3D image of Gowanus, 2019
photo creditL googlemaps
3D model of a fully built-out Gowanus after rezoning
by New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) students
Councilman Brad Lander at a Gowanus Planning meeting in 2014
We will let you watch the video of the meeting for yourself, since DCP threw a lot of figures around in regards to affordable housing, the area's median income and how many units and new residents the Gowanus upzoning will generate.
(Around 18,000 new residents, 8,200 new units 3,000 (or 37%) of which would be permanently affordable to low- and moderate-income families when it is all built out.)
At the meeting a 3D model of what the Gowanus Corridor could look like in just a few years if the rezoning goes through was distributed. The model was developed by New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) students and though it may not be entirely accurate because it assumes that developers and land owners will take advantage of every allowable buildable square footage, it is a sobering look at what we may be facing.
We should suppose that the neighborhood will be fully built out in just a few years. Pretending otherwise and not planning for that eventuality would just be delusional.
Councilman Brad Lander seems to fully back the plan, though he admits that much work still needs to be done. In a letter sent to his constituents just yesterday, he asks local residents to 'keep an open mind", despite the fact that "not too many people are excited about new buildings at heights taller than the surrounding brownstones."
Lander does acknowledge the unique environmental issues in Gowanus. "We’ve got a special obligation to pay attention to environmental issues, around a Superfund site that flooded during Hurricane Sandy. That means buildings and a waterfront designed with long-term sea-level rise in mind, and that also reduce energy use, auto-dependence, and combined sewer overflows (CSO) into the canal."
However, the fact remains that our Councilman is pushing to:
- up-zone a FEMA Mandatory Evacuation Flood Zone A
-is willing to bring 18,000 more residents to Gowanus AHEAD of the EPA Superfund Clean-up of the toxic Gowanus Canal
-and ahead of the City building ADEQUATE retention tanks to keep raw sewage of thousands of additional toilets out of the canal.
For Lander, the creation of affordable housing seems to trump some of these issues:
"Gowanus would be the first “mandatory inclusionary housing” (MIH) neighborhood re-zoning proposed for a whiter, wealthier neighborhood, where there’s relatively little risk of displacement. So we have the opportunity to create a real model for an integrated neighborhood, with diverse schools, and a vibrant community life, right here in the middle of Brownstone Brooklyn."
Call us idealistic, but regardless of one's income and ability to pay rent, shouldn't the first concern be for the health of current and future residents? Neither Lander, nor NYC DCP, or even NYC DEP can currently assure us that living next to an open sewer or next to a Superfund site like the Goawnus Canal is currently safe.
Let's call this new vision for Gowanus "Landersville", since we should hold him ultimately responsible for what happens here next.
Below is a video of last night's CB6 Land Use Committee meeting. The NYC DCP's portion begins at 1:07. (Yours truly asks a question starts at 1:54:15)
Last night's CB6 Land Use Committee meeting.
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11 comments:
Katia This is a brilliant article. Thank you as always. Brad Lander has been a thorn to this side of Gowanus and Carroll Gardens while masquerading as a community development "white knight." The :community" (ahem) process he conducted asking residents what they supposedly wanted in our area was a complete shame for too many reasons to list here. The up-zoning of Gowanus was in the works LONG before the community weighed in, for one thing. Neither was the community informed of the real health hazards and complexities involved with the vast population increase, for another thing. Gowanus and Carroll Gardens are not averse to change or development. Our communities have experienced vas changes over the past ten years.
But our inherited Gowanus Canal is one of the MOST contaminated waterways in the country. For Brad Lander to stand behind a proposed increase of over 20,000 residents without a plan for all the raw sewage that will result in the canal on top of the raw sewage that is already there should get him immediately fired from his job as our "representative." Who is he representing? Developers no less. NOT residents. No One voted for all this poo poo. No one voted for human health hazards. Brad Landers should be fired. Period.
Can you please tell us what the colors are representing on the 3 D model?
This is a plan for a whiter wealthier brooklyn? What does that even mean. This all entirely wrong. Too tall. Too much. Ugly. And unsafe.
Wouldn't you think that having more people living around the canal is the quickest way to build political support for cleaning it up quickly? I don't think it is realistic to expect the CIty to invest the billions required to clean the canal unless there are voters demanding it. Clearly, the existing communities in Carrol Gardens and Park Slope are not sufficiently close to the issue to be mobilized at the level that the problem requires.
Katia - Which if any, of our elected officials oppose this? There simply isn't the infrastructure for this. We're ready to join the fight. MB
It is time that the City comply with the Federal Clean Water Act as well as with the EPA mandates Superfund CSO retention tanks regardless of how many people live in and around the canal. They have had decades to address this problem.
Re compliance with EPA/Superfund/etc. mandates, I know there's a history to this, but shouldn't the companies responsible for the polluting have to pay for the cleanup? And if the city failed to collect on this, then the city should. But building thousands of units to further overcrowd the subway, and perhaps strain water/sewer lines and electric grid should not be blindly supported. The fact is: these buildings are a pure profit play by developers who stand to make $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, and these people could not care less about any problems it creates.
The Superfund program identifies the polluters and makes them pay. In the case of Gowanus, National Grid is the #1 polluter and New York City is #2 for dumping raw sewage laced with toxic run off into the waterway. That is why former Mayor Bloomberg AND our former Councilman Bill de Blasio opposes the Superfund designation. They knew that EPA would finally make the City do something to to address the pollution.
What is this Landersvile hocus-pocus with affordable housing?
good summery of how this is/isn't working:
https://www.6sqft.com/why-middle-income-new-yorkers-are-turning-down-affordable-housing/
“In some of the lotteries that we qualify for, we’d be paying higher rent than we do now and additional fees for all the amenities. I don’t know if we can afford extra for access to a gym or bike storage and of course, these fees would go up over time because they aren’t part of the rent-stabilized deal.”
Brad learned from his mentor, de Blasio, to use affordable housing as an excuse to publicly support development. As a reminder, Bruce Ratner threw Bill a 50th birthday party.
City Planning isn’t going to factor in potential health concerns - that’s not their job.
And as someone above posted, where the h*** are our other electeds? Do they support this or not? I would like to know.
OK - I get it - vote NO an keep Gowanus as a dump?
Or ... vote yes on a required rezoning that MANDATES vibrant ground floor amenities and also requires on water shoreline access? Proposed scope would need to change...
Proposal as it stands, allows Canal edge as a dumb / dump esplanade shoreline but no mandatory water access. It is sad that our government cares little about our waterfront. Accs should be provided every 100 feet.
Where are Steve Levin, Jo Anne Simon, state senators Velmanette Montgomery, Zellnor Marie, and Kevin Parker; and Nydia Velázquez? They seem to have capitulated to Brad and the developers. SAD!
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