Zoning
November 18, 2009
BSA Smacks Down 580 Carroll Hardship Claim...For Now
Yesterday the Board of Standards and Appeals told the developers of 580 Carroll Street that they'd have to come up with a new rationale for why they should be allowed to build a denser structure than zoning allows. The board basically said it wasn't buying the developers' explanation for $2.85 million in cost overruns: That unexpected masonry chambers associated with the old substation on the land required them to drill rather than drive piles. "Why didn’t you do some better assessment of your own site?" asked one board member, referring to the fact that the 580 Carroll team based a lot of their cost analysis on the site conditions of other projects in the area, rather than their own. Meanwhile, a few people who live near the site and Councilman-elect Brad Lander spoke out against the BSA granting a variance. The opponents' arguments included statements about how the block's infrastructure isn't well-equipped for increased residential density and that the developers shouldn't be rewarded for incompetence. The BSA said it would give the developers until the end of December to come up with completely new arguments for a hardship variance and it would hold another hearing on the matter in mid-January.
580 Carroll Developers Cite Chambers of Horror [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 580 Carroll Gets Its Glass On [Brownstoner]
BSA Postpones Decision on Carroll St Norten Again [Brownstoner]
580 Carroll Decision Postponed [Brownstoner]
Slope Rallies Against 580 Carroll, Rags on the BSA [Brownstoner]
Battle Over Carroll St. Norten Build Heats Up This Week [Brownstoner]
CB6 Doesn't Buy Carroll Street Hardship Claim [Brownstoner]
580 Carroll Developer Trying to Supersize Norten Project [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 580 Carroll Street [Brownstoner] GMAP
Enrique Norten-Designed Project in Park Slope Revealed [Brownstoner]
Four Developments Coming to One Stretch of Carroll [Brownstoner]
November 12, 2009
580 Carroll Developers Cite Chambers of Horror
The developers of the Enrique Norten-designed 580 Carroll Street in Park Slope have filed papers with the city in advance of next week's Board of Standards and Appeals hearing on the variance they're seeking to build a denser structure than zoning allows. The latest documents from the development team are in response to criticisms from the BSA about the team's request, and in them they lay out how high cost overruns have allegedly gotten at the site because of what they call "unique" conditions, like "deep underground concrete and masonry chambers" from the old substation on the land. The developers claim that the makeup of these chambers couldn't have been anticipated before they began excavation, and along with other unexpected hurdles—such as "the
soil
under
the
neighboring
buildings
began
to
wash
out
and
soil
grouting
had
to
be
introduced
in
order
to
keep
the
soil
under
the
neighboring
buildings
stable"—overruns reached $2.86 million. You buying it?
Development Watch: 580 Carroll Gets Its Glass On [Brownstoner]
BSA Postpones Decision on Carroll St Norten Again [Brownstoner]
580 Carroll Decision Postponed [Brownstoner]
Slope Rallies Against 580 Carroll, Rags on the BSA [Brownstoner]
Battle Over Carroll St. Norten Build Heats Up This Week [Brownstoner]
CB6 Doesn't Buy Carroll Street Hardship Claim [Brownstoner]
580 Carroll Developer Trying to Supersize Norten Project [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 580 Carroll Street [Brownstoner] GMAP
Enrique Norten-Designed Project in Park Slope Revealed [Brownstoner]
Four Developments Coming to One Stretch of Carroll [Brownstoner]
October 29, 2009
Carroll Gardens Downzoning Sails Through Council
As expected, the City Council yesterday unanimously approved the rezoning of 89 blocks of Carroll Gardens in a move designed to limit the height and scope of future development in the largely low-scale neighborhood. “This contextual rezoning will preserve the area’s existing residential character, distinguished by the neighborhood’s historic brownstones, while supporting vibrant, local retail corridors on commercial thoroughfares,” said Land Use Committee chair Melinda Katz. The simplest manifestation of the rezoning will be a 50-foot height limit on new buildings and additions, the result of new R6B requirements. The resolution was sponsored by Bill de Blasio and supported by other local public figures, including Council Member David Yassky and Borough President Marty Markowitz. The Historic District Council also gave it a thumbs up: “This rezoning is an important step in protecting the historic character and human scale of this wonderful neighborhood," said HDC's Simeon Bankoff. You can see the map of the rezoning here.
