What's happening
This bill amends the definition of "floor area" in the multiple dwelling law to count high-ceiling spaces and certain mechanical and open areas more heavily for regulatory purposes.
Why it matters
Discourages extremely high ceilings and luxury “super-tall” spaces. by making high-ceiling areas count more heavily toward a building’s allowable floor area, which could limit developers’ ability to create oversized, luxury units without reducing the total number of units built.
Closes loopholes that allowed mechanical spaces and covered open areas to be undercounted. in floor area calculations, meaning developers can no longer add large mechanical “voids” or outdoor spaces under buildings without them significantly impacting their permitted building size.
Aims to promote more equitable and efficient use of urban land. by ensuring that all usable or visually impactful spaces—especially those that could be manipulated to evade zoning limits—are fully accounted for, potentially resulting in more typical, affordable housing rather than luxury units exploiting these loopholes.
May affect property values, development costs, and the character of new buildings. by prioritizing standard floor heights and reducing incentives for high-ceiling luxury construction, which could shift the type and affordability of new housing in affected neighborhoods.
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Who cares
Residential developers and building owners
The bill would count high-ceiling areas multiple times toward floor area, with a ground-floor exception for heights up to 20 feet.
Architects and mechanical engineers
Mechanical equipment space would count toward floor area to the extent it exceeds five percent of the gross horizontal areas of a dwelling’s floors.
Municipal planning and building departments
The bill would require the new floor-area counting rules to apply notwithstanding other state or local laws.
Developers designing elevated buildings
Open areas beneath dwellings would count toward floor area, with higher spaces counted multiple times and exclusions narrowed for certain exterior spaces.
Headline styles
Tighten Floor Area Rules
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to housing, construction and community development
- Print number 3820a
- Amend and recommit to housing, construction and community development
- Referred to housing, construction and community development
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Change Floor Area Rules
In Assembly Committee · Housing · Sponsor Linda Rosenthal
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3820--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 15, 2019
Introduced by Sens. JACKSON, BIAGGI, HOYLMAN, KRUEGER, SALAZAR, SERRANO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development -committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the multiple dwelling law, in relation to the definition of floor area
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The opening paragraph and paragraph b of subdivision 2 of section 26 of the multiple dwelling law, the opening paragraph and paragraph b as amended by chapter 748 of the laws of 1961 and subparagraph 1 of paragraph b as amended by chapter 857 of the laws of 1985, are amended to read as follows:
For the purpose of this section certain words are defined herein but, except where specified, such definitions shall not be held to modify or affect legal interpretations of such terms or words as used in any local law, ordinance, rule or regulation and shall apply in addition to and not in substitution for the provisions of section four of this chapter.
b. "Floor area": the sum of the gross horizontal areas of all of the several floors of a dwelling or dwellings and accessory structures on a lot measured from the exterior faces of exterior walls or from the center line of party walls, (i) except that notwithstanding any other provision of law, general, special, or local, any such areas with floor to structural ceiling height greater than twelve feet and less than or equal to twenty-four feet shall be counted twice, any such areas with floor to structural ceiling height greater than twenty-four feet and less than or equal to thirty-six feet shall be counted three times, any such areas with floor to structural ceiling height greater than thirtysix feet and less than or equal to forty-eight feet shall be counted four times, and any area with floor to structural ceiling height in
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06054-03-9
S. 3820--A 2
excess of forty-eight feet shall be counted five times. However, when such areas are on the ground floor of any dwelling or dwellings, their height up to and including twenty feet from floor to structural ceiling shall be counted only once.
(ii) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, general, special, or local, space used for mechanical equipment will be counted as "floor area" to the extent that it exceeds five percent of the gross horizontal areas of all of the several floors of a dwelling or dwellings.
(iii) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, general, special, or local, "floor area" will include any open areas located under the dwelling or dwellings when viewed directly from above. Such areas will be measured from the exterior faces of vertical extensions of the exterior walls of the building that inscribe the open space so covered by the dwelling or dwellings. Such open areas covered by buildings with floor to structural ceiling height in excess of twelve feet shall be counted twice, open areas covered by buildings with floor to structural ceiling height in excess of twenty-four feet shall be counted three times, open areas covered by buildings with floor to structural ceiling height in excess of thirty-six feet shall be counted four times, open areas covered by buildings with floor to structural ceiling height in excess of forty-eight feet shall be counted five times. The following areas shall be excluded from floor area:
(1) cellar space;
(2) attic space providing head room of less than eight feet;
(3) space for mechanical equipment, except as specified in this section;
(4) elevator and stair bulkheads, rooftop tanks and cooling towers;
(5) open or roofed terraces, exterior balconies or porches, uncovered steps and open porte-cocheres or breezeways abutting or adjoining grade entrances that are located beyond the exterior walls of the dwelling or dwellings when viewed directly from above;
(6) accessory space used for off-street motor vehicle parking or storage.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the multiple dwelling law, in relation to the definition of floor area
Purpose
This bill relates to the definition of floor area.
Summary of specific provisions
Section one amends the opening paragraph and paragraph b of subdivision 2 of section 26 of the multiple dwelling law, the opening paragraph and paragraph b as amended by chapter 748 of the laws of 1961 and subpara- graph 1 of paragraph b as amended by chapter 857 of the laws of 1985.
Section two sets forth the effective date.
Justification
New building development has an inalterable effect, for better or worse, on the surrounding local community. To try to manage these strains, both contextually and on local infrastructure, floorarea-ratio (FAR) limits are set to put a size cap on new development in a given area. Unfortu- nately, through vagaries in the multiple dwelling law that allow devel- opers to exploit local zoning loopholes, developers are often able to circumvent these restrictions. Some of the loopholes increasingly exploited, pertains to mechanical void spaces, ceiling heights and shared balcony loopholes, which are not counted toward the FAR, thus allowing developers to build higher than would otherwise be permitted.
Mechanical voids are spaces in buildings - sometimes spanning across multiple floors - where mechanical infrastructure, such as HVAC systems, are housed. Because mechanical void space is not counted toward the building's total FAR, developers often creatively locate mechanical void space throughout a building, as opposed to hosing it in the basement or on the roof, to add additional height to their building. Similarly, because it is not counted towards FAR, developers will often increase the ceiling heights on individual floors to increase overall building height. These loopholes also extend to terraces, balconies and porches, the floor area of which is not currently counted toward total FAR.
This legislation aims to ensure developers are building within the intention of the multiple dwelling law by closing existing loopholes. This legislation imposes restrictions on the size of allowable mechan- ical voids, sets a ceiling height cap of 12 feet for a given floor's area to only be counted once and ensures that balconies and terraces will be counted towards a building's total floor area. Through this added specificity, communities across the state will be able to better control the scale of new development.
Legislative history
This is a new bill.
Fiscal implications
Undetermined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately after it shall become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.