South Brooklyn contextual rezoning debated

Proposed Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street Rezoning used with permission of the New York City Department of City Planning. All rights reserved.

Residents concerned that rezoning plan does not go far enough to prevent out-of-character development. On August 19, 2009, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone 86 blocks of Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens and Columbia Street neighborhoods. The proposed rezoning area is currently zoned R6 and is … <Read More>


New district for Brooklyn’s Crown Heights approved

Final Crown Heights North Historic District. Map: LPC.

Landmarks credited the residents of Crown Heights for generating designation. On April 24, 2007, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate the Crown Heights North Historic District encompassing 472 Brooklyn buildings built between the 1860s and the 1930s.

Landmarks Chair Robert Tierney opened the comments by saying that the importance of the designation became clear to him when he stood within the homes of Crown Heights’ residents and viewed … <Read More>


TransGas Brooklyn power plant hits hurdle

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 … <Read More>


Council Modifies Massive Rezoning Plan for Brooklyn

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 … <Read More>


HPD Releases Request for Proposals to Find Tenant Organizing Groups for Partners in Preservation Program

On March 22, 2023, the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development (HPD) announced the release of a request for proposals (RFP) for tenant organizing groups to expand the Partners in Preservation program. The program preserves rent-regulated housing units and supports tenant organizers who work with the agency and tenants to fight harassment, displacement, and poor living conditions. 


Governor Announces Dedication of State Park to LGBTQ Civil Rights Activist Marsha P. Johnson

First ever state park dedicated to a LGBTQ person. On August 14, 2020, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the dedication of East River State Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to LGBTQ activist Marsha P. Johnson. The dedication comes on Johnson’s seventy-fifth birthday and marks the first state park dedicated to LGBTQ person and a transgender woman of color. Marsha P. Johnson State Park is a seven-acre waterfront park located along the East River. It … <Read More>