PLG-Crown Heights Community Board Will Rewrite Controversial Request for Zoning Study

At a highly anticipated meeting of Community Board 9 Tuesday with potential for controversy over hot-button issues such as zoning, much time was given over to presentations on flu shots and personal finance tips.

Community Board Chairman Dwayne Nicholson, pictured speaking above, admitted a controversial vote in September over zoning was miscounted, and blamed noise and disruption of the meeting by MTOPP protestors for the error. (Community group MTOPP has accused the board of incompetence or fraud.)

Nicholson seemed at pains to avoid discussing the issue further, and would not allow any public comment at the meeting. At the last minute, just as Nicholson was wrapping up, board member and Q at Parkside blogger Tim Thomas raised the subject again and attempted to vote in a revised request for a zoning study. (We published his revision last week.) But his motion was quickly quashed, to the cheers of MTOPP, which has called for public meetings on the matter.

Nicholson said there will be a zoning training workshop for board members, followed by one public meeting of the land use committee to rework the zoning study request. Both will take place before January 28, he promised. The land-use committee has not met all year, said attendees, although all committees are required to meet at least five times. The housing committee has also not met recently.

At issue is whether or not buildings over six stories will be permitted in the largely low-rise neighborhood. Community Board 9 covers Prospect Lefferts Gardens and the south side of Crown Heights. Residents and community groups have blamed high-rise luxury buildings for gentrification and rising housing costs in the area.

There was a moment of silence at the beginning of the meeting for the victims of the stabbing incident Monday at 770 Eastern Parkway, the synagogue and headquarters for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Council Member Laurie Cumbo gave an impassioned speech about it, in which she also addressed the zoning controversy.

“We have to give this community board a chance. If this continues, we will not move forward effectively,” she said, referring to disruptions at community board meetings. “I want to ensure we all have a voice. But we need to be respectful of each other.”

Three members of MTOPP had signed up in advance to speak at the meeting, but were not permitted. “They don’t want to hear our voices,” shouted MTOPP leader Alicia Boyd.

MTOPP Coverage [Brownstoner]