The Goal: A City That Builds Again
Buffalo’s comeback is real but still fragile. After seventy years of decline, the city grew in the 2020 census. To keep growing, Buffalo has to become the easiest city in the Northeast to build a home, open a business, fix up a house, or start something new. City Hall controls the tools that matter most for that: zoning, permits, vacant land, the city budget and how residents are heard.
This page lays out Change Buffalo PAC’s proposals for the City of Buffalo. They follow our principles: pro-growth, pro-market, low-tax, pro-neighborhood and citizen-empowering.
1. Build on the Green Code: Legalize More Housing
In 2017 Buffalo adopted the Green Code, its first comprehensive zoning update since 1953, and became the first major U.S. city to eliminate minimum parking requirements citywide. That was national leadership. The next step is to make building the homes Buffalo needs easier still.
- Allow two- to four-unit homes by right in residential districts, the classic Buffalo double and its cousins, so that small builders and homeowners can add housing without special approvals.
- Legalize accessory dwelling units (backyard cottages, attic and basement apartments) citywide, with simple design standards.
- Allow more height and density by right along transit and commercial corridors such as Main Street, Niagara Street, Grant Street, Broadway and Bailey Avenue.
- Publish pre-approved building plans for doubles, small apartment buildings and infill homes that can be permitted quickly on standard city lots.
- Keep parking optional. Defend the Green Code’s parking reform and let owners and lenders decide how much parking a project needs.
Why: When it is legal and predictable to build, more homes get built, rents and prices stay within reach, and vacant lots become neighbors and taxpayers.
2. Fast, Predictable Permits
- A permit clock. Set firm, published review deadlines for each permit type. If the city misses one without cause, the application moves forward or fees are refunded.
- One-stop online permitting with real-time status tracking, so applicants always know where their project stands.
- Expand by-right approvals for projects that meet the code, saving discretionary hearings for projects that need exceptions.
- Self-certification for qualified professionals on routine work, with city audits to keep standards high.
- Publish a permitting scorecard every quarter showing volumes, review times and backlogs by department.
Why: Delay is a hidden tax. Every month a project waits adds cost that ends up in rents, prices and lost jobs.
3. Put Vacant Land and Buildings Back to Work
- A vacant-lot-to-homeowner pipeline. Work with the Erie County land bank to sell city-owned lots to neighbors, owner-occupants and small local builders through simple, transparent, competitive processes.
- A side-lot program that lets adjacent homeowners buy vacant lots next door for gardens, yards and additions.
- Fix-it-first preservation. Expand stabilization of vacant historic structures so salvageable buildings are mothballed rather than demolished.
- A public, searchable map of every city-owned parcel with its status, price and how to apply.
Why: Vacant land costs the city money to maintain and holds neighborhoods back. In private hands, it adds homes, residents and tax base.
4. Make Buffalo the Best Place in New York to Start a Small Business
- A small-business concierge at City Hall: one contact who guides entrepreneurs through every license, permit and inspection.
- Cut and consolidate licenses. Review every city license and fee, eliminate the ones that do not protect public health or safety, and combine the rest.
- Legalize corner stores and home businesses in more neighborhoods, so residents can open shops, studios and services close to home.
- Pop-up and temporary-use permits for vacant storefronts and lots, so new businesses can test ideas quickly.
- Pay small vendors on time. Set a firm deadline for the city to pay its small-business suppliers.
5. A Disciplined City Budget and a Lighter Tax Load
- Multi-year budgeting. Adopt a rolling four-year financial plan so recurring costs are matched to recurring revenue and one-time money is not used to plug structural gaps.
- Zero-based reviews of every department on a rotating schedule, so each program has to justify its cost.
- A rainy-day reserve policy with clear rules for when funds may be used and how they will be rebuilt.
- Return growth to taxpayers. As new construction expands the tax base, commit a share of new revenue to holding down or lowering the property tax rate.
- Plain-language budget publishing so every resident can see where the money goes.
Why: A city that lives within its means can lower taxes and still invest in the basics residents care about: safe streets, clean parks and fixed roads.
6. Streets, Parks and the Basics, Done Well
- Fix it fast. Publish service-request response times for potholes, streetlights, sidewalks and snow removal, and set targets by neighborhood.
- Complete streets that work for everyone. Continue building safe crossings, protected bike lanes and transit-friendly streets, a commitment Buffalo first made with its complete streets policy in 2008.
- Care for the Olmsted legacy. Partner with the conservancy and neighborhood groups to restore the parks and parkways that make Buffalo special.
7. Give Neighborhoods Real Power
- Neighborhood councils with defined advisory roles on zoning changes, capital projects and city services in their area.
- Participatory budgeting that sets aside a share of the city’s capital budget each year for residents to propose and vote on projects in their own districts.
- Early, real engagement on big projects, before designs are locked in, as described on our Citizen Power page.
How This Connects
These proposals build on the PAC’s detailed plans for Downtown Revitalization, Humboldt Parkway Restoration, the Inner Harbor, and our policy on Urban Design, Public Space, Architecture and Housing. Return to the Turnaround Agenda overview, or see what we propose at the county and regional levels.
