Just a reminder that that “Town Hall” meeting in Carroll Gardens with Council Member Bill de Blasio is coming up on Thursday. While the hot potato known as 360 Smith Street (the Robert Scarano-designed building that started a mini-neighborhood revolution back in May) wasn’t mentioned in the email sent out by the Council Member’s office, […]

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With part of Gowanus likely to be rezoned to allow buildings of 10-12 stories–and many residents of neighboring residential streets likely to be very upset about it–the question about where the boundary is drawn is not an academic one or a mere planning exercise. Buildings on the west side of Bond Street are generally only […]

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If you think that learning about zoning is about as exciting as watching paint dry, you’re right. On the other hand, given that the future of every neighborhood in Brooklyn is won or lost during the zoning process and that everything that comes after is only the icing on the cake, not knowing about zoning […]

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City Planning Director Amanda Burden has sent a letter to Carroll Gardens residents pushing for fast action on rezoning the neighborhood that says the department can’t commit to “a precise timeframe” for action. The timetable has previously been stated in terms of several years as many other neighborhoods are in line ahead of Carroll Gardens. […]

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The City Council voted to approve a rezoning of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill that will make it harder to put up tall buildings on residential blocks in the two neighborhoods. The Council held a hearing on the plan on Monday and voted to pass it yesterday. The City Planning Commission had voted in favor […]

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[Photo courtesy of gkjarvis/flickr]The Brooklyn Downzoning Olympics seems destined for Brighton Beach, but will it occur anytime soon? The Bay News reports that “Brighton Beach residents are getting antsy while waiting to see if their neighborhood will be downzoned.” Specifically: Residents are pushing for a zoning change to prevent developers from demolishing cozy bungalows and […]

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That Carroll Gardens petition calling for a moratorium on buildings taller than 50 feet while rezoning is considered has gotten 1,500 signatures. The first petitions have been submitted to a long list of public officials, including the Mayor, Borough President and the MTA, which is involved in the project at 360 Smith Street that sparked […]

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The little Carroll Gardens uprising, which started with neighborhood objections to that building slated to rise at 360 Smith Street, has become a more wide ranging push to rezone the neighborhood to prevent development that is out of character. Residents have created an online petition as we noted last week and, now, they have a […]

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For all the discussion in Carroll Gardens about the building that will be built at 360 Smith Street, and its design and height, the bigger issues according to community leaders are rezoning the neighborhood and enlarging its Historic District. The rub, however, is that neither are likely to happen soon. Residents have been told by […]

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Was the rezoning of Fourth Avenue in Park Slope seriously flawed? We’d argue that it was in several respects, in particular in that it allowed tall (for Park Slope) buildings without requiring any affordable housing. Yesterday, Normal Oder tackled the subject in a very extensive and thoughtful item on his Atlantic Yards Report. The upshot […]

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No, not the bridge & tunnel kind of toll. This kind of Toll. A Gowanus resident sent along this photo of signage that has appeared on Bond Street and First Street, which would be close to the epicenter of the roughly 400-unit luxe development the Toll Brothers would like to build on the shores of […]

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Was Atlantic Yards the only thing behind the purging of Community Board 6 by Borough President Marty Markowitz, Council Member David Yassky and Council Member Bill de Blasio? It was probably a major factor, given what the New York Times described as the BP’s “red-faced eruptions” of anger over opposition to Atlantic Yards, but it […]

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[Photo courtesy of turkeyheart/flickr] If you are going to pay attention to what is happing in Brooklyn that is of critical importance, you have to pay attention to rezoning plans. Today’s Metro reports that plans for a rezone of more than 200 blocks of Bedford-Stuyvesant begin a public review process by the Department of City […]

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How many Brooklyn neighborhoods are being downzoned, upzoned or just-plain-rezoned? A lot. In fact, the list of neighborhoods that haven’t been rezoned recently, aren’t currently being rezoned and aren’t scheduled for rezoning may be shorter than the list of ones that were/are/will be. Zoning is generally something that is only of interest to hardcore planning […]

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Anyone expecting fireworks at the Gowanus meeting last night held to lay the groundwork for an upcoming rezoning that will change the face of the neighborhood would have been disappointed. More than 200 people turned out for the session held at PS 32 on Hoyt Street held by the Land Use Committee of Community Board […]

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