Summary of Approved Zoning Changes for Greenpoint/Williamsburg
5/15/2005
It has been a VERY long fight encompassing over three years plus an additional 10 years for the 197-a planning process. We are happy however, to report that the hard work has paid off. Not always to the extent we had hoped- but there is no doubt the final rezoning plan has been greatly improved over the City's original proposal.
GWAPP extends its TREMENDOUS THANKS to the following individuals for their hard-nosed negotiating on behalf of the community:
- City Council Members David Yassky and Diana Reyna
- City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and his staff
- Assemblymen Joe Lentol and Vito Lopez
- Borough President Marty Markowitz and his staff, especially Richard Bearak for his tireless work advising Community Board 1 and local community groups
To City Plannning- they tirelessly answered our questions, listened to our concerns and did what they could to respond to our issues:
- City Planning Chairwoman Amanda Burden
- Regina Myer, Howard Slatkin and all the staff at City Planning's Brooklyn Office
To the Administration:
- Mayor Mike Bloomberg
- Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff
- HPD Commissioner Shaun Donovan
- And the very capable Joe Chan, Senior Policy Advisor to Deputy Mayor Doctoroff
To the various city-wide civic groups that worked with the community on the issues:
- Municipal Art Society
- Trust for Public Land
- Regional Plan Association
- PICCED
- New York Industrial Retention Network
To the local non-profits and other organizations who commissioned studies, organized rallies and people to attend hearings, helped education the community on the issues and raised awareness of the issues:
- NAG
- LosSures
- St. Nicks
- GMDC
- North Brooklyn Developent Corp
- People's Fire House
- Brooklyn Legal Services
- Williamsburg Warriors
- North Brooklyn Alliance
Our local community board- Community Board 1, is constantly working on behalf of the community- few people realize how busy the Board is every week of the year. In the case of the rezoning the Community Board put together a "Rezoning Task Force" that -in our opinion- worked together like no similar group has in recent memory. Despite the fact that many assumed there were inherent conflicts in goals such as pushing for more open space and lower building heights- and at the same time providing affordable housing- this group of 25+ people spent literally hundreds of hours discussing and debating issues and- in the end- presented a united front for the community on all of the issues. We all owe our thanks to the Community Board and the Rezoning Task Force for 3 years of hard work.
And last, but certainly not least, all the community members who worked truly tirelessly, giving up countless hours of family and personal life to fight for a better community.
As you know from prior emails and meetings, the four main issues in the rezoning were: Affordable Housing, Parks and Open Space, Height and Bulk and Economic Development. The following are the basics of the improvements made in each area to the City's original rezoning proposal:
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
This was the biggest "win" for the community. While the goal was for 40% of the units to be affordable-mandatory, the final result was 33% voluntary. However, sufficient incentives were put into the zoning text that housing advocates believe the 33% level of affordable units will be realized. Developers are given a "bonus" of additional market rate units and are allowed to participate in an existing tax abatement program if they provide affordable housing. In addition, 50% of those affordable units will go to residents of 11222 and 11211. The language also details what percentage of that 33% will go to people in various income brackets including 20% to families earing less that $18,000 per year. A tenant legal fund of $2 million dollars is also being established from proceeds from the sale of the MTA lot air rights.
PARKS AND OPEN SPACE
While gains in parks were not nearly as dramatic as we had hoped, we did manage to get five additional acres of parkland in northern at the northern Greenpoint - where most of the new high-rise housing will be built. The 3 acre "MTA site" on Commercial Street has been pledged as parkland, with $14 million to be included in the '07 Executive Budget for construction of the park. In addition, 2 acres are being pledged immediately adjacent to the existing paved "Barge Park Ballfield" on Commercial Street and Dupont, a site with a shoreline that wraps around from the East River to Newtown Creek including the existing "Sludge Tank" property. $7.5 million is to be included in the 2010 capital budget for the creation of this park. A $10 million dollar fund is also being created from the sale of the air rights to the "MTA Site", that will be available to encourage developers that the shorewalk should be built "sooner than later". Any developer utilizing funding for this site will be required to turn the title to their portion of the shorewalk over to the City upon completion. This will assure the shorewalk is TRULY public, instead of private, allaying concerns about the quality of the long-term maintenance and potential closure at dusk. Other gains include a pledge to study demapping a street that runs through McCarren Park to give us more park space, $1 million dollars toward a project at the McCarren Park pool, $600,000 for lights on the newly renovated soccer field and some tot-lots in the Southside.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
In the area of Industrial Job Retention there were significant gains over the Cityís original plan. A $20 million dollar fund is to be established for non-profits to acquire and develop industrial space. A $4 million dollar fund is being established to elp businesses impacted by the zoning changes to relocate within the 5 boroughs. Further study will also be done on the area left as industrial near Bushwick Creek in Greenpoint to look at ways to further help those businesses. An Industrial Business Zone is also being established for the Bushwick Industrial Area and the East Williamsburg Industrial Park to give additional support and protection to those areas.
HEIGHT AND BULK
Unfortunately, aside from changing a few blocks from 6-stories to 5-stories near the Greenpoint Landmark District, there were virtually no gains in this area. The buildings on the waterfront will, unfortunately, range up to 40 stories. In the end of the day, the City remained firm that it wanted to maximize the heights of the buildings in order to realize more affordable units. While many have questioned whether that trade-off is worth it, time will ultimately be the judge.
We hope that you find this overview of the rezoning helpful. It has been a great privilege to work on behalf of the community through this historic time. We at GWAPP believe that better days are certainly ahead for all of us as we embark on this new era. Instead of fighting transfer stations and power plants, we look forward to building parks, the waterfront esplanade, and soccer fields and turning our attention to the environmental burdens on the Newtown Creek.
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GWAPP
Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks & Planning, Inc.
contact us at: info@gwapp.org or http://www.gwapp.org/