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It may be a moot point since no one will be able to finance any construction in the area for quite some time, but the EPA’s decision to add the Gowanus Canal to the Superfund list isn’t doing anything to speed along the proposed rezoning of the area either. Here’s what a Department of City Planning spokesperson told the Architect’s Newspaper on Tuesday:

We’ve just gotten the news and we’re continuing to work on understanding the impacts of the designation on the potential for moving forward with a rezoning to facilitate appropriate development and remediation. Clearly, the Superfund designation adds a layer of additional complexity (and uncertainty) to an already very complex process.

This on the heels of a similar statement made to us last summer:

Certification of the Gowanus Rezoning Proposal into the public review process is temporarily on hold to allow the City to focus on the alternative cleanup plan for the Canal, the potential for Superfund listing, and to better understand the relationship of this process to the rezoning. We still intend to advance the rezoning plan, and the EPA has also strongly encouraged the City to move forward with rezoning. Once there is a better understanding of the overall process of canal cleanup, the rezoning plan can move into the ULURP process.

You can read more about the mixed-use rezoning plan for the 25 blocks along the canal here.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. I was confused about the eastern boundary. I assumed that was Third Avenue because I thought (incorrectly) both sides of Fourth Avenue were rezoned in 2003. Just between Douglas and Warren.

    g-dog, I don’t think Toll wants a better price or higher density; I really do think they want out. The whole point, it seems to me, of only purchasing options was to minimize their exposure, if you’ll pardon the pun.

    Hey, BZ — maybe your guests could arrive by boat! They could disembark at the end of Second Avenue and walk two blocks south to Bell House.