Rendering of the proposed 13 Greenpoint Avenue building designed by Kutnicki Bernsteing Architects.

Planning Commission approved bulk regulation amendment for an eleven-story building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. On April 26, 2017, the City Planning Commission issued a favorable report on an application submitted by Kent/Greenpoint, LLC, to develop an eleven-story mixed-use building in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood. The applicant sought to amend bulk regulations related to the location of legal windows, landscaping requirements for off-street parking and minimum street wall heights in order to orientate the massing of the proposed building towards Transmitter Park. (read more…)

Eric Palatnik testifies before the Board of Standards and Appeals. Image credit: BSA

Board found the applicant had a vested right to complete construction of the building as designed.  On June 2, 2015 the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to permit 250 Manhattan LLC to continue constructing a six-story mixed commercial and residential building at 250 Manhattan Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  The building will contain eight dwelling units and commercial space totaling 7,613 square feet of floor area.

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Rendering of Greenpoint Landing Development. Image Credit: Handel Architects.

Large Greenpoint Developments, if approved, would produce over 1,400 housing units. On October 30, 2013, the City Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve two major mixed-use developments in Greenpoint, Brooklyn: Greenpoint Landing and 77 Commercial Street. Both projects would allow the City to fulfill commitments to affordable housing and public open space that it made during the 2005 Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning. The 2005 Rezoning of nearly 200 blocks authorized the transformation of Greenpoint’s low-density manufacturing sector along the waterfront north of the Williamsburg Bridge into a strip of high-density residential towers of mixed use-residential space. (read more…)

The City’s Department of Sanitation bulldozed the community garden at 99 South 5th Street, Brooklyn on May 23, 2013. Image Credit: Time’s Up.

High rises are built in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at a historic rate and most of them remain empty while very few lots are preserved as open space. One such lot at 99 South 5th Street in Williamsburg is owned by Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the City government agency charged with managing affordable housing, and has been vacant for at least 20 years. Last year HPD released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the lot (alternate address 337 Berry Street), asking developers to submit plans to buy and develop the property. The results were supposed to be released to the public last November. While the RFP for this lot requested that at least part of the footprint be set aside for open space, the activists at Time’s Up  know all too well how public space projects conveniently disappear from development plans when costs run higher than expected.

Time’s Up, a direct action environmental group, has defended and supported open space in New York City for 20 years. After three years of operating a bicycle co-op in Williamsburg, the group has established deeps roots in the community. One of the volunteers proposed that Time’s Up finally start their own community garden in the neighborhood. The group decided on the 99 South 5th Street lot, just one block from their bicycle co-op, after scouting vacant lots around that location, researching who owned those lots, and holding several meetings to discuss the pros and cons of each. Time’s Up spoke with the community board and left messages for HPD to find out what happened with the RFP, but were told nothing. Additionally, hundreds of signatures were collected from local residents who supported the garden.

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Howard Slatkin. Image Credit: DCP.

Howard Slatkin, the director of sustainability for the New York City Department of City Planning, was a frequent visitor to NYC while growing up in New Jersey, but it was not until he moved to the City after studying history at Brown University, that he became interested in architecture and the social life of places. He earned a master’s degree in urban planning at Columbia University in 2000. At that time the concept of sustainability, though embedded in the course curriculum, had not yet gained the notoriety it has today.

From City planning to City sustainability. Slatkin joined the Department of City Planning immediately after graduation in the summer of 2000; he started as the community planner for Brooklyn Community District 1. His first task was to look closely at the Williamsburg, Brooklyn area and how the community was changing around the L subway line. His work eventually became part of the 2005 Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning. The rezoning addressed population growth in the area and the disparity between the actual and legal uses of industrial buildings that were increasingly being used as residential and commercial spaces. The experience exposed Slatkin to many important issues including mixed-use development, waterfront redevelopment, and affordable housing, which became one of Slatkin’s areas of expertise and focus. The Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning created the City’s current tool for affordable housing development – the Inclusionary Housing Program, which allows developers to take advantage of a floor area bonus in exchange for creating or preserving units of affordable housing for targeted income levels. The program has been used to encourage affordable housing development in many of City Planning’s rezoned areas, including Hudson Yards, West Chelsea/High Line, and West Harlem. From there, Slatkin became increasingly involved with the policy side of city planning and eventually became deputy director of strategic planning, where he oversaw the special projects, and in particular the green initiatives, for all of City Planning’s divisions.

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Building permit extended after Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning. Belvedere III LLC, the owner of 135 North 9th Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, applied to reinstate its building permit and extend the time for completion of a new four-story, six-unit mixed-use residential/community facility building with a medical office on the first floor. The development became noncompliant after the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning in May 2005. 2 CityLand 36 (Apr. 15, 2005), 2 CityLand 51 (May 15, 2005), 2 CityLand 67 (June 15, 2005). Under the zoning resolution, a developer can apply to BSA to renew a building permit that was invalidated by a rezoning if it shows that on the date of the lapse, excavation was complete and substantial progress was made on the foundation.

Belvedere argued that prior to the rezoning, the site was sufficiently excavated and was later backfilled upon Buildings’ instruction, but was not re-excavated due to lack of materials and heavy equipment. Belvedere also showed evidence that portions of the site were left unexcavated to provide access for work and that no further excavation was required for structural or foundation elements. (read more…)