Street view of 95 Grattan Street in Brooklyn. Image credit: Google.

Applicant seeks to build multiple dwellings on M1-1-zoned 25-foot lots.  On June 24, 2014, the Board of Standards and Appeals voted 4-0 to grant a use variance to 95 Grattan Street, LLC and to 97 Grattan Street, LLC allowing them to construct two separate four-story, seven-unit residential buildings.  One building will be located at 95 Grattan Street, the other at 97 Grattan Street.  Each 2,500-square foot lot is located on the north side of Grattan Street, between Knickerbocker Avenue to the west and Porter Avenue to the east, with 25 feet of frontage on Grattan Street.  Both lots are located in a M1-1 zoned district, which limits use to light manufacturing, industrial, retail, and offices.  The LLCs needed a variance to construct residential buildings in the district.

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Proposal to negotiate long-term leases for existing garage serving neighboring community district faced local opposition. On October 13, 2010, the Department of Sanitation withdrew a proposal that would have allowed Sanitation to negotiate long-term leases for two privately owned lots that it uses as a maintenance facility in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Sanitation has occupied a one-story garage at 525 Johnson Avenue since 1954 and an open parking lot across the street at 145 Randolph Street since 1987. The properties have been operated under month-to- month license agreements since their leases expired in 2007 and 2006, respectively. The properties are located in Brooklyn Community District 1, but the facility serves Community District 3.

Sanitation intends to relocate the facility to a site located within CD 3 at 56 Nostrand Avenue. The City Council in 2001 approved the relocation, but completion of the new garage facility has stalled due to cuts in Sanitation’s capital budget. According to Sanitation, construction of the Nostrand Avenue facility will take six years from the date that funding is restored. (read more…)