Pols, Locals Want Tenants, Manufacturing Protected in Atlantic Avenue Rezoning 

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso has given his approval with conditions to the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan, a sweeping rezoning proposal aimed at transforming a stretch of Atlantic Avenue and surrounding blocks in central Brooklyn. While endorsing the plan’s goals of expanding housing, job opportunities, and infrastructure improvements, Reynoso supported local residents’ calls for the need for stronger tenant protections, deeper affordability requirements, and safeguards for manufacturing space.

The decision came after a January 19 hearing held by the borough president, at which seven residents spoke about the plan and Reynoso’s staff asked questions of reps from City Planning, Transportation, Housing Preservation and Development, and the Department of Small Business Services.

Reynoso’s stance aligns with concerns voiced by those who spoke at the hearing and local community boards 3 and 8. The community boards also backed the proposal but pushed for modifications to ensure that long-time residents and businesses aren’t displaced in the process.

Reynoso outlined a series of conditions around manufacturing protections, affordable housing commitments, and infrastructure and transit upgrades. The rezoning must require ground-floor manufacturing uses in designated zoning areas, prevent displacement of existing industrial tenants, and establish an Industrial Business Service Provider to support growth, he said. (The latter are part of a city program and offer trained specialists to help businesses thrive.)

In regards to affordable housing, the city must explore ways to deepen affordability, including a new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing option with lower income thresholds and an expansion of affordable housing on publicly owned sites, he added. He also recommended looking into measures like a tenant displacement registry and relocation assistance legislation.

He said the Department of Transportation must commit to a “road diet” reducing Atlantic Avenue to four lanes, increase metered parking to manage congestion, and prioritize safety improvements at key intersections. Subway upgrades will also be required to accommodate the anticipated population growth, he added.

In total, the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan would rezone approximately 21 blocks along Atlantic Avenue, stretching from Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights to Nostrand Avenue in Crown Heights. The goal is to promote a mix of housing, commercial, and industrial uses while making the corridor more pedestrian friendly and economically vibrant, according to the Department of City Planning, which is behind the rezoning application.

The rezoning has the potential to bring nearly 4,600 new apartments — including more than 1,400 permanently affordable units — and more than 921,000 square feet of new space for offices, retail, community services, and light industrial businesses, according to Department of City Planning estimates. The non-residential component could add an estimated 2,800 new jobs, according to documents included in the rezoning application.

The existing M1 industrial zoning along Atlantic Avenue would be replaced with C6-3A mixed-use districts, permitting higher-density development with mandatory affordable housing requirements. Developers along Atlantic Avenue could receive a 20 percent floor area bonus for incorporating publicly accessible open spaces, while elsewhere in the rezoned area, height incentives would encourage mixed-use developments that combine residential and non-residential uses. Additionally, new building designs would be required to incorporate setbacks and improve the streetscape along Atlantic Avenue.

North-south corridors including Bedford, Grand, and Classon avenues would be rezoned to encourage mixed-use buildings, while midblock areas on Dean, Bergen, and Pacific streets would see height incentives for projects that combine residential and non-residential uses. The Bedford Atlantic Armory site would also be rezoned to allow for future community-oriented uses.

City officials say the plan is designed to address Brooklyn’s housing shortage while reinforcing Atlantic Avenue as a commercial corridor. Several city-owned lots are slated for redevelopment into affordable housing as part of the plan. These are:

• 542 Dean Street (Dean Park Edge), which would include 151 affordable senior rental units and community space.
• 516 Bergen Street (Bergen Green), slated for 111 affordable rental units and community space.
• 457 Nostrand Avenue, a Department of Education site that would be redeveloped into 200 rental units with community facilities.
• 1134-1142 Pacific Street, formerly city-owned sites that would become a 119-unit affordable housing development.
• 1110 Atlantic Avenue, an MTA master lease site, where a mixed-use building with 167 rental units is planned.

The rezoning also calls for improving pedestrian safety, adding open spaces, and enhancing transit access.

