Back in April 2004, the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation commissioned a Comprehensive Communtiy Plan in an effort to come up with a roadmap for the area that would balance the varied interests of the community and try to ensure that both public and private initiatives had some guiding vision. (Funding came through Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.) One major theme was “Canal as Park,” which viewed the waterway as a valuable centerpiece to be protected and improved and called for establishing Gowanus as a “green” community. Another underpinning of the plan is a belief in promoting a mixed-use zoning while emphasizing conservation and preservation. Sounds all well and good, but can anyone speak to what this means for various projects on the drawing board in the area?
Comprehensive Community Plan [Gowanus.org]