Borough President believes development along Gowanus Canal may encourage DEP to initiate clean-up effort. On January 7, 2009, the City Planning Commission heard testimony on Toll Brothers’ proposed waterfront development at 363-365 Bond Street in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn. The project would be located on two full blocks along the Gowanus Canal, bounded by Carroll Street, Second Street, and Bond Street.

In order to facilitate the proposed development, Toll Brothers submitted several applications, including a rezoning of the two-block area from M2-1 to M1-4/R7-2, a text amendment for a special mixed-use district, and a special permit to modify height, setback, rear yard, and inner court regulations. Highlights of the project include two low-rise five-story buildings fronting Bond Street, a series of four-story townhouses along First and Second Streets, and two twelve-story buildings fronting the canal. The project would also contain approximately 2,000sq.ft. of community facility space, 2,000 sq.ft. of retail space, and 23,000sq.ft. of publicly accessible waterfront space along the canal. Toll Brothers expects the development to provide about 460 residential units, 30 percent of which would be affordable to families making 40 – 80 percent of area median income. (read more…)