6010 Bay Parkway. Image: Mary Gillen.

Residents and elected officials opposed application to reduce parking requirements for Bay Parkway medical facility. In 2011, the Marcal Group began developing an as-ofright mixed-use medical facility at 6010 Bay Parkway in the Mapleton section of Brooklyn. Marcal later sought Buildings’ approval for a revised project reflecting a 93,920 sq.ft., nine-story medical facility/ commercial building with a total of 120 off-street parking spaces. Buildings rejected the application because a building that size would require at least 235 parking spaces. Marcal applied for a BSA special permit allowing an ambulatory diagnostic or treatment facility to reduce of its off-street parking requirements from one space per 400 sq.ft. to one space per 800 square feet.

Brooklyn Community Board 12, local Council Member David G. Greenfield, Assembly Member William Colton, and community groups opposed the application. At BSA, opponents testified that Marcal should provide the full complement of parking because there was already a high demand for parking in the area due to three nearby schools and a large house of worship.  (more…)

City Council approved rezoning despite Council Member Tony Avella’s objection. On February 27, 2008, the City Council approved developer Martin Wydra’s rezoning and special permit proposal to build an eight-story mixed-use building and a 259space parking garage at 886 Dahill Road in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn. Currently, one- and two-story vacant industrial buildings occupy the 66,000-square-foot site, which is located on Dahill Road between 50th Street and Avenue I. The proposal would rezone the site from an M1-1 and R5 designation to a C4-5X.

The Planning Commission held a public hearing on Wydra’s proposal in December 2007. State Assemblyman James F. Brennan and Council Member Simcha Felder, both of whom represent Borough Park residents, supported Wydra and claimed that the proposal would provide the area with desperately needed housing. Local residents, however, testified against the proposal, criticizing it for what they saw as the building’s out-of-context height and adverse effect on traffic and congestion. The Commission approved the proposal on January 28, 2008, but not without modifying it to address the residents’ concerns. The Commission also required Wydra to work with the Department of Transportation on traffic mitigation measures. (more…)