Voice Of Gowanus: NYC's 'Virtual' Hearings For The Proposed Neighborhood Rezoning Will Deprive Community Of Due Process Rights And Violate City Charter Requirements For ULURP

Voice Of Gowanus, a coalition of Gowanus-area residents and  civic associations, just sent a letter to New York City Planning Commission Chair Marisa Lago regarding the proposed Gowanus rezoning.

The group has been very vocal about its concerns relating to the rezoning, the largest undertaken by the De Blasio administration so far. 

To become law, the rezoning needs to go through a months-long public Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, a process mandated by the New York City Charter.  The charter requires public hearings at several stages of the ULURP process be held in places of public assembly in a physical location. 

VoG wants to make absolutely sure that Gowanus residents will have the same opportunity as all other New York City neighborhoods that have been rezoned. In the letter to Lago, the group points out that an attempt by the city to proceed with "virtual" public hearings for the proposed Gowanus rezoning while it is not possible to hold safe, large-scale, in-person public hearings will violate the city charter's requirements for ULURP.

From VoG:

"Now is not the time to proceed with an illegitimate and diluted land use review process for a major rezoning that would dramatically impact our neighborhood.  Community members are entitled by law to a process that protects their rights to hold public officials accountable in the same room - and in the same manner as other neighborhoods that have previously faced rezonings."

Below is the letter sent by the group to Marisa Lago yesterday.

August 4, 2020

Chair Marisa Lago City Planning Commission New York City

Dear Chair Marisa Lago:

Many in our Brooklyn community are concerned that the city’s land use process is set to re-open without adequate consideration of existing land use law. Together our group of concerned independent community members calls upon the Department of City Planning and the City Planning Commission to cease any further consideration of the proposed Gowanus rezoning-and any other New York City-led neighborhood rezonings-until conditions permit holding safe, large-scale, in-person public hearings. This pause must include holding off on certifying any City-led neighborhood rezoning.

Any further actions undertaken by the Department of City Planning and the City Planning Commission to certify the proposed Gowanus rezoning this month that would lead to so-called “virtual” Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) public hearings starting in September—a civic process that has never before been carried out “virtually” in any previous New York City-led neighborhood rezoning—would constitute a violation of ULURP.

“Virtual” ULURP hearings would not be uniform in light of what the law requires. The city charter provision regarding ULURP procedures requires that public hearings for ULURP at the community board level occur in a physical location (as does the provision about borough president hearings during ULURP):

“A community board public hearing shall be held at a convenient place of public assembly chosen by the board and located within its community district. If in the community board's judgment there is no suitable and convenient place within the community district, the hearing shall be held at a centrally located place of public assembly within the borough.”

Given the in-person civic process other communities have been afforded to date when facing neighborhood rezonings, “virtual” ULURP hearings would unfairly undercut the procedural rights of community members in greater Gowanus and any other neighborhood facing a rezoning, and would prevent them from holding their elected and appointed officials accountable.

The virtual hearings and practices recently rushed into use by other City agencies indicate that, especially in the context of ULURP for an entire neighborhood, attendees’ collective power would be severely diluted through the use of an online platform. Equitable access to technological devices and high-speed internet is simply presumed by the City but a resourced plan has not been offered or executed to ensure access for all community members. Structurally diluting a community’s ability to hold power accountable during the current Covid-19 crisis, when the future of our entire neighborhood and its interconnected communities is at stake, is unacceptable. It does not conform to the letter or the spirit of what ULURP requires; even if more individuals could theoretically participate in “virtual” hearings, community power to confront politicians collectively in a room is blunted by an internet-only process. We urge you in the strongest possible terms to abandon plans for this illegitimate and illegal “virtual” ULURP process that will effectively deprive our community members of their due process rights.

Please also find enclosed an Op-Ed co-authored by State Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon published in yesterday’s edition of City Limits that details further the widespread community concerns regarding “virtual” ULURP hearings and any certification that would lead to such hearings.

Resolutely,
Voice of Gowanus


Opinion: Fairness Requires that NYC Pause the Gowanus Rezoning

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Landersville: Important Scoping Meeting On Proposed Gowanus Rezoning Coming Up On April 25

Combined Sewer Overflow floating on the surface of the Gowanus Canal
at 363 Bond Street building.
Photo taken April 15, 2019.

