Community boards of New York City
The community boards of the New York City government are the appointed advisory groups of the community districts of the five boroughs. There are currently 59 community districts: twelve in the Bronx, eighteen in Brooklyn, twelve in Manhattan, fourteen in Queens, and three in Staten Island.[1]
They advise on land use and zoning, participate in the city budget process, and address service delivery in their district.[2] Regarding land use they are only advisory and mostly serve as mobilizing institutions for communities opposed to specific projects.[3] The City Charter also allows boards to submit their own plans for the development, growth, and improvement of their communities.[4][5][6]
Community boards each have up to 50 volunteer members appointed by the local borough president, half from nominations by City Council members representing the community district (i.e., whose council districts cover part of the community district).[1][7] Non-board members may also join or work on board committees.[1]
Each community board is led by a district manager, with an office and staff, whose primary purpose is to coordinate the delivery of services to the community.[1][2] Each borough also has a borough board, composed of the borough president, council members from the borough, and the chairperson of each community board in the borough.[8]
History[edit]
The 1898 Charter of the City of Greater New York gave the Municipal Assembly the power and duty to number and name 22 districts of local improvements, which were at that time coterminous with the senatorial districts of the city but whose boundaries the Municipal Assembly had the power to modify.[23] Each district was under the purview of a Board of Local Improvements, also known as a "local board", which was composed of the district's Borough President and the members of the Municipal Assembly in the district, who all served without compensation.[24] The 1901 Charter, effective January 1, 1902, increased the number of districts to 25 and gave them their numbers and names.[25] These districts comprised various wards and senatorial districts.[25] The local boards remained composed of the Borough President and each alderman in the district, and they continued to serve in the boards without compensation.[26] In 1918 their number was reduced to 24 and they were thereafter based on aldermanic districts.[27]
The 1938 Charter imposed a City Council elected by borough-wide proportional representation; Local Improvement Boards thereafter comprised the Borough President and each member of the Council elected from the Borough, and numbered nine in Manhattan, eight in Brooklyn, four in the Bronx, two in Queens, and one in Staten Island.[28]
The 1963 revision of the New York City Charter extended the Borough of Manhattan's "Community Planning Councils" (est. 1951) to the outer boroughs as "Community Planning Boards", which are now known as "Community Boards".[29]
The 1975 revision of the New York City (NYC) Charter set the number of Community Districts/Boards to 59, established the position of the district manager for the community districts, and created the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) (pronounced "you-lurp") which gave the community boards the authority to review land use proposals such as zoning actions, and special permits.[29]
The 1990 revision of the NYC Charter, in section 197-a, granted community boards the authority to prepare plans for development within their district, and submit them to the City Planning Commission and the city council for approval.[29][30] Plans submitted under this rule are known as "197-a" plans.[31]
The 2018 NYC Charter Revision Commission proposed term limits for community board members.[32]
The term limits proposal was one of three measures pertaining to the Charter that were up for a vote as part of the November 2018 elections. It, additionally, required borough presidents to seek out persons of diverse backgrounds for appointment. NYC voters resoundingly elected to place term limits on community board members.[33]
After Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo suspended in-person government meetings in 2020 by declaring a state of emergency at the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, the City's 59 boards migrated to online video platforms such as Webex and Zoom. In 2021, when boards were threatened with the prospect of resuming meetings in person despite civic engagement soaring after going virtual and the ongoing health crisis, some openly declared their intent to break state law to keep meeting online,[34] resulting in Governor Kathy Hochul signing legislation to extend virtual public meetings.[35]