Public Hearing Thursday Night on Controversial Towers on Pier 6 “Boisterous”

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    Last night a public hearing on the controversial residential towers to be built on Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park drew an overflow crowd and ran more than two hours long. The Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation needs a modification of the park’s General Project Plan to allow affordable housing in the park and in these particular buildings. Community Board 2 approved the modification earlier this month and this hearing was the next step in the approval process.

    “The place was totally full (occupancy limit: 350), with another hundred people outside the hall, listening on speakers,” said Brownstoner commenter Andrew Porter.

    The meeting was “boisterous. Thank goodness the air conditioning was fine,” he added.

    At the hearing people spoke out about a host of criticisms of the proposed buildings that have been raised in the past — concerns about overcrowding at zoned and neighboring public schools as well as increased traffic and impacts on the park. The park’s financial reporting was also assailed, as it has been before.

    A few with environmental advocacy groups expressed concerns that the impacts of climate change had not been fully taken into account.”The voices opposed to immediate approval of yet more residential development in BBP tonight were for the most part thoughtful, articulate, and represented diverse perspectives on a planning problem,” Brownstoner commenter slyone said.

    Supporters were at the meeting as well. Deputy Mayor Alicia Glenn rallied labor supporters of the project before the meeting, showing the mayor’s support for the project and the affordable housing it would create. Alicia Glen tweet

    If the proposed change to the General Project Plan goes through, and affordable housing is permitted, the two buildings would be three stories shorter than initially planned and contain 192 condos and 147 rentals. Of the latter, 117 would be affordable and 30 would be market rate, as we have detailed before.

    The developers are RAL Development Services and Oliver’s Realty Group. The architect is ODA New York.

    More reading:

    Last night: Heated debate over towers at Brooklyn Bridge Park [BK Paper]
    De Blasio position assailed at Brooklyn Bridge Park hearing [Capital NY]
    Hearing Tonight on Controversial Tower Plan for Pier 6 at Brooklyn Bridge Park [Brownstoner]
    BBP’s Pier 6 Study Pessimistic About Empire Stores and 1Hotel [Brownstoner]
    Pier 6 Coverage [Brownstoner]
    Rendering by ODA

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    U.S. Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez speaks to the press outside the hearing. Photo by Andrew Porter

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