Leave it to NY City Department of City Planning (DCP) to schedule an important meeting regarding the up-zoning of the Gowanus Canal area during a school vacation week, when many families may be out of town. Let us try to stay involved despite the City's effort to make it harder for us to have our voices heard.

The proposed up-zoning of the Gowanus Canal area is moving along quickly.
Here is the next step in the massive re-zoning, and it is an important one.

The Department of City Planning is holding a very important meeting on Thursday, April 25th, 2019, at Middle School (M.S.) 51 at 350 5th Avenue starting at 4 pm to start the Environmental Review Process for the proposed Gowanus Rezoning. The meeting will go through the evening hours.

This meeting will give local residents an opportunity to identify potential effects that the proposed change in zoning will have on the area's infrastructure and the environment.

Here is the opportunity, for example,  to ask how the City aims to deal with the additional sewage produced by 20,000 new residents in around 8,000 units since it has not managed to address  the ouflow of Combined Sewage Overflow into the canal under current conditions.

Or how about asking the City if it is prepared to shelter all new Gowanus residents in the case of flooding since most of the rezoning footprint is in a FEMA Flood Zone A with mandatory evacuation.

According to DCP:
"The first step in the Gowanus environmental review process is to get community input on the Draft Scope of Work (DSOW), a technical document that lays out proposed methodologies and assumptions and that identifies the project and the types of environmental analyses that may be performed. The DSOW helps the public understand and participate in the CEQR review from the start and a necessary precursor to preparing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The DSOW and other documents are on our website."

DCP will also accept written comments until the close of business on Monday, May 27th, 2019, but it is better to show up at the meeting on April 25th, so please make sure to attend.

Further reading:

Behold Landersville!: What Gowanus May Soon Look Like If The Neighborhood Rezoning Becomes Reality

Dear Brad Lander: Give Us A Democratic Vote On the Gowanus Rezoning

Same As It Ever Was In Gowanus: It Is Clear That New York City Plans To Allow New Housing First, Deal With Extra Sewage Later. 

Feel Betrayed By Councilman Brad Lander Yet Regarding The Proposed Gowanus Rezoning? We Do!

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Same As It Ever Was In Gowanus: It Is Clear That New York City Plans To Allow New Housing First, Deal With Extra Sewage Later.

March 27 2019 meeting of the Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group

Jonathan Keller, NYC Department of City Planning

Angela Licata, NYC DEP Deputy Commissioner

Proposed Gowanus upzoning  

Raw Sewage and toxic discharges floating past 363 and 365 Bond Street in Gowanus

A plume of sewage floating past 363-365 Bond Street

How can New York City envision  an up-zoning that would bring thousands of new residents to the Gowanus Canal area when it has not yet addressed the fact that it still releases significant amounts of raw sewage into the waterway  and will continue to do so for at least another ten years?

That is the question members of the Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group asked  representatives of both New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) and NYC's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) at the group's general meeting last night.

Either Jonathan Keller of NYC DCP or Angela Licata of NYC DEP were unprepared to give specific answers, but it became clear throughout the conversation that the City plans to allow new buildings to go up first, and then deal with the additional sewage afterwards

And that is all backwards.

How did we get here?

The City and developers have been itching to up-zone the Gowanus neighborhood to allow more residential developments. The proposal calls for buildings that may reach 22 to 30 stories along the heavily polluted canal, which the EPA declared a Superfund in 2010.

The rezoning is slated to move through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) by the end of 2019. Since ULURP takes about 9 months to 12 months to complete, developers could potentially begin building their residential towers by the end of next year.

Everyone may also remember that EPA, as part of its Superfund clean-up, has mandated that NYC DEP must finally cease the practice of dumping raw sewage into the Gowanus Canal during heavy rain events. The Federal Government has ordered New York City to build two Combined Sewer Overflow tanks to remedy the situation and to protect its Superfund clean-up, once it is completed. The larger of the two tanks, is planned for the head of the Canal, next to the largest CSO outfall.

