Zoning for Coastal Flood Resiliency

See where key provisions of Zoning for Coastal Flood Resiliency would apply within each community district’s floodplain.*

Not sure of your community district? Search for a neighborhood or use the map on Community District Profiles.

*Please note: The maps above cover only key provisions that would apply within the 1%- and 0.2%-annual chance floodplain. Additional provisions, including those that would apply in upland areas, are not included.

For more information about flood risk across NYC, see the interactive Flood Hazard Mapper.

In 2013 and in 2015, the NYC Zoning Resolution was updated to include provisions from the Flood Resilience Zoning Text Amendment (the “2013 Flood Text”) and the Special Regulations for Neighborhood Recovery (the “2015 Recovery Text”). The 2013 Flood Text removed many regulatory obstacles that hindered new and existing buildings to comply with flood-resistant construction standards in Appendix G of the New York City Building Code, or prevented the reconstruction of storm-damaged properties (see Article VI, Chapter 4 ). The 2015 Recovery Text simplified the process for old buildings to document non-compliances, and established new rules that allow damaged homes located within small lots to be reconstructed (see Article VI, Chapter 4, Appendix A).

Since both text amendments were approved on a temporary, emergency basis in the wake of Hurricane Sandy to speed the recovery process from the storm, they include sunset dates. The 2013 Flood Text expires within one year of the adoption of new FIRMs, which are expected to be revised by FEMA in the next few years. The 2015 Recovery Text expired on July 23, 2020. Therefore, these zoning rules needed to be adopted on a permanent basis to continue to allow buildings to incorporate resiliency improvements and recover from potential future storms.

Additionally, aside from making these rules permanent, they needed to incorporate updates that had been drawn from lessons learned and initiatives implemented through the City’s recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy. These recommendations, which are laid out in the Zoning for Coastal Flood Resiliency publication, were developed based on analysis of resilient construction in the floodplain, through extensive coordination with partner City agencies, and community feedback that was received during an extensive public engagement process as laid out in the Community Outreach Summary document released in 2018.

Workshop participants sharing their feedback on different zoning strategies for the floodplain.

DCP has engaged with communities located in the floodplain to learn from their experiences, hear their ideas, and collaborate on the potential solutions to achieve building-scale resiliency. You can read more about the input we heard from stakeholders — residents, Community Boards, civic and homeowners associations, non-profit organizations, property owners, businesses, architects and elected officials in our Community Outreach Summary, which informed our recommendations.

For more information or questions email us at ResilientNeighborhoods@planning.nyc.gov.

In the Rockaways, participants at a workshop creating their flood resilient building design

Participants at a workshop in Red Hook discussing the different options for resilient zoning strategies

Below is an overview of our events and workshops to date, as well as corresponding presentations where available in pdf format. The presentations are largely the same content, though each has been tailored with information on flood risk and zoning issues specific to the area. View additional resources used in our outreach, including information available in other languages.