Gowanus Lounge: Serving Brooklyn

Hearing on Toll Brothers Gowanus Plan @ Borough Hall Tonight

November 19th, 2008 · 2 Comments

The Toll Brothers application to get property rezoned so they can put up their condo development on the Gowanus Canal has already been approved by Commmunity Board 6. Today, the Brooklyn Borough President will be having a hearing on the plan as part of the ULURP process. Per a community email (and there are many people unhappy with the CB6 decision):

This is our chance for the community to be heard again. John Hatheway and I will be making an updated presentation making the case for an 8 story height limit. This will bring the building height below the horizon from most Carroll Gardens vantage points, and equally important allows enough sunlight into the Canal Esplanade to make it a viable park. Our proposal has the same floor area as Toll’s, same affordable housing amount, same possibility for high end units, same economics for union labor. It differs from Toll Bros in that it has very little impact to Carroll Garden’s skyline AND it provides much better sun to the canal park. PLEASE COME AND SUPPORT OUR PROPOSAL OR VOICE YOUR OWN CONCERNS.

The meeting is conveniently scheduled at 5:30PM to make it easy for community members to get there (this is sarcasm). It takes place at Brooklyn Borough Hall at 209 Joralemon Street. Perhaps in the interest of soliciting true public input the earliest starting time for such meetings should be 6:30? It probably doesn’t matter, because it appears that the proposal is on its way to winning approval, even if the Toll firm’s finances may sink the project in ways that community opposition could not.

Tags: Gowanus · Rezoning · Uncategorized

2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Anonymous // Nov 19, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    Why does the Toll Bros rendering look SMALLER???

  • 2 Anonymous // Nov 19, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    Toll Bros looks bigger.