, it’s unlikely a hotel project would get their signoff unless that project signed a neutrality agreement with the HTC at a minimum. There might be a district where that particular local Councilmember is immune to pressure from the union, but that would be the exception rather than the rule.”
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