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in September, and city council approval was
<br />expected by the end of October (as this issue
<br />was going to press).
<br />The diagram on page 4 helps to illustrate
<br />how New York has chosen to regulate buildings
<br />according to both building type and the flood
<br />zone in which they are located with respect
<br />to its "design flood elevation," defined as the
<br />base flood elevation (BFE) plus the required
<br />freeboard. Adding one or two feet is a common
<br />approach, but NewYork, with a more compli-
<br />cated development environment, breaks out
<br />freeboard requirements by building category.
<br />The issue in NewYork, however, is more
<br />than simply changing the text in the zoning
<br />alternatives that could succeed in a dense urban
<br />environment, and to explore those options, it
<br />had already launched before Hurricane Sandy
<br />the studies that produced Designing for Flood
<br />Risk and Urban WaterfrontAdaptive Strategies.
<br />"Because of the coastal flood risks New
<br />York City faces and changes to the National
<br />Flood Insurance Program," City Planning Com-
<br />missioner Amanda M. Burden, FAICP, explains,
<br />"our communities are faced with the need to
<br />rebuild and retrofit buildings to withstand the
<br />next severe storm. Before Hurricane Sandy, we
<br />began our Designing for Flood Risk study to
<br />articulate principles for resilient buildings and
<br />neighborhoods that not only can withstand
<br />the living space in single-family homes. Shrub-
<br />bery, for instance, can soften the otherwise
<br />harsh blankness of the empty space beneath
<br />elevated ground floors. In new buildings,
<br />setbacks from the streetscape, not normally
<br />encouraged in a dense urban environment, may
<br />provide the needed space to accommodate
<br />various access features including ramps and
<br />steps while protecting living or working space
<br />from flooding. In retail or office locations where
<br />only modest elevation is needed, however, the
<br />design flood elevation may keep window space
<br />at eye level while allowing access through a
<br />short series of indoor steps, with a short, solid
<br />wall at street levet.
<br />® Architectural elements can be used to mitigate the visual effects of elevated first floors on the streetscape. (From Designing for Flood Risk.)
<br />code. The larger issue is that of preserving
<br />the quality of the urban fabric by encouraging
<br />the kinds of creative design changes in build-
<br />ings and streetscapes that could maintain the
<br />character of waterfront urban neighborhoods.
<br />For flood protection, it may be important to
<br />elevate living or working space to design flood
<br />elevations. New buildings can do this by using
<br />street -level space for parking or building lob-
<br />bies, or by building atop a berm that lifts the
<br />building's base above flood level. For instance,
<br />some buildings in Baltimore's Inner Harbor use
<br />the ground level for an open lobby while plac-
<br />ing retail space on the second floor.
<br />Building elevations that simply create
<br />blank walls at street level, however, create
<br />serious problems for the atmosphere of such a
<br />neighborhood or commercial district. NewYork
<br />City needed to make clear that there were better
<br />flooding, but also support lively and pedestrian -
<br />friendly streets. This study was crucial to our
<br />ability to quickly craft thoughtful zoning changes
<br />following the storm to promote flood -resistant
<br />construction along with vibrant streetscapes
<br />and walkable neighborhoods. We believe these
<br />lessons can be applied more broadly to the re-
<br />gion and to other coastal communities seeking
<br />to foster livable, walkable neighborhoods."
<br />One issue, complicated somewhat by
<br />compliance with the Americans with Disabilities
<br />Act (ADA), is that of stairways. Ramps are viable
<br />in larger buildings but can be problematic for
<br />closely built multistory housing, at the same
<br />time that elevators at floodable levels are
<br />equally problematic. Yet stairways and other
<br />design elements can be used, as the diagram
<br />above illustrates, to mitigate at least some of
<br />the more troubling visual impacts of elevating
<br />SMALL BUT DENSE
<br />One common reaction outside New York to
<br />almost any land -use regulations in New York is
<br />that the city is unique and that little that it does
<br />applies elsewhere. While that may often be the
<br />case in certain respects, what NewYork is doing
<br />with regard to flood risk may actually prove to
<br />be of considerable value for many other smaller
<br />cities facing similar design challenges. Density
<br />is not unique to New York, nor is the question
<br />of maintaining a walkable, visually attractive
<br />urban environment in flood -prone areas near
<br />waterfronts, whether they are harbors, inlets,
<br />rivers, or lakes. New Jersey, for instance, is full of
<br />smaller municipalities with comparable densi-
<br />ties. What New York is trying to accomplish in
<br />response to Sandy may prove useful.
<br />Hoboken, for example, is a city of about
<br />50,00o people living in little more than one and
<br />ZONINGPRACTICE 1.1.13
<br />AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION I page 5
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