No Gowanus Planning Without Meaningful Representation: Let's Demand A Truly Democratic Process

From 2008's City Planning Gowanus Draft Rezoning Proposal

Pratt Center's Draft Timeline For "Gowanus Community Planning"

Proposed Gowanus Zoning study area

No Gowanus Planning Without Meaningful Representation:

A rather long post about a terribly important issue

With the Brooklyn real estate market soaring in the last decade, developers have been salivating over the mostly-industrial Gowanus Canal area.  However, their dreams of luxury glass-clad high-rises clashes with the popular vision of Gowanus as an incubator for small businesses, light manufacturing and the arts.
Local residents have been debating the merits of one over the other with much fervor. The conversation became more divisive when, in November 2008, New York City Department of Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden came to the community to introduce her agency's Draft Rezoning Proposal for 25 blocks along the Gowanus Canal. The land use framework put forth by City Planning addressed issues like land use, density, bulk and waterfront access.

Though the rezoning proposal sought to maintain areas for continued industrial and commercial use,

it also allowing for a mix of uses, including residential, in certain areas currently zoned for manufacturing.  According to the timeline presented by City Planning at the time, the Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP), the public review process of a rezoning, was due to begin in early 2009.

What City Planning was envisioning for those mixed-use areas would soon become clear.  In February 2009, after a contentious ULURP process and much community opposition, City Planning granted Toll Brothers, a national developer, a rezoning from manufacturing to mixed use, allowing Toll to build 470 residential condo units at the edge of the canal.
At the time, City Planning justified their decision to allow Toll Brothers to move ahead of the City's over-all rezoning by saying that the project was essentially based on their own plans for Gowanus.

But just two months later, in April 2009,  the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the 1.8 mile long Gowanus Canal to the Agency’s Superfund National Priorities List, a list reserved for the country's most polluted sites.  Toll Brothers bailed on their project, and City Planning shelved their rezoning.

By the following year, the EPA had formally designated the Gowanus a Superfund site.  The agency made it clear that they would not get involved in land-use issues, but suggested that it would be helpful to the agency to know the end use of the uplands.

Then in 2011, Hurricane Sandy slammed into the area, and caused serious flooding to homes and businesses in Gowanus.  City Planning made clear that the agency had no plans to resume its rezoning effort until Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had released its redrawn post-Sandy draft flood maps.

After the hurricane, many of our local elected officials addressed this 'new reality.' Congresswoman Velázquez spoke of the need to set public policy and of a revision of the type of development allowed along the coastline. Councilman Brad Lander felt that this was a very important time, one which offered a re-set button in regards to development on the shores of the Gowanus Canal.

The Superfund nomination of the canal and the hurricane only offered a short reprieve from a rezoning. By this spring, Councilman Lander was ready to resume the conversation about 'planning for Gowanus'. However, at several meetings, he hinted that a rezoning should be moved forward under a new administration,  and that "the upcoming transition at City Hall – with a new Mayor and City Planning Commission – presents an opportunity for a better outcome."

On August 5, 2013, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, State Assemblywoman Joan Millman,  Councilmember Steven Levin and Councilmember Lander convened  a Gowanus Planning Kick-Off meeting. On the list of invited stakeholders were representatives from local organizations and neighborhood associations.***

This first step in what Councilman Brad Lander called "inclusive community planning" didn't seem so inclusive to some.  The meeting was not announced, not posted in any way on the internet,  not open to the general public and was closed to the press.

Pratt Center for Community Development (not to be confused with the Pratt Institute) has been hired by the elected officials as the consultant that is running the planning process.

According to an overview  prepared by Pratt, the goal of these planning meetings is to:

*Develop the outlines of a comprehensive, community‐based infrastructure and land‐use plan for a safe, vibrant, and sustainable Gowanus area

*Bring community stakeholders together to build as much consensus as we can around a long‐term vision for the Gowanus Canal area
*Shape the next NYC mayoral administration’s thinking about the Gowanus Canal
*Create a space for honest conversation about different viewpoints

Just recently, Pratt has held a series of small group interviews with the stakeholders who were invited to the first meeting.  I was asked to participate in the group that apparently "cared deeply about the environment."  The interview, held on Monday evening, was led by Elena Conte and Paula Crespo of Pratt.  The questions were rather basic and covered such topics as what makes Gowanus special, what should be preserved, and what are some of the infrastructure issues.  

