The city’s chief planner will push to complete the vast Gowanus rezoning before Mayor Bill de Blasio leaves office and elections shake up the City Council, she said on Wednesday.

“There is so much potential [in Gowanus] for creation of housing and a significant amount of affordable housing, for job generation, for improvements to the public realm, for enhancements to transit, it can be a win all around,” Department of City Planning director Marisa Lago told the head of the New York Building Congress Carlo Scissura on his virtual interview series “Espresso with Carlo.”

With de Blasio leaving office at the beginning of 2022, and 51 of 55 Council members term-limited from seeking reelection in 2021, the sprawling rezoning faces an uncertain future — but Lago said she “would hope” to complete the roughly seven-month Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP, for the project before a new mayor is sworn in.

The planner said the department is currently finalizing an environmental review necessary for the project to get certified into the lengthy public process — but did not provide a specific date for when she anticipates the procedure to formally start.

gowanus rezoning
Sketch of possible view looking west from Degraw Street and 3rd Avenue. Image via NYC Department of City Planning

ULURP includes purely advisory recommendations from the local community boards and the borough president, along with binding votes from the 13-member City Planning Commission — which Lago also chairs — and the City Council. The latter usually defers to the area’s local legislators, which in this case are case council members Brad Lander and Steve Levin.

While ULURP applications have been on hold since de Blasio paused the proceedings in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, city officials plan to restart those processes on September 14.

Scissura voiced his support for the plan, saying that members of the Building Congress were eager for the city to move the rezoning forward — which would open up more jobs for developers and builders, who are looking to take on new projects in years to come.

“[Our members are] not worried about today, they feel like they have enough work right now to get them through it,” he said. “But they’re a little worried about ’21, ’22, ’23 — are we planning for new things that they can work on? And when you talk about what Gowanus rezoning could be, or what Industry City or other things across the city, the pipeline for work in two or three years really is exciting for our memberships, and really for New Yorkers in general.”

gowanus rezoning sketch
Sketch of a possible view from North 3rd Street Image via NYC Department of City Planning

Lago’s comments echoed Lander, who has urged the city to move ahead on the Gowanus rezoning, arguing that more time will allow for a more involved process between city officials, residents and other local stakeholders in the 16 months left in his council term.

The rezoning would allow more total development and taller building projects of up to 30 stories in the low-rise industrial and residential neighborhood. City planners have estimated the rezoning could bring around 8,200 new housing units to the area by 2035, including some 3,000 below-market-rate homes.

However, some longtime local opponents to the proposal urged officials to pause the Gowanus rezoning until in-person meetings can safely return, so that they and other residents can voice their concerns at the often raucous public input sessions of high-profile ULURPs — a demand endorsed by local Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon.

This spurred pro-development group Open New York to launch a counter-petition urging the city to move ahead, arguing that Gowanus — which is sandwiched between pricey Carroll Gardens and Park Slope — is in dire need of the proposed below-market-rate housing units.

Editor’s note: A version of this story originally ran in Brooklyn Paper. Click here to see the original story.

Related Stories

Sign up for amNY’s COVID-19 newsletter to stay up to date on the latest coronavirus news throughout New York City. Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

Brooklyn in Your Inbox

* indicates required
 
Subscribe

What's Your Take? Leave a Comment