David Von Spreckelsen, of the Toll Brothers came to the C.B. 6 Land Use/Landmark Committee last night to present the plans for the 450 Unit development the company has planned for the shores of the Gowanus Canal. Mr. Von Spreckelsen brought along his crew of professionals to back him up: attorneys, engineers, an environmental consultant, an architect and a landscape architect, to name just a few.Listening to them speak enthusiastically about this project and looking at their pretty pictures, it becomes clear that these people are good, very good, indeed, at the hard sell. Oh, it all looks so good and sounds so wonderful. The architect used phrases such as " the flow of the canal," "the feel of the street," and " the rhythm of the townhouses."
How can we resist? Why wouldn't we beg the Toll Brothers to build this development? Please, please...
And then, the landscape architect presented his drawings of "Canal Park" and talked about Bond Street being treated with "grace" and "celebrates the history of the place" at which point my husband turned to me and said: "This guy is so full of s--t, it's unbelievable," and I am thrown back into reality.
Yes, these guys are good. They have done these presentations before. They have dealt with skeptical Community Boards before. They have faced hostile residents. And they know how to gloss over minor details like where will all that flood water by the canal go and how much the 130 affordable apartments will rent for.
But the Gowanus/Carroll Gardens residents have gotten smarter and they have done their research. They are no longer easily impressed and dazzled by such polished appearances.
I think my blogger friend Lisanne, of Found In Brooklyn said it best last night when she passed the landscape architect on her way out of the auditorium: " Nice park! Too bad you have to have those buildings there too."
I agree. It would be lovely to have a clean, accessible canal. Too bad we will have to have the Toll brothers there too.
Related Reading:
Impressive Performance By Carroll Gardens And Gowanus Residents At Scoping Meeting For Toll Brothers' Project
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3 comments:
Oh my god, katia! Weren't they a trip?? I was falling in love.. they kept saying 'Waterfront' as if the canal was Hampton Bay or something. People will enjoy living along recycled waste? Ha!!! And what, they will find trees with 30 years of growth? And what about the Canal from 2nd street past Union? That filth just magically stops being polluted at the mouth of their project? They all seem very visiory and professional, but, I really don't think, in the end, they see the BIG PICTURE. And the lead guy looked at 2nd and Smith and moved somewhere else, well..I bet he's happy now! Thanks for the post!
I like how they gussied up the east side of the canal.
It has a gated community feel.
I wonder if the affordable housing will be built to the same standards as the condos. It seems exclusionary to me that the affordable housing will be rentals and in separate buildings constructed by a different builder. All these McManions developers have mortgage units so maybe Toll could offer low cost/low interest mortgages. By the time this project is fully realized the real estate market tide will have turned yet again. Plus, I would think that owners who have money invested would be more inclined to pressure our pols for clean up funds. It is a lot easier to leave a rental at the first whiff of noxious smells.
Having said that I think that Toll should be lobbying for clean up funding which would be in their interest as it would make the units much more marketable. I think the idea suggested by Toll that new residents would be the impetus for cleaning the canal is a slick and glossy carrot being dangled in front of our community.
Hi All,
Here's my addition to the reports about last night's CB6-Toll Brothers'
meeting.
The lead guy and much of his crew came either without doing their homework,
or intending to obfusticate.
They were asked about "affordable" housing - but they had no hard $ figures
as to how much a simple apartment might cost. The figure of a family of 4
making $48,000 annually and about 1/3 of that going for rent was thrown
around. That's about $1500/ month - after taxes. You do the math. Also, how
many of our senior citizens will be able to go anywhere near that when they
are making less than $12,000 a year from Social Security. It was also
mentioned that there would be two different construction crews - one for the
"affordable" apartments, and one for the "market apartments...you can also
do the figuring on that situation.
They were asked about parking...it seems they have changed their tune about
how to build the garage (which will fit LESS then half the number of cars
per apartment). When last detailed, the garage would be built underground.
Not so anymore, I guess they figured out most cars don't double as
submarines. They are talking about the possibility of valet
parking...probably because of the tight fit in their proposed garage. It is
now proposed that the garages (one on each side of First Street between Bond
and the canal)will be built at ground level and covered by some of the
designs by the landscape architect. Nowhere was it mentioned whether the 12
foot platform on which the entire development was supposed to be built on is
still in the plans. Is it because that at the scoping meeting that idea,
which would create an ugly water challanged Bond Street during rains,
received a lot of criticism/ or is it because they forgot to mention it
...as they for got to mention the ...
Shadows from the tall buildings. They did say that they have worked on that
issue, but forgot the drawings . Yeah.
They were asked about the water issues, and here their lack of homework
really showed. The engineer who has worked on this issue essentially stated
that they will build two new systems to deal with sanitary and unsanitary
waste water - and a treatment plant to deal with the sanitary water which,
when treated and dumped into the canal, will be cleaner than the canal
water...isn't that water cleaner than the canal water even BEFORE they treat
it? Is this "treatment" another sop or smoke screen to hide the fact that
their other system to deal with "unsanitary" water is nothing more than an
additional pipe to channel this water to the old and soon to be very
overtaxed main which, during rainstorms, overflows into the canal? One can
hear the sewer caps popping already.
They did not respond coherently to the problem of ground seepage...they are
building in a tidal/drainage area. Homes in the area ALREADY have water in
their basements during heavy rains (which have increased measurably in the
past decade). The Toll project will take away more soil needed for drainage
and increase the seepage throughout the neighborhood.
There were other inconsistant and ignorant, at best, comments about the
enviromental effects of their project - let others address those.
Additionally, effects on schools and public transportation were not
mentioned at all, and effects on parking, traffic, and shopping only glanced
over. There is so much more to be said, but I'll finish with the obvious
realization that, even if everything last night was presented in good faith,
these people have no idea of the total enviromental effect of their project
- especially when combined with what has already happened on 4th Avenue, and
on Bond and Carroll, and what is planned on Court Street, 360 Smith Street,
and the Public Place.
Let's hang tough.
Mike Salvatore
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