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What is NYC ZR § 21-00?

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This section outlines the general purposes of Residence Districts in New York City, emphasizing the promotion and protection of public health, safety, and welfare. It addresses residential development, environmental protection, traffic management, and the preservation of historic character. Applies to residential property developers and building owners in designated areas.

General informational summary. Not legal advice for your situation. Consult an attorney before acting on any specific matter.

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§ 21-00 GENERAL PURPOSES OF RESIDENCE DISTRICTS

ZR § 21-00

The Residence Districts established in this Resolution are designed to promote and protect public health, safety and general welfare. These general goals include, among others, the following specific purposes:

(a)To provide sufficient space in appropriate locations for residential development to meet the housing needs of the City's present and expected future population, with due allowance for the need for a choice of sites.

(b)To protect residential areas against fire, explosions, toxic and noxious matter, radiation, and other hazards, and against offensive noise, vibration, smoke and other particulate matter, odorous matter, heat, humidity, glare, and other objectionable influences.

(c)To protect residential areas, as far as possible, against heavy traffic and against through traffic of all kinds.

(d)To protect residential areas against congestion, as far as possible, by regulating the density of population and the bulk of buildings in relation to the land around them and to one another, and by providing for off-street parking spaces; to require the provision of open space in residential areas wherever practicable; and to encourage the provision of additional open space by permitting moderately higher bulk and density with better standards of open space, in order to open up residential areas to light and air, to provide open areas for rest and recreation, and to break the monotony of continuous building bulk, and thereby to provide a more desirable environment for urban living in a congested metropolitan area.

(e)To protect the character of certain designated areas of historic and architectural interest, where the scale of building development is important, by limitations on the height of buildings.

(f)To provide for access of light and air to windows and for privacy, as far as possible, by controls over the spacing and height of buildings and other structures.

(g)To provide appropriate space for those educational, religious, recreational, health and similar facilities which serve the needs of the nearby residents, which generally perform their own activities more effectively in a residential environment, and which do not create objectionable influences.

(h)To provide freedom of architectural design, in order to encourage the development of more attractive and economic building forms.

(i)To promote the most desirable use of land and direction of building development in accord with a well-considered plan, to promote stability of residential development, to protect the character of the district and its peculiar suitability for particular uses, to conserve the value of land and buildings and to protect the City's tax revenues.

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