Good afternoon, Chair Thomas-Henry and thank you for holding this hearing today and for your advocacy on behalf of NYC’s industrial businesses. I am representing Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso to provide testimony on Intro 578, which would reform the City’s Industrial Business Zone (IBZ) Boundary Commission.
While BP Reynoso feels that convening the Commission is too risky at this time for reasons I will explain, he does support the changes proposed in Intro 578. This bill will help protect industrial businesses by adding Commission members to be appointed by the Speaker and the Public Advocate and requiring more considerations to inform any proposed boundary change.
Some background: Mayor Bloomberg designated 21 IBZs across the city in 2006 with the goal of supporting and preserving industrial businesses. This designation included associated tax incentives and a commitment not to rezone land within the IBZs from manufacturing to residential.
However, recent administration proposals such as DCP’s NYC Industrial Plan and SBS’s Business Solutions Centers RFP have left industrial businesses and the non-profits that support them fighting to keep their land and their funding. In negotiations over the Industrial Plan, DCP referred to the IBZs as “tax zones” only, and in their original draft proposed rezoning swaths of the IBZs for mixed use (including residential). Meanwhile, SBS is threatening to defund the critical Industrial Business Solutions Providers (IBSPs) who work with businesses in all 21 of the IBZs.
These policies are short-sighted because the industrial sector plays a critical role in the Mayor’s economic justice goals. Manufacturing generally provides living wages with low barriers to entry: the majority of the city’s manufacturing jobs belong to people of color, and 70% of the city’s industrial workforce has less than a bachelor’s degree, compared to 45% of the city’s overall workforce. Industrial jobs account for roughly one-quarter of all jobs in NYC paying above $50,000/year, despite representing only 15% of total employment, highlighting their outsized role in creating accessible pathways to the middle class. Manufacturing jobs also tend to be resilient to technology changes such as AI, and they provide an opportunity for us to create green jobs locally to support climate resiliency.
Yet rezoning changes across the city have led to a 5% decrease in land zoned for manufacturing since 2010, equivalent to a loss of 1522 acres or 1122 football fields. This has contributed to a high demand for manufacturing space, with a vacancy rate around 4.6%, compared to 12% for retail or 23% for office space.
Our goal then should be to strengthen the IBZs and secure protections for industrial jobs. We don’t need the IBZ Boundary Commission to do this. We can and should achieve it through zoning change. DCP created new Manufacturing zones in City of Yes for Economic Opportunity that would provide stronger protections than current zoning allows. However, DCP has yet to map them. Borough President Reynoso calls on this administration to codify the IBZ protections promised in 2006 by mapping these zones within all existing IBZ boundaries. The administration must also fund the IBSPs to continue their critical work supporting industrial businesses. Their local knowledge, industry expertise, and relationships with the business community cannot be replaced by a citywide contract.
Thank you again for your attention to this issue and advocacy for industrial retention. Borough President Reynoso looks forward to continued partnership with the Council on this work.
