Carroll Gardens/ Columbia Waterfront Area Contextual Rezoning Moves To City Council

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It has been a long road, from Community Board 6, to Borough Prez Markowitz's office, to the New York City Planning Commission, but the Uniform Land Use Review Process (U.L.U.R.P.) for the Carroll Gardens/ Columbia Waterfront Re-Zoning has reached its final step.

On Monday, October 26th, the Brooklyn Office of the Department of City Planning will present an amendment to the neighborhood zoning map before the Zoning and Franchises Committee of the City Council. This is the last opportunity the community will have to show their support or express their concerns. At every step, the community has voiced their doubts about the R6A zoning pockets along Columbia Street, Henry Street and Clinton Street. R6A zoning allow buildings that are 70 feet tall.

The Office Of City Planning claims that the R6A is needed to bring the buildings on those blocks into compliance, since they are already bigger than brownstones on surrounding blocks. Local residents feel that R6A represents an up-zoning, increasing the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) from 2.2 to 3.00. This may create an incentive to homeowners on those blocks to use the extra FAR to build roof additions.

Unfortunately, it seems that the Office of City Planning does not possess the tools to properly deal with a case such as this. What is needed, in essence, is a special zoning in between an R6A and R6B to not only bring the out of scale buildings into compliance, but also to limit any additional height. I am sure the same concerns will be expressed by Carroll Gardeners and Columbia Waterfront residents on Monday, but it seems that once the ULURP process is set in motion, no adjustments can be made to the zoning proposal, no matter what the local community says.

Kind of makes you wonder why they have a public comment period in the first place. It still is very important to show up for the hearing, so please make every effort to attend:

Monday, Oct. 26, 2009 at 9:30AM Council Chambers at City Hall
If you wish to speak, sign up at the entry desk.
Speakers are allowed 3 minutes each.

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