My group included members from CORD, Save Gowanus, and South Brooklyn Local Development.

(FROGG, though invited, did not send a representative because the group put into question the validity of the process.)

The group quickly seemed to reach consensus that before moving ahead with any re-zoning, a health study and a hydrological study were needed to investigate the health effects of exposure to the environmental hazards in Gowanus, and to evaluate the effect of new development in this flood prone area. We also felt that we first need assurances that the City Of New York will pay and follow through  on the EPA-mandated retention basins that will help reduce the Combined Sewer Overflows and improve water quality in the canal.  Without these studies and without the retention basins, planning more housing in Gowanus seemed "recklessly premature."

In the coming weeks, Pratt Center will compile the information from these interviews and will then host a series of three public meetings.  The first one is scheduled for Thursday, November 14th.  (The time and place has not yet been determined.  As soon as I find out, I will post the information.)

Personally, I remain very skeptical of this entire 'Gowanus planning' process and doubt that the community will have a true say or vote in the outcome.  Though I appreciate the opportunity to weigh in on the area's future,  I can't shake the suspicion that my participation in these meetings only serves to rubber-stamp a re-zoning plan that has already been chosen by our politicians and by developers.

As far as Brad's suggestion that planning under a new city administration presents the opportunity for a better outcome, he may be mistaken.

As the latest numbers indicate, Bill deBlasio will most likely be our next mayor.  DeBlasio not only supported the Toll Brothers spot-rezoning back in '08, he fought hard to drive away the EPA when the agency proposed to list the Gowanus as a Superfund.

If DeBlasio wins , we can be sure that he will hand over the Gowanus Canal to developers on a silver platter, no matter what we say.

In a speech on fostering economic growth given last year, DeBlasio declared:

"I give Mayor Bloomberg tremendous credit for fighting [the EPA] tooth and nail, and I was proud to stand with him. We tried every play in the book to save the [Toll Brothers'] development deal.
In the end, the EPA won out, the development stalled and every time I drive past that site I see derelict lots where we should now have hundreds of new homes and jobs.

I couldn't disagree more. Today, the Gowanus Canal area is slowly healing after years of neglect. Small businesses and a vibrant artist community are thriving there.  Jobs are being created.  Yes, the area has some serious environmental problems, but thanks to the EPA, they are being addressed.  What seems to be holding back Gowanus is the threat of a zoning change that will most likely drive away many businesses, and the speculation by developers that a re-zoning will reward them for holding on to their 'derelict lots'.

We owe it to ourselves and to all who will come after us to take our seat at the table, and to push for a true, transparent, democratic process.  We need to tell our politicians that before any new development is envisioned, we need to first find out what the Gowanus can sustain.  We need to first invest in infrastructure to strengthen the businesses and the residential areas that are already there, and we need to demand new tools in City Planning's tool box.  Because Gowanus is unique and deserves solutions that are just as unique.

***I was invited to the August meeting but was out of the country and could not attend.

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Dreaming Big: Community Envisions A True " Public Place" In Carroll Gardens

Public Place in Carroll Gardens

A view of Public Place from 4th Place in the  1930's

What is your vision for Public Place, the six acre brownfield site which runs along the Gowanus Canal and Smith Street in Carroll Gardens? That was the question posed to participants of a Community Mural Making Workshop with Artist Triada Samaras, and Carroll Gardens CORD/Coalition for Respectful Development on Sunday Afternoon.
The free workshop event was part of the current Brooklyn Utopias: Park Space, Play Space Exhibition at the Old Stone House.

Though our local elected Representatives envision a 774-unit, mixed-income, mixed-use residential development for Public Place after remediation, those in attendance yesterday envisioned a true public space
Fourteen-year-old Aather proudly showed of her brightly colored vision yesterday.
"I would like to see many flowers, a place for people to walk, a place for people to garden."

Rose and Charlotte held up their idea of what should be built on Public Place. "It's like a pool party. We made a huge community lake. It's where a lot of people are swimming together. It's free. People come around the world to see it. And it's good for the earth, instead of putting chlorine in it . But you want to war a bathing suit because its open to everyone. And frogs and toads come in."

Others dreamed of a library, a giant water fountain and green spaces. And lots of flowers and blue sky.

Perhaps they could teach City Planning a thing or two?

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Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group Takes Position That Total Elimination Of CSOs In Gowanus Canal Is Only Acceptable Solution To Problem. Passes Resolution.

