Shucks! Oyster Bar Dredges Up Controversy on Hoyt
For the past several months, a Community Board 6 committee has been considering a local business owner’s application to get a liquor license for a bar he wants to open on Hoyt and Union. The board examined whether zoning allows for a drinking establishment in the building, which is adjacent to the Black Mountain Wine…
For the past several months, a Community Board 6 committee has been considering a local business owner’s application to get a liquor license for a bar he wants to open on Hoyt and Union. The board examined whether zoning allows for a drinking establishment in the building, which is adjacent to the Black Mountain Wine Bar, and also heard from some neighbors (especially a group called the Hoyt Street Alliance) who were opposed to the proposed business for a number of reasons, including the fact that it’s near a school and the stretch of Hoyt it would open on is primarily residential. After chewing on the application for a long time, CB6 finally voted in favor of the liquor license application last week, but controversy about the establishment and the board’s vote (which is ultimately only advisory, though it’s weighed by the State Liquor Authority) is still alive on the web. Pardon Me For Asking has penned a couple of withering posts on the topic, writing, “As far as I am concerned, C.B.6 just signaled to all restaurateurs that this district is a free for all and that residential streets are as good as any to open bars,” and also including commentary from former CB6 member Barbara Brookhart about the decision. Brookhart said “it appears that the Board gave more weight to a few residents that approved having the restaurant and bar, than the block association’s petition of about 300 names against the approval of the license.” Meanwhile, on the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association message board, a couple people have had a more tempered opinion of the board’s actions. One CB member, who voted against the liquor license, nevertheless notes that “commercial use is legal, although non-conforming to current zoning at that location,” while another nearby resident wrote, “Actually, I think the folks on Hoyt have a point, though having the existing bar there has been an amenity which brightens an otherwise isolated area, and impacts positively on our community.” The business owner who made the application for the oyster bar is Jim Mamary, the successful Smith Street restaurateur who was behind Patois and other notable eateries.
Community “Business” Board 6 Sticks It To Hoyt & Bond Residents [Pardon Me For Asking] GMAP
12:13
No, I would not oppose a fast food restaurant.
I believe in the free market in this city, and it is clear to me that such establishments do not do well in neighborhoods like Carroll Gardens. This should be obvious, otherwise there would be more of them.
The real point is the activist crew in Carroll Gardens seems unable to grasp the concept of the rule of law. Their reactionary demands are always based on specious arguments.
If you want to lobby for a change in the zoning code, fine. If you want to lobby the state to change how liquor licenses are granted, do it.
Whining and demanding the government slap people around despite no legal basis for doing so is dangerous.
This city is not run like the mafia. The Don does not decide what is and what is not legal on a whim.
Oh, I think CB6 gets it. This is the microeconomics of the power elite in action.
The Alan Harding and Jim Mamary empire includes:
Black Mountain Wine, Cafe Enduro, Fish Shack, Gowanus Yacht Club, La Rosa, Patois, Pacifico, Pioneer Bar-B-Q, Schnäck, Pomme de Terre Brooklyn, Sweetwater, Uncle Pho (defunct), and Union Smith.
None of those were in existence when I moved here – quite a decade.
We’re having a similar issue on my block (Pacific and Bond), but the protest has been muted compared to CG Hoyt street affair.
I have no issue with either place getting a liquor license, but then again, I don’t share a brick wall with them.
I live a couple of blocks away and would be THRILLED to have an oyster bar there. People are crazy in CG – they tend to be against any and all change.
First of all, Benson – will you marry me? Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Second of all, I am a resident of Union St just a few doors down from the wine bar. I can only say positive things about the results of this place. I have never seen a problem with the crowd and I welcome it.
Before the wine bar, Union & Hoyt street was a desolate and potentially unsafe area to walk through at night. There were all kinds of weary characters just hanging around on the corner by the school. Since then, that crowd has moved on.
Also, the owners and managers of Blk Mtn are very considerate of their neighbors and monitor the noise outside.
WTF is the problem???? If you want to live in Suburbia, move the fuck out of NYC and go back to the midwest where you belong.
You’re in Brooklyn people!!
Ugh…another reason I hate transplants.
but all the young people want the bars. And theres shitloads of young people.
If someone wanted to open a chain fast-food everyone here(on Brownstoner) would be against but since the proposed establishment caters to younger, drinking affluent crowd it is just fine.
A quiet neighborhood corner on residential street does not want a nighttime establishment that disburb the quiet.
The proliferation of bars/restaurants is part of why so called mom-and-pop shops can’t afford anything.
Booze places can pay higher rents.
Neighborhood loses other services.
CB6 just doesn’t get it. (and of course the committee that voted on this is headed by owner of Brazen Head bar).
We don’t want to be party central. Need a more balanced neighborhood .
11:54
A community facility use does not include retail services. It includes uses such as schools, churches, hospitals, homeless shelters, dorms, and what not.
In the end, the argument is irrelevant. The building has been used consistently as a commercial property since before the current zoning act was adopted. Because it was a doctor’s office recently doesn’t change this fact.
Anyway, good post Benson. I don’t know what the deal is in that hood either. The people there are downright weird. 10+ years ago, there was barely anything going on this area and this corner in particular was decidedly NOT safe.
There is the reality. Lots of corner buildings in otherwise residential middle density areas (R5 to R7) were built with storefronts. These are permitted to be used and reused as such indefinately, and are not confined to the “community facilities” otherwise permitted in residential zoning districts, and for good reason.
When the issue of the use of these spaces was under consideration at the Department of City Planning the possiblity of excluding drinking facilities from them was considered, but it turned out that bars and restaurants are among the most common uses of such spaces.
Applying greater scrutiny for liquor applications in such spaces would require a change in state law, and the bar and restaurant industry gives lots of money to state legislators (and probably free drinks & meals too), do forget it.
11:27 – genius.
back in 96 when i was shopping for a house carroll gardens rubbed me the wrong way. this is when I considered places priced around $500K.
Now, it’s not only annoying, but super expensive.
congratulations!