The city has been engaging with residents and stakeholders on the proposal for over a decade, and the current plan is based largely on work done by Community Board 8, which created its own M-CROWN rezoning proposal. Formal outreach for DCP’s updated plan ramped up in 2022, and it is now moving through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, with the City Planning Commission and City Council set to weigh in on the final details in the coming months.

At the borough president’s hearing, community members raised concerns about the rezoning’s impact on tenant displacement, legal protections for renters, and how the rezoning would affect affordability and manufacturing space. 

Sarah Lazur, a member of the Crown Heights Tenant Union and Community Board 8, said that the rezoning would intensify displacement pressures in an area already facing high eviction rates.

“Since just 2020, we’ve had almost 6,000 new eviction cases in just the two zip codes in this area,” Lazur said, adding that many tenants face these legal battles without representation. Right to Counsel, a program designed to provide free legal assistance to tenants, has not been enough, she argued, and additional funding is necessary to protect renters from losing their homes.

“Defending all those people who are facing eviction just in the last four years would have cost $26 million,” she said, adding the city should commit at least $3 million annually to Right to Counsel and affirmative work to help people stay in their homes. “It is crucial that you not leave us defenseless,” she said. 

Mimi Mitchell, also of Community Board 8 and the Crown Heights Tenant Union, criticized the city for failing to address tenant displacement in its presentation at the borough president’s hearing and overall in its plan, saying “that is the biggest thing that we’re facing in this neighborhood.”
 
“These are people who elected these officials. These are people who actually created this neighborhood to make it so desirable. These are people who kept it going all of these years. What protection are we really, really giving them? What are we really doing for them? Absolutely seems like nothing.”

Mitchell urged Reynoso and the city to ensure further protections were added to the plan, especially for rent-stabilized tenants whose landlords are trying to push them out. “What is the city going to do? What is HPD going to do? What is Antonio Reynoso going to do to further protect our tenants? We are seriously being harassed.”

Gib Veconi, a longtime facilitator of the Atlantic Avenue rezoning process who spoke on behalf of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, said the group takes issue with certain zoning designations proposed in the plan. Specifically, he criticized the inclusion of R7D zoning for certain blocks in Prospect Heights, arguing that the increased height allowances would be out of character with the surrounding area.

While he said he supports affordable housing development on publicly owned sites in the neighborhood, he argued that other areas should be rezoned with lower density requirements unless developers commit to fully affordable housing.

Additionally, Veconi pushed for stronger affordability requirements under Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, calling for the removal of MIH options one and two in favor of the deep affordability option. He also said he supports Community Board 8’s recommendation for a new housing preference in the housing lottery system for displaced residents. 

“Community Board 8 is actually calling for a new class of preference for people who have been displaced from Community Board 8 to be able to move back. Community Board 8 has one of the highest rates of displacement in New York City” Veconi said. “This represents an opportunity for displaced people to return to the community district.”

Veconi also said that the plan does not do enough to preserve manufacturing space and that it has to be added back in.

Other speakers voiced concerns that the rezoning will strain what they said is already overwhelmed public infrastructure, particularly the C train, which they said is overcrowded and at capacity. DOT’s response to add train cars wouldn’t be sufficient to handle the expected population surge, speakers said.

Traffic congestion and the influx of construction vehicles also came up, with some locals concerned thoroughfares like Atlantic Avenue could become jammed up and force detours onto smaller residential side streets. Longterm, there are also concerns about the possible loss of traffic lanes and the addition of protected bike lanes without plans for mitigating the impact.

There were calls for more investment in open space and climate resiliency, with residents urging the city to ensure that green spaces and environmental protections are prioritized alongside new development. The borough president’s hearing followed hearings held in December by both Community Board 3 and Community Board 8, which both approved the rezoning, albeit with some major conditions. 

Community Board 3, which covers a small section of the rezoned area to the north of Atlantic Avenue, said in its conditional approval that along Atlantic Avenue building heights should be limited to 12 stories, and 1029-1031 Atlantic Avenue should be removed to protect the Lefferts Place Community Garden. At 457 Nostrand Avenue, the building height should remain below the spire of Girls’ High School, with most units being one-bedroom or family-sized, studio apartments kept to a minimum, and an average affordability of 40 percent AMI, the board wrote. A public plaza or green space should be added along Halsey Street, and underground parking should be considered.