At last night's US Environmental Protection Agency's Gowanus Canal Superfund Community Advisory Group's (GAG) general meeting,  members voted to adopt a resolution that asks for a total elimination of New York City's Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) into the waterway.
The resolution was drafted by the CAG's Water Quality/Technical Committee after an informational meeting with NYC Department Of Environmental Protection on April 3rd, 2012.  At that meeting, DEP, which has been names a Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) by the EPA for its role in contributing hazardous toxins to the canal and for allowing CSOs to continue to discharge into the Gowanus,  had refuted EPA's findings.

Despite DEP's best effort, the agency failed to convince the Committee members that more testing was necessary and that it had not yet been proven that the CSOs are contributing chemicals to the canal at levels that constitute unacceptable human risks under Superfund.

So last night, the Water Quality/Technical Committee put forth the following resolution:

The Gowanus Superfund Community Advisory Group fully supports the United States Environmental Protection Agency in its finding that New York City's Combines Sewer Overflows are a significant contributor of harmful sediment and Superfund regulated PAHs and metals to the canal. The CAG takes the position that the total elimination of the CSOs in the Gowanus Canal is the only acceptable solution to the problem.     The CAG asks that the EPA, under their Superfund authority, take the necessary measures that will insure protection of the proposed remedy from ongoing CSO sediment solids deposits and the release of PAHs and other toxics.

However, before a discussion or a vote on the resolution could take place, Jeff Edelstein, the CAG's facilitator, informed its members that DEP, represented by Jim Mueller, would like to present its position on the CSO resolution and wanted the opportunity to give members of the CAG a presentation.

Many CAG members strongly opposed.  Though some wanted to hear what the DEP had to say, the  prevailing sentiment, especially amongst members of the Water Quality/Technical Committee, was that this was neither the time, nor the place for DEP to argue its, as one member put it, its "PRPness"

CAG member 

Marlene Donnelly,  representing F.R.O.G.G. argued:

"The DEP did just have a lengthy meeting with the community. There was no representative from the EPA there to present an alternate perspective at that meeting. If we give DEP five minutes for a presentation tonight, we also need  to give EPA five minutes to present their perspective. Since they are not here to present. I think that it is inappropriate at this time to allow DEP time to present just their perspective without a counter- perspective."

Josh Verlun,  Riverkeeper's representative, agreed:

"I believe that it is inappropriate for DEP to impose their perspective on the resolution at this time unless we have representatives from both EPA and from all the other PRPs give their perspective as well. At last count, that number was 30 or so. It is not appropriate for one PRP to voice their opinion, when there are other agencies and stakeholders that are nor represented here tonight. "

Rita Miller, C.O.R.D. representative added:

"The DEP came before the Water Quality/Technical committee, and out of that discussion, I think it is fair to say that this resolution was born.  I think that our committee should be able to present the resolution to our fellow CAG members. We have the interest of our community at heart. There is no further presentation by the DEP necessary."
And Steven Miller, member-at-large concluded:
"I want to remind everyone here tonight that the City of New York is a PRP and that their interaction with us should be held within this context."

At the end, the CAG voted to not allow DEP to give its presentation and to move forward with the vote on the resolution.
The resolution passed easily.

It was so transparent that the DEP wanted to influence members of the CAG last night and was trying to prevent this resolution from passing.  Pretty low, I say.

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What's Your Vision For 'Public Place' In Carroll Gardens?: Public Voice, Public Dream Mural Workshop At The Old Stone House

Our local elected Representatives envision a 774-unit,  mixed-income, mixed-use residential development for Public Place, the six acre brownfield site which runs along the Gowanus Canal and Smith Street.
But what do we, as the community want? What would our ideal Public Place look like?  Artist and Carroll Gardener Triada Samaras wants to incorporate our own vision into a Community Mural.
Read on:

Public Voice, Public Dream Community Mural Workshop

April 28, 2012

5 – 7:30 PM

Old Stone House

336 Third Street between 4th and 5th Ave

on the Second Floor Gallery

Come One, Come ALL!
Come and design your vision for Public Place with your family and neighbors at the Community Mural Making Workshop with Artist Triada Samaras, and Carroll Gardens CORD/Coalition for Respectful Development.
Public Place is a 6-acre vacant lot along the Gowanus Canal and Smith and Fifth Streets in Carroll Gardens. Your input and ideas may be considered for future development on the site.
This free workshop event is part of the current Brooklyn Utopias: Park Space, Play Space Exhibition at the Old Stone House and newly renovated Washington Park.
Afterwards, you can join in other fun activities such as Circle Rules football and an Interactive Performance Art event.
More information here
To reserve your spot/s in advance, please email Triada at triadasamaras@gmail.com
See you there!