Council Votes 48-0 to Rezone Carroll Gardens [Brooklyn Eagle]
Carroll Gardens Rezoning Close, Boerum Hill Wants In [Brownstoner]
Zoning Debate Continues in Carroll Gardens [Brownstoner]
ULURP Begins for Carroll Gardens Rezoning [Brownstoner]
Photo by wackelpudding
October 22, 2009
Carroll Gardens Rezoning Close, Boerum Hill Wants In
Boerum Hill wants what Carroll Gardens is about to get. The Brooklyn Paper reports that Carroll Gardens is reaching the end of a long rezoning road, as the City Council is expected to approve the downzoning of the brownstone neighborhood when it meets on Monday. Meanwhile, The Paper's sister pub Courier Life says that residents in neighboring Boerum Hill want a piece of the rezoning action: “We feel that it is imperative to rezone the 19 “orphaned” blocks of Boerum Hill from R6 to R6B in order to preserve and enforce contextual development throughout our entire neighborhood,” Boerum Hill Association President Howard Kolins wrote to CB 2 District Manger Rob Perris. The rezoning would place height limits on the area regardless of how much FAR a developer accumulates.
Boerum Hill Looks to Rezone the Nabe [Courier]
Carroll Gardens Downzone on a Roll [Brooklyn Paper]
October 15, 2009
Meeting About Special Lefferts Rezoning Request Tonight
We only just found about about this, probably because the organizers don't want the Brownstoner crowd showing up, but there's a meeting being held tonight about CNR Healthcare's proposal to get a special upzoning of a block of Lefferts Place to enable them to build an outsized supportive services facility on the otherwise residential block. There's a great deal of opposition from people who own homes on the neighboring two blocks. As we reported back in July, the company has shown an unwillingness to work with residents to find a more palatable solution, preferring instead to try to ram the rezoning down their throats. More than 200 people have signed the petition against the upzoning. The meeting takes place tonight at 7 p.m. at the senior center at 966 Fulton Street between Grand and Cambridge.
October 1, 2009
Council Passes Sunset Park Rezoning Plan
This week City Council passed the long-discussed rezoning proposal for Sunset Park, a plan that attempts to promote new development, affordable housing, and new businesses, while maintaining the character of the neighborhood. The Department of City Planning posted the details of the plan on its website, which includes changes for about 128 blocks within Community Board 7's distrcit. Borough President Marty Markowitz issued a statement that the rezoning will benefit Sunset Park, adding that "it’s important that anti-harassment measures be reviewed to determine if the Tenant Protection Act is adequate as a means of protecting residents from displacement, and that every effort be made to ensure that the magnificent park views of Upper New York Bay and Manhattan are preserved.” While the city is talking some nice talk, some residents have fought the rezoning plan due to concerns that it will promote luxury developments and big-business interests, resulting in residential and commercial displacement.
Sunset Park Rezoning [Department of City Planning]
Immigrant Groups Fight Sunset Park Rezoning [Brownstoner]
Development Funds Flow into Sunset Park [Brownstoner]
Sunset Park Waterfront Vision Plan [Brownstoner]
The Sunset Park Condo That Helped Fuel the Rezone Fire [Brownstoner]
Photo by Michael Comeau
August 21, 2009
Immigrant Groups Fight Sunset Park Rezoning
Rezoning seems to be the issue du jour here in Brooklyn. First, Carroll Gardeners raise their hackles over the planned R6A designation for some streets, and now the blog Best View in Brooklyn points out that a coalition of residents, churches, and a community organization in Sunset Park have filed a lawsuit challenging the city's rezoning plan of 128 blocks in their neighborhood. According to the press release published on Legal Services NYC's website, "They claim that the rezoning plan will encourage more luxury development and large chain stores, resulting in widespread residential and commercial displacement and gentrification among Sunset Park's low-income Asian and Latino communities." Any readers care to weigh in?
