The City Planning Department unveiled its draft proposal for the big Gowanus rezoning at a Community Board 6 meeting in Carroll Gardens last night. The area that is proposed for rezoning is a 25 block area between Fourth Avenue and Bond Streets bounded on the south by Third Street and on the north by Butler Street. This area would be rezoned from manufacturing use to mixed use. The city is proposing to leave about 35 other blocks that it looked at with current manufacturing zoning. (At the meeting, City Council Member Bill de Blasio called for a “ban” on the construction of new hotels in the manufacturing zones; there are currently seven open or planned.) Brooklyn Planning Director Purnima Kapur explained that these other blocks are heavily used for manufacturing and that the city sees no purpose in changing the designation. In avoiding changes on these blocks, and concentrating the rezoning on the 25-block area, the city would be avoiding opposition by community groups that wanted to preserved manufacturing.

That leaves an area called the Waterfront District as the key battleground. Centered around the canal between Bond Street and Third Avenues, buildings in this area could rise to 12 stories. Developers would get significant density bonuses for adding affordable housing. Most people that spoke at the meeting were critical of different aspects of the plan, particularly of the height of buildings near the canal. Local resident Marlene Donnelly, who is part of the Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus group said that the plan involved “a little bit of deception” and that “a lot doesn’t incorporate what the community wants.” A number of residents said that the plan ignored environmental concerns, particularly the impact of new construction on the sewer system and also voiced worries that the rezoning will encourage construction on toxic parcels that will not be adequately cleaned up. The city hopes to have the rezoning certified for the land use review process by early next year.

Some highlights of the proposed zoning changes:

A number of disconnected blocks would be zoned R6B to allow five story maximum height. A small portion of Fourth Avenue would be rezoned R8A to allow 12 story building (as in the prior Fourth Avenue rezoning) provided developers include affordable housing. A corridor around Union Street and Third Avenue would be rezoned R7A to allow buildings up to 8 stories tall. In the mixed use waterfront district, buildings north of Carroll Street could rise to eight stories closes to the canal, but would be five stories along Bond Street. South of Carroll Street buildings would be 5-6 stories along Bond Street and rise to eight stories with “limited portions” going as tall as 12 stories. The rezoning would require developers to build 40′ wide public access on either side of the Gowanus Canal. The guidelines would also mandate use of the buildings in many corridors at street level so as to avoid the blank wall look that has developed along Fourth Avenue. In other areas, however, the need to build above ground parking garages could result in less ideal streetscapes.

More to come.