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NYC DEP Gives Report On Gowanus Canal Facilities Upgrades

NYC DEP division chief Kevin Clarke 

CB6's Environmental Protection Chair Gary Reilly

At last night's Community Board 6 Public Safety and Environmental Protection Committee, Kevin Clarke, division chief for the NYC Department Of Environmental Protection gave a presentation and an update on the Gowanus Canal Facilities Upgrades which began in September 2009 and will be completed around June of 2013.

According to the DEP, 300 million gallons of Combined Sewer Owerflow (CSO's), made up of 30% storm water and 70% combined sewer waste, currently flows into the canal every year. It is hoped that the project will reduce CSO's into the Gowanus by 34%.

The upgrade has two major construction components:

1. Upgrades to the Gowanus Canal Flushing Tunnel System
In order to perform tunnel rehabilitation repairs, the one-mile tunnel, built in 1911, was shut down two months ago and will stay off-line for about 26 months. 

Three new submersible pumps will be installed to increase the flushing tunnel flow capacity from approximately 154 million gallons a day to 215 mgd.  This fresher water from the Buttermilk Channel will be pumped into the head of the canal to improve water quality. During the construction, a temporary pumping system which has been installed at the end of Douglass Street will oxygenate about 10 million gallons of water a day and distribute it throughout the Gowanus Canal through 24" pipes.

A new Forcemain will be constructed through the Flushing Tunnel to collect some of the Combined Sewer Overflow at the canal head and pump it directly to the Red Hook Water Pollution Control through the Columbia Street sewer.

2. Upgrade to the Gowanus Pumping Station
The reconstruction work on the Gowanus Wastewater Pumping station, which pumps wastewater flow through the new Force Main Plant will increase the reliability and pumping capacity from 20 million gallons to 30 million gallons  a day.
The work also includes the installation of a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO's) screening system which will retain and reduce the "floatables" which might otherwise make their way into the canal.

According to Mr. Clarke, the DEP has been cooperating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ongoing investigation, providing historical documents and sharing data.

After the presentation, CB6 Environmental Protection Chair Gary Reilly directed audience questions to Mr. Clarke. Bette Stolz and Marlene Donnelly, both of Friends And Residents Of Greater Gowanus disputed the DEP's assertion that only 300 million gallons of CSOs flow into the canal.  That number, Stolz and Donnelly pointed out, is based on the year 1988, when a total of 41" of rain fell on the New York City area. 
"Wouldn't it behoove the agency to look at the data from the last 22 years?" said Bette Stolz.
Marlene Donelly urged the EPA to consider that the last five years have been substantially wetter than 1988.
" In 2009, we had 65" of rain in New York City, in 2008, it was 64" and the year before that, it was 68".
With sea levels rising and the predicted increase of extreme weather patterns,  it does seem strange that the EPA is relying on outdated rainfall figures and not looking towards the future.  If the current rainfall trend continues, many more millions of gallons of CSO's will be dumped  into the Gowanus Canal.
Kevin Clarke, however, stated a few times that 1988 provided an adequate base-line.
See his full response below.

Rita Miller of CORD asked if the EPA has considered and figured future development in the area into their calculations as projects like the Atlantic Yards Arena will add to the CSO discharge into the Gowanus Canal.  Here is Mr. Clarke's answer:

No doubt, the city is finally moving ahead with work that was mandated by the Clean Water Act decades ago.  That is a good thing.  However, it certainly feels as though not enough is being done to address the CSO issue. Using rainfall data from 1988 is rather laughable and makes the promised 34%  reduction in CSOs seem very small.


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Carroll Gardens/ Gowanus Neighborhood Activists Honored At Transit Garden

I would like to thank Jim and Vicky Devor, as well as Martin Rowe and the wonderful volunteers of the Transit Garden, for honoring the dedicated Carroll Gardens/Gowanus activists who work so tirelessly to protect the neighborhood.

In the last few years, these members of the community have achieved the contextual re-zoning of Carroll Gardens, the protection of the unique Carroll Gardens courtyards and fought Mayor Bloomberg on the Superfund designation for the Gowanus Canal...and won.