Press Conference Announces Lawsuit about Rezoning [BVIB]
Immigrant Groups File Lawsuit [Legal Services]
Photo by Sonja Shield/Legal Services NYC
Zoning Debate Continues in Carroll Gardens
The Carroll Gardens rezoning discussion continued on Wednesday with a NYC Planning Commission Hearing for Carroll Gardens and the Columbia Street Waterfront. If you haven't tuned into this station before, the current rezoning plan calls for a R6B designation for many residential blocks in Carroll Gardens, which imposes a building height of 50 feet. This Carroll Gardeners like. But R6A, which is what the plan dictates for several blocks of Columbia Street, Henry Street, and Clinton Street? Not so much. Residents actually consider this an up-zoning, since the increase in FAR from 2.2 to 3.0 could allow owners to build additions on their roofs. The city posits that the change will bring some buildings on those blocks into compliance. Katia at Pardon Me for Asking points out that "What is needed, in essence, is a special zoning in between an R6A and R6B to not only bring the out-of-scale buildings into compliance, but also to limit any additional height." She adds, "It seems unlikely that these tools will be created any time soon."
Carroll Gardeners Oppose R6A Zoning [PMFA]
ULURP Begins for Carroll Gardens Rezoning [Brownstoner]
Carroll Gardeners Prepare for Hearing [Brooklyn Eagle]
Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street Rezoning [DOCP official plan]
August 20, 2009
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Rezoning
The Dept. of City Planning told Brownstoner yesterday that the long-planned rezoning of Gowanus is on hold. The public review period for the rezoning was set to begin next month but, inconveniently for the city, that's also when the word will come down about the EPA's Superfund designation for Gowanus. Here's the official line from a Planning spokesperson: "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." The Brooklyn Paper reported in May that a staffmember of Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler said the prospect of the Superfund designation had put the Gowanus rezoning "on pause."
Conflict over Gowanus Canal Superfund Status [Brownstoner]
August 4, 2009
DUMBO Rezoning Passed (Without Much Fanfare)
Unlike the rezoning of Coney Island, the rezoning of DUMBO occurred quietly (heck, we only mentioned it in passing), reports the Brooklyn Eagle. Last week the area in question, 12 blocks along Jay and Bridge Streets formerly zoned for industry, manufacturing, and commercial use, was reassigned for mixed-use, contextual zoning, which allows for both manufacturing and residential buildings. (See City Planning's overview here.) While the rezoning occurred without the kind of uproar reserved for Coney Island, there has been some controversy. The DUMBO Improvement District supports the changes, for example, but the DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance opposes them, partly due to the height of the rezoning district. (As we posted here, CB2 also recommended against the rezoning back in April, but Brownstoner readers were overwhelmingly in favor of it.) Council Member David Yassky, a longtime supporter of the change, had this to say: “The DUMBO rezoning has been a long time coming and will help create both residential and commercial development so this great neighborhood can fully realize its potential.”
DUMBO Rezoning Passed Amid Mixed Reviews [Brooklyn Eagle]
CB2 Recommends Against Residential Rezoning in Dumbo [Brownstoner]
Public Review for Dumbo Rezoning Begins [Brownstoner]
Planning Reveals More Deets About Dumbo Rezoning Plan [Brownstoner]
Post-Landmarking, Dumbo Rezoning Talk Begins [Brownstoner]
July 30, 2009
City Council Approves Two Three More Rezonings
We don't have much to go on other than a couple of tweets that came across the transom last night (see, non-believers, Twitter can be useful!), but apparently, the City Council approved two three rezonings (in addition to the Coney Island vote) yesterday, the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Contextual Rezoning and the Flatbush Rezoning. Way to go! Update: And Dumbo too!
