Council Member Morano Introduces Intro 1117 on Community Impact Statements for Transient Hotels

Thank you, Majority Leader at Interim.

Colleagues, today I'm introducing Intro 1117, a bill based on a pretty radical idea.

Before you build something that could significantly affect the neighborhood, you ought to tell the neighborhood what the impact will be.

I know.

Revolutionary stuff.

This legislation was inspired by a proposed 160-bed homeless shelter in Miami.

district on Arthur Kill Road, filed with the Department of Buildings as a transient hotel.

Now, colleagues, we can disagree about where shelters belong, we can disagree about how best to address homelessness, but surely we can agree that communities deserve basic information before major projects move forward.

What's the impact on traffic?

What's the impact on police and fire response, on our sewers, on our infrastructure?

Does the project fit the surrounding neighborhood?

These aren't trick questions.

They're the kinds of questions any responsible government should be asking.

So my bill would require developers building or converting properties into transient hotels to prepare a community impact statement addressing those concerns.

It would be shared with the local elected officials and community boards and made available to the public before permits are issued.

Simple as that.

Let me be clear.

This is not a bill to stop homeless shelters.

It's a bill to stop government from keeping communities in the dark about what's happening in their own neighborhood.

It doesn't give anybody a veto.

It doesn't require unanimous neighborhood approval.

Frankly, if we required unanimous agreement on anything in New York City, we'd still be debating where to put the Brooklyn Bridge.

It simply says that transparency should come before the decision, not after.

Whether you represent Staten Island, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, or Manhattan, your constituents deserve the same respect.

And I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this common sense legislation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Rano.

Councilman Brooks-Powers, followed by Councilman Epstein.

Thank you.