Court rules TransGas Energy’s condemnation is premature. TransGas Energy Systems proposed to construct a power plant along the East River waterfront in Williamsburg. It spent $1.5 million in March 2001 on an option to purchase the site, and, in 2002, filed for approval from the state Siting Board.

At Siting Board hearings, the City opposed the plan, testifying that it planned to rezone the entire Williamsburg neighborhood and create a waterfront park. In 2004, the Siting Board denied the proposal and TransGas immediately filed a new application proposing to move the plant below ground to allow park space above. Thereafter in May 2005, while TransGas’s second proposal waited for a decision, the City rezoned north Brooklyn, which included Planning Commission approval of plans to acquire the site for a waterfront park. (more…)

Owner claimed soil cleanup and structural repair made smaller building infeasible. Prior to the City’s 183-block rezoning of North Brooklyn, Selik Realty sought BSA approval to convert a three-story manufacturing building on North 7th Street and Meeker Avenue in Williamsburg into residential units and to add four additional stories. When the site was rezoned in May 2005, residential use became permitted as of right, but Selik maintained its BSA application, seeking approval of a building exceeding the new zoning’s floor area and height limits.

The proposal, a 77,180- square-foot building with residential and retail uses and a total height of 80 feet, exceeded the floor area limit by 20,200 sq.ft. and failed to provide a needed setback. Selik argued that the existing manufacturing building was not easily adaptable to residential use and that removal of arsenic, lead and mercury in the soil rendered an as-of- right building infeasible. To support this claim, Selik submitted a $2.3 million cost estimate for the soil remediation and structural reinforcement and a letter from the City’s Department of Environmental Protection requiring clean up of the site prior to its development. (more…)

Preservationists fear City Council will overturn Landmarks’ designation. Landmarks voted unanimously on September 20, 2005 to designate the Austin, Nichols & Co. Warehouse despite extensive opposition from its current owner, Council Member David Yassky and former City Council Member Kenneth Fisher, who appeared on the owner’s behalf. Constructed in 1913 along the East River in Brooklyn, the six-story reinforced concrete Austin Nichols building is attributed to Cass Gilbert, the architect of the Woolworth Building and U.S. Customs House, and considered his first warehouse design using concrete construction.

Experts for the current owner, appearing at Landmarks July 2005 hearing, argued that the original owner’s desire to build the warehouse “on the cheap” greatly diminished Gilbert’s impact on the final building design and Yassky added that a vote to designate would conflict with Council’s approved plans for the re-use of Brooklyn’s abandoned industrial waterfront. 2 City- Land 107 (Aug. 15, 2005). The owner, Lewis Kestenbaum, asked Landmarks to consider that he had received BSA approval to increase the building’s size, costing him over $1 million for project plans. (more…)

Council granted 21-month lease for controversial Williamsburg garage after heated debate. The Department of Sanitation, with a last minute compromise, obtained Council’s approval to extend its Williamsburg garage lease at 306 Rutledge Street for 21 months.

Williamsburg’s Community Board 1 and local residents had opposed any extension of Sanitation’s lease term at the Rutledge street location. Despite complaints that Sanitation blocked parking spaces and washed trucks along the street and sidewalk, the Planning Commission granted Sanitation a 24-month lease extension. In doing so, it cited Sanitation’s continuing need for the facility and its efforts toward securing the garage’s permanent relocation. 2 CityLand 116 (Sept. 15, 2005). Following the Commission’s approval, the City Council voted on August 17, 2005 to hold a hearing and require full Council approval of any lease continuation. (more…)

Controversial garage given short-term lease by Commission frustrated with garage’s continued problems. The Department of Sanitation sought approval for the continued operation of its Brooklyn District 3 Garage at 306 Rutledge Street in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Sanitation has operated this garage under a long-term lease with the private owner since 1945. Even though it is located in Brooklyn’s Community District 1, the garage primarily serves adjacent District 3. With its last lease, granted in 1998, the City Council limited approval to seven years and required bi-annual status reports on the potential relocation of the garage as a consequence of residents’ persistent complaints of trucks parked on neighborhood sidewalks and within on-street parking, and of noise, odor and rodents.

In 2001, Sanitation received City approval for a garage on Nostrand Avenue to replace the Rutledge Street facility, but litigation stalled its construction. When constructed, the new garage would be located in and serve Brooklyn’s Community District 3. (more…)