July 22, 2009
Council Committee Signs Off on Coney Plan
The Zoning Subcommittee and Land Use Committee of the City Council voted to approve the city's plan for the redevelopment of Coney Island. The committee agreed to important modifications regarding affordable housing, union labor and the preservation of the land around the Wonder Wheel but the tweaks fell short of what the group Save Coney Island wanted to see. “The City Council’s Land Use Committee unfortunately failed to back the revisions needed to prevent the destruction of Coney Island as a world-class amusement destination,” said Save Coney Island spokesman Juan Rivero. “I know there are those who would like to see lower buildings on the south side of Surf Avenue. We just couldn’t make this work,” said Council Member Domenic Recchia, who was involved in the negotiations and declared himself satisfied with the outcome. The critics were somewhat heartened by the possibility that changes may still be made by the City Planning Commission before it goes to a full vote at the City Council on July 29. Meanwhile, developer Joe Sitt, who owns much of the land in the footprint of the city's plan, continued to play tough. "I'm the guy who controls this - it's my sandbox," he said.
Coney Island Plan Gets a Green Light [Crain's]
Coney Plan Receives Green Light From Council Committees [Brooklyn Eagle]
Council: Bloomy Coney Rezoney is no Baloney [Brooklyn Paper]
Council Members Push for More Time on Coney Plan [Brownstoner]
Developer Threatens City's Coney Plan [NY Post]
July 16, 2009
Historians Line Up Against City's Coney Plan
Taking a page out of the anti-Dock Street play book (which didn't work out so well in the end), the organizers of the movement to stop (or modify) the city's plan for the rezoning and redevelopment of Coney Island have recruited a pedigreed list of historians to sign and go public with a letter of opposition. Here's the meat of the letter:
The City’s rezoning plan for Coney Island, however, dishonors its past and sacrifices its future. It would shrink the area reserved for amusement parkland to only 12 acres. It would insert soaring high-rises into the very heart of Coney Island’s historic amusement district. It would invite developers to tear down many of Coney Island’s remaining historic buildings, some dating back more than a century. This shrunken amusement district, hemmed in by high-rises, would leave little room for the innovation and creativity that have been Coney Island’s hallmarks for more than a century.
Signatories include Ric Burns, Charles Denson and Francis Morrone. The deadline for modifying the plan originally was this past Monday but may be extended to this coming Monday; the City Council is scheduled to vote on the plan in its current form within the next two weeks.
12 Prominent Historians: Fix Coney Island Rezoning Plan [Save CI]
Council Members Push for More Time on Coney Plan [Brownstoner]
City Planning Votes in Favor of City's Coney Plan [Brownstoner]
Marty Weighs In On City's Coney Plan [Brownstoner]
Continue reading "Historians Line Up Against City's Coney Plan"
June 19, 2009
City Planning Approves Flatbush Rezoning
Three and a half months after certifying the Flatbush Rezoning Plan for the public review process, the City Planning Commission gave its official seal of approval to the ne set of contextual building rules for the 180-block area that encompasses, among others, Caton Park, Beverley Square West and East, Ditmas Park West, and South Midwood. All that's left before this baby becomes law is sign-off from the City Council, which is likely to happen in late July. For details on the rezoning, check out the City Planning website.
CPC approves Flatbush Rezoning Proposal [Flatbush Gardener]
City Planning OK's Flatbush Rezoning Plan for ULURP [Brownstoner]
Flatbush Rezoning in the Works [Brownstoner]
June 2, 2009
Flatbush Rezoning Can't Come Soon Enough
The 60-day ULURP period for the Flatbush Rezoning plan concludes this week with a hearing at City Planning on Wednesday night. Unfortunately the downzoning, which affects approximately 180 blocks and has particular impact on the historic areas of Victorian Flatbush did not come soon enough to save this place at 248 Stratford Road in Ditmas Park, notes the Ditmas Park Blog. We shudder to think what its replacement will look like. McMansion anyone?