Instead of swiftly moving ahead with fulfilling its obligation in light of the City's rezoning efforts, DEP has managed to delay the completion date for the head of Canal tank, by first insisting on building it on land that needed to be taken by eminent domain instead of placing it under a City-owned park. Recently, the City has switched course entirely by proposing a tunnel under the canal, in place of the tank.

The community is looking at a scenario in which thousands more residents may be living next to an open sewer by 2020, while DEP is pushing the completion date for a CSO tunnel or tank  to 2030 and probably beyond.

Though Angela Licata last night told the Gowanus community that DEP had already invested significantly to reduce Combined Sewer Overflows (sewage) into the canal, with projects like a sponge park, rain gardens, high level storm sewers, investments on the Gowanus Pumping Station and controls of "floatables."

However, Licata revealed that even with the construction of the two EPA mandated CSO tanks, the City is dealing strictly with current CSO conditions, and is not addressing any additional measures to offset new development.

In other words, the current CSO remedy will be outdated the moment the up-zoning goes through and new high-rises get built.

Members of the CAG urged both DEP and City Planning to plan ahead and to think outside of the box. One of the  CAG suggestions was to write into the proposed rezoning that new buildings should be required to separate gray and black water to reduce the burden on our sewers.

Neither agencies seemed eager to push that idea forward.

In the absence of logical thinking by the City of New York, it is reassuring to know that the EPA, at least is planning for the future. The 2013 Gowanus Canal Superfund Record of Decision, the legal blueprint for the clean-up of the polluted canal, specifically requires that "the capacity of the retention tanks will need to accommodate the projected additional loads  to the combined sewer system as a result of current and future residential development, including future rainfall increases that may result from climate change."

DEP and DCP better figure out what more housing, more residents, and more poop would mean to a neighborhood that has literally been dumped on for decades.

Otherwise, we as a community, have a right to tell the City that no rezoning should be allowed to go forward before adequately sized CSO tanks are completed.

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"The Gowanus Is Dirty": New Web Site Highlights Why Neighborhood Rezoning Is Dirty Politics

A new informative web site with the clever address www.thegowanusisdirty.com  just went live and if you live in Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill and Park Slope, you should check it out.
The web site's aim seems to be to keep the community in the loop on the proposed rezoning that will line the Gowanus Canal area with 22-story buildings and will bring an approximate 20,000 new residents to the area.
The so far- anonymous owners of the site call the rezoning "dirty politics' and back up the claim with several facts:

Fact 1: from The Gowanus Is Dirty::

As part of the New York State’s brownfields program, developers who build apartment towers along the canal, on Bond and Nevins streets, will not only be reimbursed for the price to clean up the toxic land, but they’ll also be handed taxpayer dollars to cover at least 10% of their building costs, up to $35 million dollars each.

The developer of the luxury towers on Bond between Carroll and 1st streets has already been given over $7 million dollars of taxpayer funds. And because of NYC’s 421a, the developers themselves won’t have to pay any property tax for 10 years.

Fact 2:
The rezoning plan will allow for at least 10 new residential towers to be built along Bond and Nevins St., each up to 22 stories high, with four times as many expensive luxury apartments as affordable ones. These towers will likely bring at least 20,000 new residents to our neighborhood, DOUBLING the population of Gowanus, destroying the liveable neighborhood we know and love forever.

Fact 3:

When the City first presented their Gowanus Rezoning plan, in June of 2018, the new residential towers along the canal were limited to being 14 stories high. But the developers wanted more—much, much more— and so they “lobbied” (gave money to) our electeds. And guess what? In February, a new plan was presented that allows for towers up to 22 stories high on almost all of the rezoned blocks around the canal. So who are our electeds working for, anyway?

The Gowanus Is Dirty site also provides pdfs for the fact sheets along with a protest poster.

Our protest poster has already been printed out and will be hung in the window shortly.

And as a reminder:

The Dept of City Planning Presents its Gowanus Rezoning Plan tonight:

Thursday, Feb 28 at 6pm

PS 133, 610 Baltic St at 4th Ave

Be There!

