The Full Record

Proposal 4: Simplify Building Permitting and Move Waterfront Permitting to Department of Buildings

New York City

General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

✓ Fact-checked 2026-09-25: 8 claims re-checked against their sources

A second, independent research pass re-opened every cited source for this race and corrected or removed anything the source didn’t support.

  • No corrections needed. Verified: question text verbatim against COGE Appendix A PDF; context confirmed via Mayor's Office release; '40 approvals across 18 offices' and waterfront-permitting-to-DOB details confirmed in Mayor's Office release and The City Reporter; Kelly, Goodrich, and Scissura quotes verbatim (Scissura's quote joins two separate sentences from the same statement with an ellipsis, both verbatim); Menin spokesperson quote verbatim.

The question on the ballot

Proposed Charter Amendment: Simplify Building Permitting and Move Waterfront Permitting to Department of Buildings. Create centralized construction permits hub to simplify permitting. Move waterfront permitting from Department of Small Business Services to Department of Buildings. Allow construction approval by additional Department of Buildings officials. "Yes" simplifies permitting by authorizing a centralized permitting hub, moving waterfront permitting to Department of Buildings, and allowing additional Department of Buildings officials to issue approvals. "No" leaves laws unchanged.[1]

The amendment would create a centralized hub through which applicants can access and manage construction-related permits and approvals across City agencies, consolidating what COGE describes as 40 separate approvals currently spread across 18 offices and agencies. It would move waterfront construction permitting from the Department of Small Business Services to the Department of Buildings, and authorize additional Department of Buildings divisions to approve certificates of occupancy.[1][2]

A YES vote means

Amends the City Charter to authorize a centralized construction-permitting hub, move waterfront permitting to the Department of Buildings, and allow additional Department of Buildings officials to issue construction approvals.

A NO vote means

Leaves the Charter unchanged: construction permits remain spread across separate offices and agencies, and waterfront permitting stays with the Department of Small Business Services.

Arguments made for

  • "Gotham Organization applauds the Commission's proposal to simplify and centralize the City's building permitting process. Anyone who has developed housing in New York understands how navigating approvals across numerous agencies adds unnecessary time, cost, and complexity to projects that our city urgently needs. Creating a single, coordinated permitting hub is a practical, commonsense reform that will help accelerate the delivery of affordable housing and critical infrastructure while maintaining appropriate oversight," said Brian Kelly, President of the Gotham Organization.[2]
  • "Every month lost navigating approvals across multiple agencies is another month that families wait for the housing they desperately need. Creating a single, coordinated permitting process is exactly the kind of government reform that helps good projects get built faster without lowering standards," said Kirk Goodrich, President of Monadnock Development.[2]
  • "For too long, outdated rules have made it harder than it needs to be to build in New York City ... Cutting nonprofit and small business procurement time by more than half, adding a formal rainy-day fund, consolidating 40 permits across 18 offices into a single hub, streamlining the use of public space, and unlocking more than $200 million in value from underutilized City property are exactly the kinds of reforms our industry has been calling for," said Carlo A. Scissura, President & CEO of the New York Building Congress.[2]

Arguments made against

  • A spokesperson for City Council Speaker Julie Menin, Henry Robins, said of COGE's ballot package as a whole: "In just a few weeks, the commission developed a series of sweeping changes to city government with far-reaching implications for oversight, transparency, and public accountability."[3]

Research notes & limits

Official ballot question text and yes/no framing are taken verbatim from the Charter Revision Commission's Appendix A filing. No source found with opposition arguments naming this question specifically; the cited criticism addresses the COGE ballot package's oversight implications generally.

Sources · 3

Researched 2026-09-25. Green citations are official government records.

  1. 1.Appendix A: Proposed Questions, 2026 Charter Revision Commission · New York City Charter Revision Commission (COGE) · 2026-07-23 Official record
  2. 2.COGE Releases 5 Ballot Proposals and Final Report to Make Government Work Better for New Yorkers · NYC Mayor's Office · 2026-07-23 Official record
  3. 3.Mamdani's Government Efficiency Panel Approves 5 NYC Ballot Proposals · The City Reporter · 2026-07-23 News report