The New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) has released materials outlining a proposed amendment to the city's zoning regulations to introduce a City Planning Commission (CPC) special permit intended to limit the development of large last-mile facilities near zoning districts that allow housing and to incentivize the use of more sustainable modes of delivery to meet New Yorkers' e-commerce needs. A CPC special permit is a discretionary land-use action subject to the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). 

DCP's proposal follows a commitment made by the Adams Administration in conjunction with the New York City Council's approval of the administration's City of Yes for Economic Opportunity text amendment in June 2024.

DCP seeks to enact the proposed citywide special permit through a text amendment to the New York City Zoning Resolution. While the requisite environmental review pursuant to city and state laws for such an application has begun, DCP has not yet released a timeline for publication of the text amendment application. Once the text amendment application is certified into the public review process, it would require review by all the city's community boards, Borough Presidents, the CPC, and the City Council. 

According to the Draft Scope of Work (DSOW), one of the environmental review documents released on March 28, 2025, the special permit would apply to the development of new Parcel Delivery Facilities located in manufacturing, mixed-use, and C8 commercial zoning districts. Parcel Delivery Facilities would be defined as a type of distribution warehouse used primarily for unloading and sorting pre-packed goods and reloading those goods onto certain vehicles for final delivery. New Parcel Delivery Facilities would not be permitted in residential or other commercial zoning districts.

New Parcel Delivery Facilities are exempt from the proposed special permit requirement if they contain less than 50,000 square feet of zoning floor area, are water-dependent, or are located more than 500 feet from a zoning district that permits residences, and meet certain electric charging infrastructure requirements. In addition, Parcel Delivery Facilities on airport land, operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and United States Postal Service facilities, would remain exempt from compliance with local zoning and would, therefore, not be subject to the proposed special permit requirement. According to the DSOW, Parcel Delivery Facilities would not include facilities used for extended inventory storage, picking and packing, wholesale distribution, or retail.

"Warehouses—especially the large operations that have proliferated with the growth of e-commerce—generate significant truck traffic, with meaningful negative impacts for air quality and health. These impacts are particularly acute in the underserved communities where many of these warehouses cluster," said the city's Chief Climate Officer and Commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Rohit T. Aggarwala, in his February 28, 2025 testimony at the City Council.

In order to obtain a special permit to operate a Parcel Delivery Facility, an applicant would be required to meet findings related to:

• The proximity of the proposed facility in relation to communities disproportionately affected by environmental pollution;
• The concentration of Parcel Delivery Facilities in the immediate area;
• The proposed facility's potential to negatively affect air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, stormwater runoff, traffic congestion and pedestrian flow;
• Whether the development of the proposed facility would require environmental remediation and
• The size and configuration of the proposed facility's parking as it relates to surrounding streets and sidewalks.

DCP will hold an Environmental Scoping Meeting to solicit public feedback on the agency's proposal on May 6, 2025. A public information session will be held on April 24, 2025. Details on how to participate will be posted on nyc.gov/engage.

The Cozen O'Connor team will continue to monitor this proposal as it advances.