Gowanus Lounge: Serving Brooklyn

25 Blocks Worth of Change in Gowanus

May 30th, 2008 · 4 Comments

2008_05_Rezoning Map

The City Planning Department unveiled its draft proposal for the big Gowanus rezoning at a Community Board 6 meeting in Carroll Gardens last night. The area that is proposed for rezoning is a 25 block area between Fourth Avenue and Bond Streets bounded on the south by Third Street and on the north by Butler Street. This area would be rezoned from manufacturing use to mixed use. The city is proposing to leave about 35 other blocks that it looked at with current manufacturing zoning. (At the meeting, City Council Member Bill de Blasio called for a “ban” on the construction of new hotels in the manufacturing zones; there are currently seven open or planned.) Brooklyn Planning Director Purnima Kapur explained that these other blocks are heavily used for manufacturing and that the city sees no purpose in changing the designation. In avoiding changes on these blocks, and concentrating the rezoning on the 25-block area, the city would be avoiding opposition by community groups that wanted to preserved manufacturing.

That leaves an area called the Waterfront District as the key battleground. Centered around the canal between Bond Street and Third Avenues, buildings in this area could rise to 12 stories. Developers would get significant density bonuses for adding affordable housing. Most people that spoke at the meeting were critical of different aspects of the plan, particularly of the height of buildings near the canal. Local resident Marlene Donnelly, who is part of the Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus group said that the plan involved “a little bit of deception” and that “a lot doesn’t incorporate what the community wants.” A number of residents said that the plan ignored environmental concerns, particularly the impact of new construction on the sewer system and also voiced worries that the rezoning will encourage construction on toxic parcels that will not be adequately cleaned up. The city hopes to have the rezoning certified for the land use review process by early next year.

Some highlights of the proposed zoning changes:

A number of disconnected blocks would be zoned R6B to allow five story maximum height. A small portion of Fourth Avenue would be rezoned R8A to allow 12 story building (as in the prior Fourth Avenue rezoning) provided developers include affordable housing. A corridor around Union Street and Third Avenue would be rezoned R7A to allow buildings up to 8 stories tall. In the mixed use waterfront district, buildings north of Carroll Street could rise to eight stories closes to the canal, but would be five stories along Bond Street. South of Carroll Street buildings would be 5-6 stories along Bond Street and rise to eight stories with “limited portions” going as tall as 12 stories. The rezoning would require developers to build 40′ wide public access on either side of the Gowanus Canal. The guidelines would also mandate use of the buildings in many corridors at street level so as to avoid the blank wall look that has developed along Fourth Avenue. In other areas, however, the need to build above ground parking garages could result in less ideal streetscapes.

More to come.

Tags: Uncategorized

4 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Anonymous // May 30, 2008 at 10:46 am

    this is worse than the season finale of LOST, which I opted for rather than another depressing meeting on the future of my neighborhood.

  • 2 Friday Links Roundup « // May 30, 2008 at 2:12 pm

    […] by LT Tags: City Planning, Housing, Parks The City Planning Commission revealed it’s plans for a Gowanus rezoning to the community board last night.  DCP also has two more new plans currently in consideration by […]

  • 3 GREENWHOO // Jun 2, 2008 at 8:33 pm

    THis is the same plan, the very same plan, that GCCDC put out years ago. This rezoning has always been about givinging these blocks away to large scale residential development. Only difference is the scale has grown larger over the years–(if you look back to the checker-board buildings proposed for the Village).
    There has been no community input into this planning process; if there was the plan would have evolved since the GCCDC’s proposal.

  • 4 Gowanee // Jun 20, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    There is absolutely no environmental consideration in this zoning proposal. Just consider the shadows that these tall builds will create over the canal! This water which will forever remain an open sewer needs sunlight to help break down what it can! Even now, houses near the canal experience flooding (and that water has raw sewage, too) – so can you imagine what dense residential development will mean? More toilets flushing into the canal with every rainstorm that creates Combined Sewage Outfalls. This is irresponsible of the city – and there is a public record of how they have been warned. By the way, people cannot get flood insurance in Gowanus. And the earth’s water levels are rising…