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Jon Popin Discusses New York City’s Last-Mile Delivery Facility Proposals in NYREJ
Print PDFJon Popin, a partner in Nutter’s Real Estate Department, authored an article about the zoning and licensing changes New York City is weighing for last-mile delivery facilities in New York Real Estate Journal (NYREJ). In the article, “Getting to ‘yes’ on accommodating the last-mile delivery facilities New Yorkers count on,” Jon analyzed two proposals moving on parallel tracks: the Last-Mile Facility Text Amendment, which would create a City Planning Commission (CPC) special permit governing where and how new last-mile facilities may operate, and the Delivery Protection Act (DPA), now before the City Council’s Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection, which would require operators to obtain a license and to directly employ the drivers who deliver their packages.
“The Last-Mile Facility special permit text is an effort to define a set of commercial and manufacturing districts within which the city will, based on a number of factors, permit companies to create these unique delivery facilities. By definition, it’s also an exercise in deciding where in the five boroughs the city wants to keep out last-mile delivery facilities, for safety, environmental justice, and other considerations,” Jon pointed out.
He continued, “Additionally, the city’s effort in placing oversight on last mile facilities through the introduction of a required special permit, especially in connection with the limitation of traffic and pollution generated from delivery trucks, aligns with New York City’s Economic Development Corp.’s and Department of Transportation’s interest in promoting a more sustainable freight network. That includes much greater use of ‘Blue Highways,’ encouraging maximum waterborne movement of freight and packages via the East, Harlem, and Hudson Rivers and waterbodies like the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek.”
“Getting to yes on a Last-Mile Facility zoning amendment won’t be simple or easy. The concurrent debate over the need for and impact of the Driver Protection Act makes the negotiations even more complicated. But these are the kinds of big challenges New York has seen and met for centuries,” Jon concluded.
