Community Boards

Being a New Yorker means playing an active role in shaping your local communities, and one way to do this is to get involved with your local community board. Use the links below to find your community board and take part in shaping your neighborhood today!

Find your Community Board

Bronx CBs
Brooklyn CBs
Manhattan CBs
Queens CBs
Staten Island CBs

The community boards of the New York City government are the appointed advisory groups of the community districts of the five boroughs. There are currently 59 community districts: twelve in the Bronx, eighteen in Brooklyn, twelve in Manhattan, fourteen in Queens, and three in Staten Island.

They advise on land use and zoning, participate in the city budget process, and address service delivery in their district. Regarding land use they are only advisory and mostly serve as mobilizing institutions for communities opposed to specific projects. The City Charter also allows boards to submit their own plans for the development, growth, and improvement of their communities.

Community boards each have up to 50 volunteer members appointed by the local borough president, half from nominations by City Council members representing the community district (i.e., whose council districts cover part of the community district). Non-board members may also join or work on board committees.

Each community board is led by a district manager, with an office and staff, whose primary purpose is to coordinate the delivery of services to the community. Each borough also has a borough board, composed of the borough president, council members from the borough, and the chairperson of each community board in the borough.

Land use and zoning

Under the City Charter's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), after the Department of City Planning certifies as complete an application respecting the use, development, or improvement of real property, affected community boards (along with borough boards) may hold public hearings and submit recommendations for consideration to the City Planning Commission before its decision. Such applications include those that involve city land or facilities, changes to zoning, and the use of public street and sidewalks.