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. (read more…)