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RVC mayor went to Albany over zoning issue
Rockville Centre Mayor Francis X. Murray said he was pleased to see Gov. Kathy Hochul pull a proposal from the 2022-23 state budget that would have required local governments to permit an expansion of apartments in single-family neighborhoods.
On Feb. 18, local officials celebrated Hochul’s decision at a news conference outside an East Meadow home. Days earlier, Murray, the new president of the New York Conference of Mayors, had gone to Albany to relay the concerns he shared with many other local elected leaders about the zoning proposal with Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin.
“I gave him all of our concerns about why this isn’t the right thing for the state of New York — taking zoning away from every municipality in the state,” Murray said. “We, as the mayors, are the closest to the people. We have zoning which fits our own municipalities.”
On Feb. 16, Murray said, he received a call from Hochul informing him that she was pulling the proposal. The mayor said he was pleased that the governor considered feedback from Republicans as well as several of her fellow Democrats.
Hochul put the proposal in her January budget proposal before the Legislature. It has been widely criticized by local elected officials, many of whom said they believed that so-called accessory dwelling units would put a strain on Long Island resources and endanger its suburban landscape. Hochul, however, saw it as a way to potentially fix the affordable housing crisis that plagues the state.
Posting in a Rockville Centre-centric Facebook group, many residents said they were not yet ready to celebrate. Despite getting their wish with the axing of the budget proposal, many said they were still angered over the way the governor introduced it.
“Trying to sneak that colossal power grab,” Facebook user Cara Linn wrote, “that obnoxious overreach of governmental power, that abuse of dubious authority will go down in the books as one of the most outrageous political attempts at stealing basic rights from the citizens of a state.”
The legislation would have essentially removed “home rule,” meaning that local governments would not have the authority to determine zoning regulations based on the character of the community and the wishes of those in their jurisdiction. Many elected official said they saw it as a threat to single-family zoning that would lead to overcrowding.
According to Town of Hempstead officials, the town already has zoning provisions in place that provide for senior citizen accessory apartments, as well as parent/child property owner setups.
Town Supervisor Don Clavin said at the news conference that thousands of residents had signed online petitions opposing the budget proposal after its rollout. He added that the town received letters from residents voicing their opposition.
“The biggest investment in someone’s life is buying a house in the suburbs,” Clavin said. “The governor’s attempt, by throwing this in the budget, to eliminate single [family] housing is wrong.”
