BP Supports Empire Boulevard Rezoning, While Locals Push Back at Hearing
The borough president signaled his support for an Empire Boulevard rezoning that would result in a large residential development.
A rendering of 73-99 Empire Boulevard by S9 Architecture. Image via Brooklyn Borough President rezoning hearing presentation
A controversial rezoning on Crown Heights’ Empire Boulevard that would result in a 13-story building with 261 apartments rising on a former industrial site has won the support of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, provided the developers try to reduce shadow impacts on nearby outdoor play areas.
Reynoso released his letter of approval with conditions before a recent City Planning Commission hearing where four members of the public spoke against the development, and ahead of the commission’s final vote on the project this Wednesday.
The proposed rezoning would see developers Bridges Development Group build a 13-story, mixed-use development with 261 residential units rise on the corner lot at Empire Boulevard and McKeever and Sullivan places. Thanks to the the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program, 78 of the apartments would be income restricted and rent stabilized.
The site, currently split between an auto-store zoning district and a medium-density residential-commercial zone, would be rezoned to a C4-4D district, allowing for higher-density residential and commercial development. If the rezoning goes ahead, there will be commercial spaces on the first two floors, with the ground level dedicated to food and service businesses and the second floor set for retail, the application says.
Reynoso said in his letter of support that the developer needs to look into ways of adapting the building’s massing to reduce shadow impacts on the basketball courts of P.S. 375, while maintaining as much residential space as possible. He echoed concerns raised by Community Board 9 and local residents about the development’s impact on the school playground and said in the decision that while a shadow study determined that morning shadows in winter would not be a “significant impact,” he argued that the study overlooked the effect on students’ outdoor activities.
However, he said adding housing to the site, which is currently vacant, would be a win given it wouldn’t directly displace any existing residents.
Reynoso also called on the Department of City Planning to look into a broader plan for the Empire Boulevard corridor, saying a plan could facilitate more housing, improve streetscapes and public spaces, and recognize the area’s historical significance—including the former site of Ebbets Field and the location of the Malbone Street subway crash. He said in the approval that the current zoning focuses on supporting automotive uses, which he said seems inappropriate for the area’s changing character.
However, four local residents who spoke at a City Planning Commission hearing in February all pushed back on the rezoning due to concerns around the shade the new building would cast on the outdoor public and school areas, a lack of community benefit involved in the rezoning, and the precedent the development would set for the industrial stretch.
Alicia Boyd said if this rezoning is approved, following the recent rezoning of the former Spice Factory site, all of the local playgrounds and outdoor areas will be shaded, giving children nowhere to play in the sunlight.
In return, she said the community isn’t getting anything back, saying the affordable apartments would be out of reach for locals. “We’re in an affordability crisis, not a housing crisis,” she told the commissioners.
Fred P. Baptiste, the chair of Community Board 9, which represents the area, said the building and others on the block are vacant because of “rampant speculation” and developers seeking “get rich quick projects in the name of affordable housing” when nothing built would be truly affordable for locals.
He said the development wouldn’t provide any benefit to the local community, saying instead the community board backs a commercial development on the site in line with current zoning.
The Department of City Planning will vote on the project at its Wednesday meeting.
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Hooray for new housing! This is great news for the area. The area dose not need vacant lots or more storage warehouses. This is steps from Prospect Park, the idea that there are not places for kids to play in the sun is not a serious argument.