Vivien Krieger and Rachel Scall co-authored a Law360 article on New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ Green Fast Track for Housing initiative, which went into effect on June 3, 2024. The initiative aims to shorten the lengthy environmental review process for certain discretionary actions to allow modest residential developments.

Adams has made addressing the affordable housing crisis in New York City a top priority from the beginning of his administration, introducing a City of Yes Plan to amend the city’s zoning tools. He called for the creation of a task force, the Building and Land Use Approval Streamlining Taskforce (BLAST), which recommended the Green Fast Track for Housing initiative in a report at the end of 2022. They noted that while most housing developments subject to discretionary land use approvals or public financing must conduct an environmental assessment statement that takes six to eight months to complete and can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars, the majority of smaller projects are found to have no significant environmental impacts. BLAST recommended that these projects be exempted from environmental review. Projects must meet certain criteria to qualify, and eligibility can be determined through the NYC Department of City Planning’s process guidance and online tool called Fast Tracker.

It is hoped that the Green Fast Track speeds up the environmental review process for eligible housing developments and frees more resources to dedicate to ineligible projects. The Adams administration aims to tackle the housing crisis, allow local businesses to flourish, and make New York City a “City of Yes.”

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