The board also said parks and open spaces within a half-mile of the project should be upgraded in partnership with city agencies, and developers should be encouraged to create privately owned public spaces, with plazas developed at key intersections. Open space should also be included on the northern side of Lefferts Place near the elevated shuttle.

Other recommendations include introducing a commercial overlay on Franklin Avenue between Hancock Street and Fulton Street and reopening the Classon Avenue entrance to the Franklin Avenue station.

Community Board 8, meanwhile, conditionally approved the plan with more than two dozen specific conditions aimed at ensuring affordability, preventing displacement, supporting local businesses, and improving infrastructure. 
The board emphasized the need for deeply affordable housing, tenant protections, and a community oversight body to monitor commitments. They also called for dedicated workforce development programs, funding for displaced businesses, and restrictions on large retail stores. 

Zoning changes were recommended to preserve light-industrial and cultural uses, while environmental measures focused on carbon neutrality, tree canopies, and rain gardens. Transportation improvements, including accessibility upgrades for subway stations and enhanced pedestrian safety, were also key to the approval. (The complete list of Community Board 8’s conditions can be found in a document in the rezoning application.)

Reynoso backed many of the community boards’ conditions in his approval, saying manufacturing space has to be mandated to protect industrial jobs and promote economic equity. He said mixed-use zoning has led to declines in industrial land, particularly in neighborhoods with strong residential demand, and the city had to require—not just encourage—manufacturing space on key sites. He also called for financial incentives and a dedicated Industrial Business Service Provider to ensure that manufacturing tenants can remain in the area.

Regarding housing, Reynoso urged the city to go further with affordability by adding a deeper affordability option under Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, expanding affordable housing on public land, and creating a tenant displacement registry to prioritize at-risk renters for new affordable units. He also said new tenant relocation assistance legislation modeled on a Seattle program can support low-income residents forced out by redevelopment.

Reynoso, a major advocate of reducing car ownership in Brooklyn and bettering the borough’s public transit and bike network, is also pushing for transit and streetscape improvements along Atlantic Avenue, which he calls a dangerous six-lane truck route that divides neighborhoods. His conditions include a road diet to reduce lanes, better pedestrian infrastructure, subway capacity upgrades, and beautification projects under the Franklin Avenue shuttle tracks.

Following the borough president’s approval with conditions, City Planning will now work on a final environmental impact statement. That will be followed by a City Planning Commission review, where the public will get another chance to testify on the proposal. DCP said it expects the final EIS to be released in March.

As with all rezonings, the local council member’s position will weigh heavily on the city council’s final decision. In a statement to Brownstoner, Council Member Crystal Hudson, who represents most of the area proposed for the rezoning, said she is proud the plan is finally moving through the formal review process and that the borough president’s recommendation reflects the community’s goals of expanding affordable housing and making the streets safer and more attractive.

“He rightly points out that we need to ensure this plan has strong incentives to ensure the mixed-used character of this neighborhood is actualized, specifically by strengthening manufacturing requirements. Over the next few months, I will continue to work to secure commitments from the administration to maximize affordable housing opportunities, secure funding for resources to protect tenants and homeowners, deliver a robust redesign of Atlantic Avenue that incorporates street safety improvements, and provides workforce opportunities to support the manufacturing businesses that will define the mixed-use character of this important corridor. I look forward to continuing to work with all stakeholders, including Borough President Reynoso, to ensure AAMUP delivers on these goals,” she said.

[Photos by Susan De Vries]

Related Stories

• Dense Housing, Job Creation Prioritized in Community-Led Plan for Atlantic Avenue Rezoning
• Explore the Past and Present of Atlantic Avenue With Local Experts
• Affordable Housing Lottery Opens in Crown Heights for 18 Units Starting at $735 a Month

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