Dear SoHo —
We are reaching out with an urgent call for your testimony ahead of a critical vote regarding the Arts Fund Conversion Fee at the monthly meeting of Community Board 2, Thursday, January 18, 6:30pm.
To testify, you must register here before 5:00 pm on Thursday.
Background:
At last week’s meeting of CB2’s Land Use Committee, Councilmember Christopher Marte presented his plan to eliminate the unfair Arts Fund Conversion Fee, which amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars per home.
You’ll recall the conversion fee was part of the 2021 SoHo/NoHo rezoning. It requires a fee of $100 per square-foot for any dwelling unit currently with a certificate of occupancy for Joint Live/Work Quarters for Artists (JLWQA, aka A.I.R.) to pay a conversion fee of $100 per square-foot just to apply to change the certificate of occupancy to standard residential use. This would most likely kick in when a long-time resident sells to a non-artist.
Shockingly, two committee members — who in the past opposed the Arts Fund — spoke strongly in favor of it this time, arguing it could benefit the arts in the SoHo/NoHo community. In reality, the Department of City Planing intends to give the funds to the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council — which primarily runs cultural projects miles away, like on Governors Island. (see here).
Worse, the SoHo community board members who are themselves subject to the conversion fee and could have represented the interests of JLWQA homeowners on the board were forced to recuse themselves from Thursday’s vote due to an alleged “conflict of interest”. The two members supporting the fee are not so restricted and will undoubtedly press the full board to retain the fee.
This leaves the 1600+ JLWQA families and artists who are subject to this fee without any voting representation on the community board.
Your testimony is needed
We need you to testify why imposing this fee on us is unfair. In particular, we would like as many certified artists and founders of our community to explain why this fee is particularly onerous for them. Please attend. BODIES COUNT!!!
You must register early to testify
The meeting will be held in person starting at 6:30pm at PS130 Hernando De Soto, 146 Baxter Street at Hester Street. Public testimony begins around 7:00.
You must register to testify before 5:00 pm on Thursday.
You can also register to attend by Zoom. Unfortunately, registering for the Zoom meeting does not allow you to speak, only observe on Zoom. So you must attend in order to testify.
If you absolutely cannot attend, please submit written testimony as soon as possible here and CC the SoHo Alliance at info@sohoalliance.org
Further background
The conversion fee must be paid upfront, in full, and is non-refundable — even if the conversion fails for any reason. It is imposed on certified artists and non-artists alike.
A State law we advocated for in 2022 allowed all JLWQA residents to remain in their homes without being forced to convert or pay the fee. However, this protection expires when the homeowner — inevitably — has to move out. This means that existing homeowners will have to pay the fee, either directly by converting before a sale or indirectly by having to give a commensurate discount to the buyer.
Mayor Adams’ recent proposal — City of Yes for Economic Opportunity — would rezone the entire City and permit JLWQA-like apartments everywhere. Councilmember Marte’s proposal is to eliminate the conversion fee because, once JLWQA-like uses are permitted everywhere in the city, charging a fee only to JLWQAs in SoHo and NoHo is even more unfair.
We fully support Marte’s initiative. Moreover, should the community board vote in support of the conversion fee (which it previously opposed 36:1), it could set back the community’s advocacy efforts with the city and the state.
Please register to speak and plan to testify.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
Sincerely,
Sean Sweeney
Director
SoHo Alliance
212-353-8466
SoHo Journal 