A controversial proposal to cap the amount of rent landlords can charge on some commercial leases drew hundreds to testify at a virtual hearing before the New York City Council’s Small Business Committee on Friday.

Supporters of the measure—initially proposed by Councilmember Stephen Levin in 2019 as a way to attract small businesses to vacant storefronts—said it will help keep mom-and-pop shops from being priced out as the city recovers from the pandemic.

Bronx bodega owner Badr Fuad, director of merchants services for the Yemeni American Merchants Association, said the lease on his family's 30-year-old business recently expired and the landlord asked for an “unbelievable" increase.

“My parents have decided to consider moving upstate because they cannot afford to be paying that much of an increase,” he said.

Opponents, meanwhile, said limits on rent hurt landlords. Lee Solomon, a landlord in Brooklyn, said she has lowered rents on her tenants to keep them from leaving, and that the idea rents are skyrocketing is "pure fantasy."

The proposed bill targets storefronts and offices of 10,000 square feet or less as well as manufacturing spaces up to 25,000 square feet.

Vacancies were a problem long before the pandemic, and by June of 2020 about 10% of all storefronts citywide were vacant, according to the city Department of Finance.

Some commercial tenants did sympathize with landlords. Andrew Castelli is a small business owner, but he sided with landlords who oppose a cap because he said his landlord has worked with him in good faith to get better deals on rent during the pandemic.

Castelli, who owns two bars in Upper Manhattan, said he doesn't "want to risk ruining" those relationships.

Another small business owner, Vanna Valdez, who runs a ceramics cooperative called Bronx Clay, said it’s hard finding affordable space and that a cap on rents offers some protection. “What is there to prevent me from being booted out by price hikes and taken advantage of?”

The Real Estate Board of New York has said the proposal is illegal because, they argue, the city cannot regulate commercial rents without state authorization.

Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris said further study is needed, and that he was “very concerned” that limiting annual rent increases could “hinder other entrepreneurs from entering the market.”

Mark Gjonaj, who chairs the council’s small business committee, said the city could help both landlords and tenants by lowering real estate taxes and reducing water and sewer rates.

The legislation would create a new board charged with setting annual percentage increases for commercial leases.