Press Release: Increasing Transparency and Public Engagement: Department of City Planning Launches ZoLa 2.0 - DCP

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For Immediate Release
March 5, 2019

Contacts:
Rachaele Raynoff, Joe Marvilli – press@planning.nyc.gov (212) 720-3471

Increasing Transparency and Public Engagement: Department of City Planning Launches ZoLa 2.0

Upgrades improve the Zoning and Land Use Application’s speed, functionality and features

NEW YORK – Department of City Planning (DCP) Director Marisa Lago today announced a round of improvements to the agency’s popular Zoning and Land Use Application. ZoLa is a mapping tool that provides simple ways to research zoning regulations. The updates further increase the webtool’s transparency, customization and usefulness for all New Yorkers.

“Increasing transparency and enhancing public engagement are in DCP’s DNA. It’s vital that we build new, easy-to-use and free digital tools, and improve existing ones. DCP’s new ZoLa is faster, sleeker and niftier than the original. For example, ZoLa now lets you create and print custom street maps, and the new and improved ZoLa is chock-a-block full of hands-on ways to learn about zoning on your block, in your neighborhood, and anywhere throughout our city,” said DCP Director Marisa Lago.

Through the mobile-friendly website, you can find the zoning for your property, discover new land use proposals in your neighborhoods, and see the location of everything from historic districts to waterfront access plans. ZoLa’s usefulness is reflected in its popularity, receiving more than 300,000 hits per month.

ZoLa 2.0 adds in a bevy of helpful, requested features, such as custom printing options, allowing the creation and use of more professional, customized materials. You can now print nicely formatted profiles of zoning and tax lots, and include a legend with your map to make it more helpful for meetings and presentations.

Street widths, originally found in our NYC Street Map, have now been incorporated into the ZoLa map. This feature is useful for property owners to understand what can be built on their site, which varies based on the street width.

If you want to know what a special zoning district means, such as FRESH (encouraging development of supermarkets) or a Transit Zone (areas near public transit that have lower parking requirements for affordable housing), you can now find out with a single click.

The update adds a link to the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Building, Registration, and Violation system. When users click on a building to view further information, such as owner, year built, lot depth and more, they will be able to click through to see if there are landlord violations or other tenant related issues associated with a property.

Other improvements to ZoLa include:

Faster performance and loading times;

Improved compatibility with different web browsers;

New indicator under the lot profiles if a site is subject to waterfront zoning.

This update is the latest in a series of online platforms DCP has produced over the past few years to increase transparency and public engagement. They include: ZAP Search, Zoning Resolution Online, Population Fact Finder, Community District Profiles, Metro Region Explorer, Waterfront Access Map and NYC Street Map.

For more information on ZoLa 2.0, visit this blog post by one of DCP’s planners.

Department of City Planning
The Department of City Planning (DCP) plans for the strategic growth and development of the City through ground-up planning with communities, the development of land use policies and zoning regulations applicable citywide, and its contribution to the preparation of the City’s 10-year Capital Strategy. DCP promotes housing production and affordability, fosters economic development and coordinated investments in infrastructure and services, and supports resilient, sustainable communities across the five boroughs for a more equitable New York City.

In addition, DCP supports the City Planning Commission in its annual review of approximately 450 land use applications for a variety of discretionary approvals. The Department also assists both government agencies and the public by advising on strategic and capital planning and providing policy analysis, technical assistance and data relating to housing, transportation, community facilities, demography, zoning, urban design, waterfront areas and public open space.