Proposed Development for 141 Willoughby. Image Credit: Savanna

Subcommittee raised concerns about the aggregate effect the mass development of Downtown Brooklyn will have on school resources. On October 5, 2016, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises heard testimony on an application to construct a new 49-story mixed-use building at 141 Willoughby Street in Downtown Brooklyn. The site is a triangular-shaped zoning lot bounded by Flatbush Avenue Extension, Willoughby Street and Gold Street. Currently the space is occupied by a three-story private school, the Institute of Design and Construction, an accessory surface parking lot for 16 vehicles, and a public open space with planting and seating areas. (read more…)

Artistic Rendering of Pier 3. Image Credit: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.

City enters final stretch for the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge Park. On October 19, 2016, the conversion of Pier 3 in Brooklyn Bridge Park began. Currently ninety percent of the park, which opened in 2010, is either under construction or completed. When opened, Pier 3 will offer a central lawn, a recreation and programming area, and a play “labyrinth” which will highlight historic elements salvaged from the reconstruction—namely salvaged rail ties and bollards.

Mayor Bill de Blasio called the park the “front lawn of Brooklyn,” adding that Pier 3 would “add more space for kids to play and for families to enjoy this incredible place.” The City has slated $26 million in capital funding in the Mayor’s FY17 budget for the project. (read more…)

Council member Stephen Levin. Image credit: William Alatriste/NYC Council

The modified proposal provides for a larger Brooklyn Heights library branch, the construction of a new library branch, STEM education laboratories, and additional monetary incentives.  On December 16, 2015, the City Council at its stated meeting voted to approve the Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ and Brooklyn Public Library’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure application to redevelop the Brooklyn Heights branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.   The Council-approved version of the library redevelopment plan modifies the City Planning Commission-approved plan from November 2, 2015. (See previous CityLand coverage here.)

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Councilmember David Greenfield, chair of the Committee on Land Use, co-sponsored one of the Landmarks Law bills . Image credit: William Alatriste/New York City Council

Landmarks Chair testified that changes could be better promulgated through agency rule-making rather than by legislative fiat. On September 9, 2015 the City Council held a hearing on two potential bills that would alter the Landmarks Law section of the Administrative Code. The hearing drew a crowd that filled the main Council chamber, with over 100 people filling out forms to testify on the proposals. (read more…)

Council Member Recchia warned BID about working with the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. On April 28, 2011, the City Council’s Finance Committee held  a hearing on the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to create the Atlantic Avenue Business Improvement District for more than 400 commercial businesses in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill and  Boerum Hill neighborhoods. The BID would extend along Atlantic Avenue between Fourth Avenue to the east, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the west, and  would be located south of the MetroTech and Court-Livingston-Schermerhorn BIDs. The BID’s projected first-year budget is $240,000.

At a City Planning Commission hearing on the  plan, a representative of the BID’s steering committee testified that more than 90 percent of property owners supported the proposal. There were no speakers in opposition and the Commission unanimously approved the plan. 8 CityLand 9 (Feb. 15, 2011). (read more…)

Despite concerns project sent to full Council. On June 4, 2009, the City Council’s Land Use Committee approved the controversial proposal by Two Trees Management Company to build a mixed-use development at 10 Dock Street, adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO, Brooklyn. In addition to providing approximately 300 residential units, 20 percent of which would be affordable, the proposed building would provide space for a 45,000 sq.ft. public middle school, a 465- space garage, and additional ground floor retail space. 6 CityLand 43 (April 15, 2009).

The City Planning Commission modified the project to address its relationship to the bridge and surrounding historic buildings. It reduced the height of the tallest section of the building from almost 184 ft. to a maximum of 170 feet. The Commission also required a notch in the nine-story section, reducing the westernmost 50 feet to seven stories, thereby increasing the distance between the building and the bridge’s span. (read more…)