ULURP Begins for Carroll Gardens Rezoning
A year and a half after the passage of a Narrow Streets Text Amendment, the Department of City Planning announced the beginning of the public review period (known as ULURP) for a more comprehensive rezoning of the Carroll Gardens and nearby Columbia Street; the new measures would put certain height and density limitations in place aimed at preserving the scale and character of the low-slung residential neighborhood. “I promised the community last November that we would begin public review in June on a rezoning proposal to protect the neighborhood’s low-scale character,” said City Planning Commissioner Amanda M. Burden. “Today we are fulfilling that promise as well as furthering Mayor Bloomberg’s strategy to protect the city’s low-scale neighborhoods by bringing zoning protections to these unique areas." The contextual zoning changes, including the introduction of an R6B district, came about as a result of hard work by members of the community, Community Board 6 itself and Council Member Bill De Blasio. Details can be found in the press release below.
Columbia Waterfront Getting In On Rezoning Action [Brownstoner]
Planning: Carroll Gardens Has to Wait in Line for Downzone [Brownstoner]
At Rally, News of Carroll Gardens Downzoning Progress [Brownstoner]
Prelude to a Downzone in Carroll Gardens? [Brownstoner]
Photo by embeedub
Continue reading "ULURP Begins for Carroll Gardens Rezoning"
May 21, 2009
CB7 Votes in Favor of Sunset Park Rezoning Plan
Today we have another Community Board report from a reader...
The full CB7 Board vote went as planned last night, despite a large crowd of protesters outside of CB7 with whistles and banners, led by the founders of SPAN (Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors). The organizers' goal appeared to be to spread misinformation about the rezoning: that it would not curb development and that it would bring more condos, higher rents and greater displacement. In the end, many from the mixed crowd of Chinese and Latino residents had to be escorted from the meeting after the vote.
The disruptions did nothing to stop the CB7 Board from overwhelmingly approving the ULURP with the provisions of lowering the rezoning of 4th Ave from R7A with an affordable housing incentive (8 stories) to R6A to ensure the views from Sunset Park (from the park) to the harbor and help preserve many affordable housing units in place and lower income rent. R6A would have far less incentive for developers to demo existing stock and build new condo projects. There was also the addition of the recommendation by CB7 to include the rezoning as an anti-harassment special district, putting further assurances in place that owners/developers cannot illegally evict tenants in the name of creating newer housing stock.
Sunset Park Rezoning Review Begins [Brownstoner]
Sunset Park Rezone Plans Meet the Community [Brownstoner]
Sunset Park One Step Closer to Rezoning [Brownstoner]
May 11, 2009
Williamsburg Waterfront Rezoning Four Years Old Today
The Greenpoint-Williamsburg Waterfront Rezoning turns 4 today, causing blog Brooklyn 11211 to take stock. The blog notes that since May 2005 over 1,000 construction projects have been filed within Community Board 1. And what has the community gotten in return? On the affordable housing front, 11211 gives the rezoning's results what sounds to us like the equivalent of a "C" grade; some of the big Kent Avenue projects have a meaningful number of affordable units but a combination of a delay on the city's part in getting the Inclusionary Housing bonus on the books and, given the easy riches at the time of market-rate condos, insufficient incentive to opt into the program meant that most smaller and mid-sized projects went up without any affordable housing. On the issue of open space, though, 11211 gives what sounds like a "D" grade. To date, the North 5th Street pier is the only public space to open as a result of the rezoning; the northside esplanade is under construction but nowhere close to ready, Bushwick Inlet Park is still in the planning stages, and the esplanade from Bushwick Inlet to Newtown Creek is "years from reality." (The creation of the laudable East River State Park Two predates the rezoning.) A couple of bright spots: The $50 million reno of the McCarren Park pool and the creation of the Open Space Alliance. The blog also cheers the fact that, despite initially resisting community calls for more stringent height and density restrictions, the city has moved ahead with contextual rezonings of three sections of North Brooklyn and rejected Quadriad's requests for permission to build tall towers on Bedford Avenue.
