Details on the Battle Hill View Corridor

The following report was submitted by a member of the Concerned Citizens of Greenwood.The joint land use committees from Brooklyn Community Board 6 and 7 were given an outdoor evening presentation on Green-Wood Cemetery’s proposed draft for a 197-a view corridor for the historic view from Green-Wood’s statue of Minerva on Battle Hill down to the Statue of Liberty in NY harbor. While the rezoning of 2005 alleviated some Green-Wood’s (and local activists’) concerns over the potential for new construction to block the view in Greenwood Heights, there are still concerns along the upzoned 4th Avenue and in the areas of Red Hook near the harbor, especially the site of the old Revere Sugar Factory, now owned and potentially to be eventually developed by Thor Equities.

The basic goals of the 197-a Plan are the following (from the draft document handed out at the meeting, also available of CB6’s website):
1.) Prohibit development, whether residential, commercial, or manufacturing, from piercing the View Corridor.

2.) Limit height and bulk so that the View Corridor remains intact for the benefi t of future generations.

3.) To guide City policy relating to land use and the disposition of City assets, consistent with the foregoing.

The meeting was not for an endorsement by the Board’s land uses committees, but for a vote by those committees (and the full Board’s in the fall) to become co-sponsors of the Battle Hill view corridor 197-a plan, which would outline suggested height limitations down the corridor through Greenwood Heights and Red Hook.

As Green-Wood’s attorney Ken Fisher pointed out, 197-a zoning plans, even if approved by city planning and the city council, are only advisory. However it will establish a precedent that any new developer looking to apply for a zoning variance exceeding the 197-a’s suggested height limitations will face a tough battle at the Board of Standards and Appeals.

Currently the only protected view corridor in Brooklyn is the Brooklyn Heights Scenic View District overlooking downtown Manhattan. The Battle Hill 197-a plan, if approved by the community board, borough board, city planning and the city council could set a precedent for the possibility of other protected view corridors, such as the views from Sunset Park, which were part of the focus of that recent rezoning.

After a double Board vote in the fall, the plan will undergo a review process by city planning before an official 197-a plan is put into the ULURP process, so the final ending to this story, some say since the original dedication of the Minerva statue in 1920 by Charles Higgins commemorated the hallowed ground from the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776, is long from over.