City Planning Director Dan Garodnick, Key to 'City of Yes' Passage, To Step Down

"Director Dan Garodnick informed Mayor Zohran Mamdani that he would be stepping down from the role "in the coming weeks," according to an email shared with staff earlier this morning, City Limits first reported. Under Gardonick, the agency passed the first major citywide rezoning since 1961-"City of Yes"-an effort to create more housing in every neighborhood amid a citywide housing shortage that has pushed rents higher."

""After four incredibly productive and rewarding years at the Department of City Planning, the time is right for me to move on from this role. I am incredibly proud of all that we accomplished, including enabling more homes in four years than had been in the past twenty, and have deep affection and respect for the tremendous team at DCP," said Garodnick in a statement to City Limits."

Dan Garodnick will step down as director of the Department of City Planning in the coming weeks. During four years at the agency's helm, he led the first major citywide rezoning since 1961, known as City of Yes, and oversaw five neighborhood rezonings. Those actions and rezonings in the Bronx, Midtown Manhattan, Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, Jamaica, Queens, and Long Island City unlocked about 130,000 housing units according to the agency. Garodnick enabled more homes in four years than in the prior twenty, closed the agency's urban design division in December, and was not chosen as a top deputy by Mayor Mamdani.

Read at City Limits