An Alternative Future for the North East Mission Industrial Zone

ness types include printing, apparel, food processing, and selected artisan
work (R:122). New types of manufacturing activities such as telecommunications,
media production, and biotechnology should also be periodically
defined and added to the NYC Zoning Resolution, as some of these uses
can afford office-level rents, but are competing with manufacturing uses for
space. Two new district types are recommended to buffer the potential
problems in integrating manufacturing and other uses, Transitional Mixeduse
and Non-transitional Mixed-use districts. The Non-transitional district
would help integrate manufacturing districts with Mixed-use districts by
providing a buffer of use-types determined through performance standard
compatibility. Transitional districts should be established in areas where residential
and commercial uses have increased significantly, and there are few
manufacturing uses left. Every effort should be made to protect the grandfathered
businesses in these areas, which should also be given incentives to
increase environmental and compatibility standards (R:124).
A way to ensure compatibility among uses and increase the chances for the
success of new mixed-use areas is through performance standards.
Performance-based zoning has advantages over listing allowable uses
through its reliance on an “ongoing assessment of measurable impacts associated
with how those firms actually perform. In order to assist them with
meeting environmental compliance, firms would be provided with technical
assistance in conducting periodic environmental self-audits” (R:137).
Another advantage is that performance standards allow adaptation to new
technologies and manufacturing processes while protecting environmental
quality and reducing pressure on scarce manufacturing land resources.
Increasing performance standards for certain industries can allow them to
leave manufacturing areas for Mixed-use areas. It can also help businesses
in M-zones protect against community opposition to manufacturing based
on health and safety concerns (R:139). The report recommends establishing
an index of compatible uses that reference environmental performance
standards as well as conducting a census of manufacturers to establish better
data regarding manufacturing in the City.
Financial incentives help small businesses fight displacement or relocate,
while Tax Increment Financing Districts direct new tax revenues from
rezoned industrial parcels to a fund dedicated to maintaining industrial
areas. Higher environmental standards can allow businesses to reduce toxic
outputs and locate in mixed-use areas, reducing the pressure on industrial
land. An environmental standard can also be used to reclassify certain
industrial business types to commercial, based on technological improvements
(such as in the printing industry) that lead to a reductions in pollution,
noise, or other noxious factors.
Efforts should be made to protect existing manufacturers, and the increased
tax revenues from rezoning should be recaptured and channeled to other
areas of manufacturing retention, including the establishment of a Tax
Increment Financing (TIF) system for “funding financial incentives to
encourage the replacement and retention of traditional manufacturing
Mission Coalition for Economic Justice & Jobs
IPZ Literature Review & Case Studies
III.27
An Alternative Future for the NEMIZ