Commission recommends that the project be reduced by 635,000 sq.ft. and its open space increased. On September 27, 2006, the Planning Commission recommended to the Empire State Development Corporation that Forest City Ratner Companies reduce the overall size of its proposed downtown Brooklyn Atlantic Yards project by eight percent or 635,000 sq.ft. and increase the proposed open space from seven to eight acres to address the significant amount of pedestrian traffic that the project would generate. Ratner’s plan calls for a massive redevelopment of Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards with an arena for the Nets, thousands of residential units, office space, new street retail, a transit hub, public open space and a possible hotel.

Ratner’s project triggered a Commission recommendation because the development would necessitate an override to local zoning restrictions on use, parking, loading, height, floor area, setback and signage. The Commission’s letter stated that the Nets arena was not a permitted use within the site’s residential districts or its residential/commercial overlay districts, and that the site’s residential zoning prohibited the proposed commercial uses. (read more…)