Manufacturing Districts: January 1, 2002 to January 1, 2012

The maps and table that follow detail changes in the extent of manufacturing-zoned land in the City since January 1, 2002.  The period covered by this analysis represents a time of extensive changes in the city’s zoning map.  Members of the public, researchers and elected officials have expressed great interest in the aggregate effect of these rezonings on the city’s manufacturing zones. The maps and table provide details on the geography of the rezonings, date of adoption, and a hyperlink to the City Planning Commission reports. These materials provide extensive information on each rezoning. A table summarizing the changes to manufacturing districts citywide and by borough is also provided.

Manufacturing districts are mapped throughout NYC, allowing a wide array of community facility, commercial and manufacturing uses to locate as-of-right and by special permit of either the City Planning Commission or the Board of Standards and Appeals. New residences, and community facility uses that include sleeping accommodations are generally precluded.

Most manufacturing districts that existed on January 1, 2002 were mapped at the time of the 1961 Zoning Resolution. The drafters of the 1961 Zoning Resolution used 1950s employment data to base many of their decisions on the size and scale of the city's Manufacturing Districts. In 1955, the industrial sectors provided 1.8 million jobs, with 971,000 of those jobs in manufacturing. Since then, as a result of significant changes in the employment structure of New York City’s economy, the number of industrial and manufacturing jobs has fallen continuously. By 2001, less than a third of 1955 industrial jobs remained in NYC and the manufacturing sector made up less than 20 percent of its 1955 levels.  By 2011, the industrial and manufacturing sectors shrank to less than 25% and 10%, respectively, of 1955 levels.

Between  2002 and January 2012, the City Planning Commission and City Council approved rezonings of manufacturing districts to reflect local characteristics better and to guide new investment. The modifications to manufacturing districts are diverse, in cases permitting new residential neighborhoods to grow in post-industrial areas, or a different industrial typology to be developed to support more modern business facilities. These modifications are also widely dispersed, encompassing every borough. By rezoning underutilized stretches of former industrial areas, the City in some cases recognized new housing and businesses that were already being created, or provided new opportunities based on future development potential.

The manufacturing rezonings in this 10-year period reduced the total acreage of these districts by 5.2 percent or slightly more than 1,100 acres citywide. Over 20,000 acres remain manufacturing districts today. The most substantial reduction occurred in Brooklyn where approximately 360 acres of lot area zoned for manufacturing have been rezoned, representing a decline of roughly 8.2 percent.  Manhattan, however, had the greatest share of its manufacturing districts rezoned. Approximately 26% of lot area zoned for manufacturing, or 265 acres, were mapped to another district. The changes in lot area are calculated for each borough and explained in the summary table below.

*Slight discrepancy in area differences is attributable to rounding errors and changes in boundary geography over the time period.

**Combined net loss in Manufacturing districts by rezonings, establishments of parks and GPPs.

Mixed Use (MU) includes Special Mixed Use Districts, all other Special Districts in which M1 Districts are paired with a Residence District, M1-D Districts, and select Manufacturing Districts within Special Districts, which permit new residences.

GPP areas include land under the jurisdiction of General Project Plans approved by the Empire State Development Corporation or its subsidiaries.

Maps

The changes in manufacturing districts are shown in the map below. To view more detailed borough maps of these changes and timelines explaining the rezonings in chronological order, click on a borough in the map below.

Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Citywide Timeline

Industrial Business Zones

The Industrial Business Zones (IBZs) were created in early 2006 in areas of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.  The IBZ program evolved from the City’s earlier policies focused on In-Place Industrial Parks (IPIP), which provided business support services to industrial and manufacturing businesses located within the IPIP and addressed issues related to inrastructure and the business environment. Like the IPIPs, policies applying to the IBZs continue to offer targeted support services for industrial firms and attend to area-wide improvements. The designation also provides relocation tax credits to qualifying businesses that locate within an IBZ to direct investment to New York City's strongest industrial areas. To create more certainty on land use policy, IBZ designation also carries a commitment by the Bloomberg Administration not to support a rezoning permitting new residences. Only manufacturing districts may be designated as IBZs. Currently, the IBZ Boundary Commission is reviewing proposed modified and new boundaries. To learn more about the IBZ program, the current IBZ boundaries, and to review the proposed boundaries, please visit the NYC Economic Development Corporation's website.