Happy Rezoning Day [Brooklyn 11211]
Photo by Krzysztof Poluchowicz
May 7, 2009
Marty Weighs In On City's Coney Plan
In a press release yesterday, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz released his testimony on the City's plan for Coney Island. Here's an excerpt:
I am pleased to approve the City’s plan, along with what I view as some “improvements.” My recommendations can be summed up this way: Number one, add more amusements. Number two, guarantee that famous Coney Island glitz and “bling” by creating a design committee to ensure awe-inspiring architecture. And finally, make sure that anything we build we “build with Coney, by Coney and for Coney”—that is, we must ensure that the local community gets the jobs, affordable housing, rewards and resources that come along with revitalization. The local community deserves nothing less!
Let me start with my call for more amusements. As you know, it has always been my goal to ensure Coney Island remains an amusement park. That is to say, it should not be a place for quote-unquote “big-box” retail. As you know, I have not agreed with the community board in allowing greater square footage for retail. Clubs—yes! Restaurants—yes! Bowling alleys—sure! Hotels—of course! Hotels are part of the Coney tradition (there was once a hotel shaped like an elephant!) but Coney Island must not become a mall. It must be an amusement park—a vibrant part of this City’s tourist economy.
Photo by the waving cat
April 30, 2009
Thor's Big-Box Dreams for Coney Island
Critics of Thor Equities' efforts to boost the maximum retail size limit for the new Coney Island zoning from 2,500 square feet to 10,000 square feet have long feared that the developer wants to turn the historic amusements area into another charmless strip mall. They appear to have had it right: According to a pitch book that a tipster tells us was used to (unsuccessfully) lobby Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the kind of tenants Thor is dreaming about for Coney include such charming mom-and-pops as Toys R Us, Bass Pro Shops and the Hard Rock Cafe. Gag us with a spoon! The pitch also included a push to prevent the extension of Bowery Street between Jones Walk and West 10th Street because it would "eliminate the opportunity to provide a main attraction or destination."
Cozy in Coney: Sitt and Recchia [Brownstoner]
City Makes Sitt an Offer He Can Refuse [Brownstoner]
April 22, 2009
Sunset Park Rezoning Review Begins
Roughly two years after first announced its intention to evaluate the zoning in Sunset Park and about a year after it introduced the draft rezoning plan, the City Planning Commission yesterday kicked off the 60-day public comment period that is a standard step in the ULURP process. The rezoning would apply to a 128-block area and introduce new height limits while providing incentives for the creation of both affordable housing and commercial development where appropriate. (We've cut-and-pasted the nitty gritty on the jump for those who are deeply interested.) “Mayor Bloomberg and I promised the Sunset Park community that City Planning would work closely with the neighborhood and Council Member Gonzalez to develop a proposal that would protect Sunset Park’s established row house character,” said Commissioner Amanda Burden. “We have met extensively with the community and today’s proposal will establish height limits for new development and meet a need for affordable housing.” When the comment period is over, the proposal will move on to the Borough President's office before going back to the City Planning Commission and finally the City Council.
Sunset Park Rezone Plans Meet the Community [Brownstoner]
Sunset Park One Step Closer to Rezoning [Brownstoner]
April 16, 2009
CB1 Says 'Yea' to Rezoning of North Brooklyn
Fed up with one too many Finger buildings, Community Board 1 voted to support City Planning's contextual rezoning of Williamsburg and Greenpoint at its monthly meeting on Monday night; the rezoning covers approximately 180 inland blocks between Grand Street in Williamsburg and Clay Street in Greenpoint. (Click map for larger version.) In addition to limiting building heights, the switch from R6 to R6B zoning also aims to close the community facility loophole that developers have exploited in recent years to squeeze extra square footage into their projects. CB1's support came despite concerns that the rezoning didn't go far enough in limiting heights and encouraging commercial density on Metropolitan Avenue.