The honorees in attendance were:

John Hatheway,

Gary Reilly

Rita Miller

Lucy DeCarlo

Triada Samaras

Elisabeth Lind

Glenn Kelly

Vince Joseph

Maryann Young

Bette Stoltz

Jackie Raque

Laura Edidin

Marlene Donnelly

and, humbly, Ms. Pardon Me

In return, I would like to express my appreciation for the hard work by the members of the Transit Garden. They have turned the corner of Smith Street and Second Place into a wonderful green oasis and by doing so, have shown the true spirit of this great neighborhood.

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Carroll Gardens Organizes To Fight Assault On The Historical Integrity Of The Neighborhood

Community Meeting On Hannah Senesh's Proposed Expansion Onto Public Land
Satrday December 12th at Carroll Gardens Library

Despite short notice, approximately 30 people gathered at the Carroll Gardens Library on Saturday morning, December 12th to discuss the plans recently unveiled by the Hannah Senesh school. The school has apparently painted itself into a corner by moving into a building which is not large enough or good enough for their needs after spending several years planning the move and spending millions of dollars to renovate and expand the old PS58 extension/District 15 building at the corner of Smith Street and First Place.
Since the school's board failed to anticipate growth requirements, they now intend to ask the city of New York to hand over one of (the first one !) the
signature courtyards (front gardens) of Carroll Gardens so that they can enlarge the school. The fact that the school (and the District 15 office before them) uses the courtyard as a parking lot in contravention to the community's requests and the requirement that the courtyards be maintained as open space does not diminish the fact that this proposal would, if enacted, forever change the streetscape. This would set a very dangerous precedent and make it more difficult to defend the nearly 160 year old city law which established the courtyards and resulted in the unique character of Carroll Gardens.
The Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association And C.O.R.D. have long fought to protect these courtyards against development and parking incursions and cannot support this action despite their wishes for the long term success of the school. Other neighbors and organizations have also stepped forward to fight against this assault on the historical integrity of our neighborhood. They intend to take this message to our elected officials, local residents, and the press in order to make sure that this does not come to pass.



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Carroll Gardeners Urge NYC Planning Commission To Re-Think R6A Zoning Pockets

NYC Planning Commission Hearing
on Carroll Gardens/ Columbia Street Contextual Rezoning

Amanda Burden, Chairperson of the NYC Planning Commission

Carroll Gardener Rick Luftglass

39th Council District Candidate and Carroll Gardens Resident Gary Reilly

Jerry Armer Testifying for Community Board 6

Raul Rothblatt, Director of the Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance

Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association President Maria Pagano

Tom Gray from Councilman Bill De Blasio's office

Norman Cox, of the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association

The Carroll Gardens/ Columbia Waterfront Contextual Re-Zoning continued its progress through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) on Wednesday, when area residents had a chance to testify in front of New York City's Planning Commission.

About a dozen speakers, some representing the Coalition For Respectful Development (CORD), and the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association, thanked the Brooklyn Office of City Planning for their efforts to rezone Carroll Gardens and the Columbia Waterfront in order to protect the character and scale of this brownstone neighborhood. The plan calls for a zoning of R6B on most of the residential blocks, which will impose a height limit of 50 feet on the buildings.

But most every speaker commented on what many saw as a flaw in the re-zoning plan: the Office of City Planning is proposing to up-zone several blocks of Columbia Street, Henry Street and Clinton Street to R6A, which has a height limit of 70 feet.
This concern has been raised by local residents at every stop of the ULURP process. The office of City Planning claims that the R6A designation is needed to bring the buildings on those blocks into compliance, since they are already bigger than brownstones on surrounding blocks.

Amanda Burden, the Chairperson of the NYC Land Use Committee, explained that the re-zoning was a framework which would bring current out-of-scale buildings into compliance. The R6A designation for those particular pockets within the neighborhood would accomplish that.

Local residents seemed doubtful. Carroll Gardener Rick Luftglass felt that R6A was an up-zoning, increasing the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) from 2.2 to 3.00, thereby creating 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.
It seems unlikely that these tools will be created any time soon.
What a pity. As resident Maryann Young stated: "If Mayor Bloomberg can come up with the tools to run for a 3rd term," City Planning should be able to come up with to create a special zoning which would truly protect the neighborhood.




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