CM Banks Q&A: Mangin on CBAs and when demands become unreasonable

And I think you had addressed the, well, I guess I'll just ask this question anyway again about the CBA agreements, where you currently stand on community benefits agreements.

And do you believe that they are important tools to communities negotiating major development projects?

Or do you still view them as something that can impede housing production?

I know that question was kind of phrased to you earlier, but I want to, again, get you on the record as to, you know, comparing that to your past statements or your writings to where do you stand right now?

Thank you for that question.

Then as now, I think CBAs are a useful tool and sometimes an extremely useful and wonderful tool

in order to underscore that some of these actions, like City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, like some of the neighborhood rezonings where there's a negotiated package of capital improvements, to underscore that those can be win-win, that it's not the city versus a neighborhood.

It is the city working with neighborhoods in order to address citywide needs while at the same time providing the investments that communities need to thrive into the future.

And at what point does the community's demand for benefits become unreasonable?

Or impede, or it can be an impediment to development based off of your writing.

Can you explain?

Thank you.

It's not a matter of reasonable or unreasonable so much as, again, just trying to keep an eye on feasibility.

I don't know, for instance, whether

This is a result of negotiated community benefits agreements, but can think of some projects over the years that, you know, the administration or council,

negotiated for more affordable housing or payment for this or that that just haven't come to fruition and just trying to make sure that we are not

blocking the underlying housing and the benefits that are supposed to come along with it via community benefits agreements that don't that don't quite work as a policymaker it's just

I feel like that's guidance that have to give to whether it's my superiors at city planning or in community board meetings or council, just have to keep an eye on that fundamental question of feasibility.

Okay.

And who should make that determination?

The developer, the city, like the officials or the people who actually live there?

I mean,

Thank you for the question.

It emerges from a political process.

And I suppose that it's just an argument that the actors in that political process, the folks who have the leverage, whether it's the mayor, whether it's city council or whoever,

should just keep that in mind when hammering out these community benefits agreements, just trying to make sure that we're creating something that works for everybody.

Okay.