CB1 Approves Greenpoint-Williamsburg Contextual Rezoning [Brooklyn 11211]
April 8, 2009
CB2 Recommends Against Residential Rezoning in Dumbo
Community Board 2 came out against the proposed rezoning of a section of Dumbo east of the Manhattan Bridge that is still zoned for manufacturing despite the fact that most heavy industry left the area years ago; though the vote is merely advisory in terms of the legal ULURP process, it is taken into consideration by the City Council when it makes a final determination. The proposed rezoning would cap new residential buildings at 12 stories, the same height as buildings to the west like 45 Main Street. Nonetheless, the prospect of the change has pitted two vocal neighborhood groups against each other. The Dumbo Neighborhood Association called the rezoning "catastrophic," according to The Brooklyn Paper, while the Dumbo BID argues that the increase in residents would provide much-needed critical mass for businesses in the area. Where do you stand on the issue?
Update (10:30 a.m.): Granted only 57 votes are in so far, but the fact that more than 80% are in favor at this point raises a larger question of how the Community Board (this or any one) arrives at a vote like this and does it reflect the wishes of the community or just a handful of its most activist members? And should your opinion only matter if you take the time to get involved? Interesting questions.
CB2: Rezoning Elephant in the Room in DUMBO [Brooklyn Paper]
DUMBO’s Future to be Mapped Out with Rezoning [Brooklyn Paper]
Image from The Brooklyn Paper
March 31, 2009
Public Speaks Out on Coney Island at Borough Hall Hearing
150 people or so showed up last night for the public hearing about the proposed rezoning of Coney Island at Borough Hall. The Brooklyn Ink captured several members of the public on video, including Circus Sideshow founder Dick Zigun, who had this message for Thor Equities, the major private landholder in the area currently locked in a battle with the Bloomberg administration over the future of the area:
I believe in capitalism...You folks are entitled to make a profit but you should make your profit and go home and leave Coney Island and let the city in its wisdom do the right thing and create a mitzvah in Brooklyn.
In other Coney news, Thor has started to build something at one of its Stillwell Avenue sites near the boarwalk.
Coney Island Awakens from Winter Slumber [The Brooklyn Ink]
City Planning Interim Amusements for Coney Island [Brownstoner]
Recchia, CB13 in Thor's Pocket? [Brownstoner]
March 24, 2009
City Planning Pushing New Bike-Friendly Rules
Prompted by an email alerting us to the creation of a new Department of City Planning portal, we stumbled across an announcement from earlier this month of new regulations regarding bicycle parking in new building in the five boroughs. Citing a lack of adequate and safe parking as a major factor in people not biking to work, City Planning approved a text amendment on March 4 that would "require indoor, secure bicycle parking in new developments, substantial enlargements, and residential conversions." In addition, "the regulations would apply to multi-family residential, community facility, and commercial buildings, including public parking garages, in all zoning districts." For more details, check out the slide show presentation or the text amendment. As Streetsblog pointed out at the time, the City Council has until late April to vote on the measure.
Latest Restaurant Additions
-
Le Barricou
added November 20, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Der Schwarze Kölner
added November 19, 2009 12:00 PM in Fort Greene -
Oak Wine Bar & Café
added November 18, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Mr. Wonton
added November 17, 2009 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Casa Rosa
added November 16, 2009 12:00 PM in Carroll Gardens -
Cousin John's Café & Bakery
added November 13, 2009 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Elote
added November 12, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Miracle Grill
added November 11, 2009 12:00 PM in Park Slope -
Phoebe's Cafe
added November 10, 2009 12:00 PM in Williamsburg -
Ruthie's
added November 9, 2009 12:00 PM in Clinton Hill, Downtown Brooklyn