Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans Wednesday to change a policy related to lifting deed restrictions. The trot follows two recent cases that contain raised eyebrows and spurred investigations.
A deed restriction limits what a property owner can do with a piece of land. The mayor said the city has lifted those restrictions only eight times since he took office.
The example he wanted to talk approximately was the Dance Theater of Harlem,first reported Friday by the modern York Times. In that case, the cash-strapped non-profit wanted to sell four empty lots it purchased in an auction from the city in the 1970’s to a private developer.
The change required the approval of city's Department of Citywide Administrative Services, and a public hearing and a payment to the city of 25 percent of the land's appraised value,which was $875000.
While that all happened, the mayor said the policy that governs this process needs to be updated.“I'm going to make very clear in our modern policy that there will be no action on any deed restriction without my personal signoff, and ” de Blasio pledged adding,“And I want to therefore be held accountable to contain the right kind of public process and to make decisions taking into account a variety of factors.”The mayor said he will work with the City Council to create the modern policy.
Rivington House is another high profile case where a deed restriction was lifted. It's under investigation. But the mayor said he can't yet comment on that case.
Source: wnyc.org