Electric power plant proposed for site where City seeks to build 28-acre park as part of its Greenpoint- Williamsburg rezoning. On April 12, 2006, the Public Service Commission recommended denial of the second application of TransGas Energy Systems, LLC to construct an eight-acre electric power plant at 1 North 12th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on a site that the City plans to condemn for a new 28-acre waterfront park.

After it spent $1.5 million on the option to purchase the site and $10 million in development costs, TransGas filed its first application with the Siting Board in December 2002 to obtain approval of its proposed power plant. After extensive hearings at which the City argued that the plant would curb residential development and interfere with its massive rezoning plan for Greenpoint and Williamsburg, the Siting Board rejected TransGas’ application in April 2004, more than a year before the City rezoned the area in May 2005. The Board’s examiners found that the plant’s visual impact and its effect on adjacent uses could not be mitigated and added that the City’s pending rezoning significantly weighed into its rejection. (more…)

Changes included the addition of anti-harassment law and strengthening of height limits. In May 2005, after last-minute modifications, the City Council approved six land use actions related to a comprehensive redevelopment plan of a two-mile waterfront area along the East River and adjacent upland neighborhoods in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 2 CityLand 36 (Apr. 15, 2005), 2 CityLand 51 (May 15, 2005), 2 CityLand 67 (June 15, 2005). Public review of the proposed amendments identified the need for additional modifications, including a specific request by the community and Borough President Marty Markowitz that current residents be protected by anti-harassment laws.

On October 28, 2005, the Planning Department filed two applications for Follow- Up Corrective Actions, or FUCAs, to clarify certain provisions of the earlier rezoning and to amend the zoning map to establish contextual height limits in 19 blocks. (more…)

Massive concrete building attributed to Cass Gilbert. On July 26, 2005, Landmarks held a public hearing on the proposed designation of the Austin, Nichols & Co. Warehouse, a six-story unadorned, reinforced concrete warehouse attributed by some to Cass Gilbert. Built on the East River in 1913 for the largest grocery wholesaler of the period, the 500,000-square-foot warehouse was the first collaboration between Gilbert and the Turner Construction Company, and was followed by their collaboration on Gilbert’s well-known Brooklyn Army Base.

At the hearing, experts and elected officials spoke in opposition on behalf of one of the owners, Lewis Kestenbaum. One expert testified that Gilbert did not design the warehouse, but rather a budget conscious owner and a low bid for reinforced concrete determined the materials and design. The expert stated that to the original owner the warehouse was “just an investment, not architecture,” and to designate it would demean a real example of Gilbert’s work, the Brooklyn Army Base. Council Member David Yassky, in whose district the warehouse is located, stated that without a comprehensive City strategy on designation of industrial buildings, random designations, such as this, would interfere with the City’s efforts to rezone industrial areas and permit the planned redevelopment. (more…)

Full Council approves Greenpoint- Williamsburg rezoning. On May 11, 2005, the full Council approved the rezoning plan for a two-mile area in the North Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Only Council Member Charles Barron voted against the plan to transform the primarily manufacturing-zoned area to large and small-scale residential. Council’s Land Use Committee had modified the rezoning proposal and sent it back to the Planning Commission, which approved the modifications. (more…)

Affordable housing incentive increased; new industrial protection zone proposed. The City Council’s Land Use Committee voted to modify the 183-block rezoning plan for the two-mile East River waterfront in Greenpoint and Williamsburg at a May 2, 2005 hearing attended by Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, Planning Commission Chair Amanda M. Burden, and HPD Commissioner Shaun Donovan.

The Land Use Committee had scheduled the vote at 11:00 a.m., but delayed the hearing until late afternoon to allow time to finalize the modifications. Opening the hearing, Committee Chair Melinda Katz explained that as a result of weekend-long negotiations the Committee had delivered one of the “most historic agreements” to come out of the Council. (more…)