Rendering of applicant’s proposed seven-story building at 41 Summit Street in Brooklyn. Image Credit: CPC.

The applicant’s proposed rezoning received strong pushback from the community. On January 9, 2019, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on a proposed rezoning in the Columbia Street Waterfront District in Brooklyn. The applicant, 41 Summit Street LLC, sought a zoning map and a zoning text change to facilitate the development of a seven-story, approximately 10,000 square foot residential building at 41 Summit Street. The application was presented to the City Planning Commission by several members of Sheldon Lobel, including Richard Lobel and Sandy Hornick. (more…)

2 Furman Street in Brooklyn seen from the Brooklyn Promenade. Image credit: CityLaw.

Development corporation constructed buildings in Brooklyn Bridge Park that blocked view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn Promenade. In 2005 Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation and Empire State Development Corporation adopted a general project plan for Brooklyn Bridge Park that included the development of a hotel, restaurant, and residential units upland of Brooklyn’s Pier 1. Community members demanded during the initial environmental review that the new buildings not block the view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn Promenade.  The final environmental impact statement limited the northern building to a height of 100 feet and the southern building to a height of 55 feet.  (more…)

Separate public and private proposals impacted eight lots left out of the Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street rezoning. On April 28, 2011, the City Council approved independent proposals by the Department of City Planning and a private developer, Marshall Sohne, to rezone portions of Carroll Street between Columbia and Van Brunt Streets in Brooklyn’s Columbia Street Waterfront District. The two proposals impacted portions of the north and south side of Carroll Street that were not included in the Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street Rezoning plan approved by the City in 2009. 6 CityLand 153 (Nov. 15, 2009).

Planning’s proposal covered six lots on the south side of Carroll Street. Five of the lots are developed with late nineteenth century rowhouses, while the sixth lot was once occupied by a similar residential building. The five rowhouses were the subject of a broader 2007 private rezoning that would have replaced the M1-1 zoning with an R6 district. Due to a technical omission, however, Planning requested that the City Council remove the lots from the plan. The current rezoning extended an adjacent R6B district to the six lots to reflect the neighborhood’s residential character. (more…)

Developer did not fully complete foundations of twelve-building development before the City Council approved the Carroll Gardens/ Columbia Street Rezoning. Between May 2008 and October 2009, the Clarett Group obtained permits to build a 119,271 sq.ft. development consisting of eleven four-story townhouses and a seven-story mixed-use building at 340 Court Street in Brooklyn. The 43,753 sq.ft. site is located on a lot with frontages on Union, Court, and Sackett Streets. On October 28, 2009, the City Council approved the Carroll Gardens/ Columbia Street Rezoning, which rezoned the site from R6 to R6A and R6B, rendering the proposed buildings out-of-compliance with the maximum permitted floor area and height restrictions. Because the building’s foundations had not been fully completed by the enactment date, the permits lapsed. The developer filed an appeal with BSA to complete construction.

At a hearing, the developer submitted photographs and affidavits demonstrating that it had completed 73 percent of the foundation work for the entire development prior to the rezoning, including 100 percent of the seven-story building’s foundation. The developer argued that it had already expended eighteen percent of the project’s approximately $61.5 million budget. In order to build a complying development, the developer said it would need to reduce the number of townhouses from eleven to ten and decrease the project’s floor area by 14,677 sq.ft., which would result in approximately $15 million of lost revenue and a redesign of the buildings.

BSA granted the appeal, finding that the developer had performed substantial construction on the project, made substantial expenditures, and would suffer serious economic loss if required to proceed under the current zoning.

BSA: 340 Court Street, Brooklyn (312- 09-A – 323-09-A) (Feb. 23, 2010) (James Power, for the Clarett Group) (Architect: Rogers Marvel). CITYADMIN

Carroll Gardens and Columbia Street neighborhoods rezoned to prevent out-of-scale development. On October 28, 2009, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s rezoning proposal for 86 blocks in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens and Columbia Street neighborhoods. The approved plan replaces the area’s R6 zoning with contextual districts in order to establish height limits to preserve the neighborhoods’ existing built character. The area is characterized by three- to four-story rowhouses with some four- to five-story multi-family apartment buildings. Recent development has resulted in buildings that are out-of-scale with the area’s low-rise context. 6 CityLand 120 (Sept. 15, 2009).

The plan rezones 76 full or partial blocks to R6B, establishing maximum building heights of 50 feet for many residential east-west blocks. It applies R6A regulations along the wide, mixed-use corridors of Court and Columbia Streets and on narrow streets characterized by taller, bulkier buildings. The approved proposal rezones a one-block portion along Tiffany Place to R7A, reflecting the block’s existing seven-story buildings. Commercial overlays along Smith, Court, and Columbia Streets have been adjusted to allow an expanded range of uses and to prevent encroachment into the residential side streets. (more…)