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After a Contentious First Try, City Planning To Come Back To Community This Thursday For "Informational Presentation" of the Gowanus Draft Zoning Proposal

***Important meeting coming up on the Gowanus Rezoning Proposal***

In early February, representatives of  the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP)'s Brooklyn office held a presentation of the Gowanus Draft Zoning Proposal in the gym of PS 32, which did not go over too well with local residents.

Instead of providing the community with a forum in which they could ask questions and get answers communally, DCP had basically printed out its online presentation on poster boards and taped them to the wall of the gym.  As one local resident tweeted, 'the city attempted to turn it into a science fair style open house', which backfired big time. It was obvious from the start that the whole thing had been designed to control rather than to engage stakeholders.

To placate angry residents, Winston Von Engel and Jonathan Keller of City Planning promised to come to the next Community Board 6 Landmark/Land Use Committee meeting for a proper presentation.  That meeting has now been scheduled.

Informational Presentation of the Gowanus Draft Zoning Proposal 

From The Department Of City Planning

February 28, 2019

6:30 pm

PS 133

610 Baltic Street between 4th and 5th Avenue 

Let us hope that City Planning comes better prepared to provide specific answers on this upzoning, which will impact not only Gowanus, but Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill and Park Slope.
We encourage everyone to attend.


Related reading:
Developers Get Their Way, the Community Not So Much: Gowanus Draft Zoning Proposal Proves That Community Planning Sessions Were All A Sham 

Badly Done, City Planning! Badly Done!: City Faces Angry Residents At Gowanus Draft Zoning Proposal Meeting Last Night

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Badly Done, City Planning! Badly Done!: City Faces Angry Residents At Gowanus Draft Zoning Proposal Meeting Last Night

Winston Von Engel, Director of the Brooklyn office for the NYC Department of City Planning

DCP project manager Jonathan Keller

Members of the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition For Justice

NYCHA resident Karen Blondel and Zac Martin of Trellis

NYC DCP's Winston Von Engel, addressing angry residents

Councilman Brad Lander (left), standing in the crowd.

Yesterday evening's presentation of the Gowanus Draft Zoning Proposal must have been very rough for representatives of  the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP)'s Brooklyn office, as they faced a mostly hostile Gowanus community.  It was entirely predictable and of DCP's own making.

Instead of providing local residents with a forum in which they could ask questions and get answers communally, DCP had basically printed out its online presentation on poster boards and taped them to the wall of PS32's gym.  As one local resident tweeted, 'the city attempted to turn it into a science fair style open house', which backfired big time. It was obvious from the start that the whole thing had been designed to control rather than to engage stakeholders.

People were generally angry that there was no formal Q and A session this late in the rezoning process. Some called it unprofessional, a total waste of time. Others felt it was disrespectful, especially since many had been involved with the community visioning process for the last two years.

Members of the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition For Justice (GNCJ) tried to engage DCP in a more meaningful conversation by bringing a PA system and by setting up chairs in the gym.

Karen Blondel, who has lived in Gowanus NYCHA housing for the past 40 years and is an environmental organizer for Fifth Avenue Committee, took the microphone to demand a real public meeting. She addressed the lack of commitment from the City to '"fix environmentally unsafe conditions in local public housing."  

In support, NYCHA residents chanted:

"The Gowanus Plan is incomplete-City Hall take a seat!"

"Before you rezone-fix our homes!"

"Scope until our demands are in scope! No Scope until we're in scope!"

Other stakeholders demanded to know how the City planned to address the neighborhood's failing infrastructure,  especially sewers,  schools and public transportation once the neighborhood was up-zoned. "What happened to the inclusion of an Eco District in the rezoning plan?,"  several people asked.

Winston Von Engel and Jonathan Keller of NYC's Department of City Planning eventually tried to placate the audience by promising a proper community meeting at Community Board 6's Landmark/Land Use Committee meeting on February 28th in PS32's auditorium.

Councilman Brad Lander arrived late, so missed most of the initial fireworks,  He tried to diffuse the situation by playing Mr. Nice Guy and by reiterating that the rezoning plan  was unlikely to please everyone.

As for Councilman Stephen Levin, whose district includes all Gowanus NYCHA residents, he did not show up at all.

It was an interesting evening to say the least.

Kindergartener and mini-citizen reporter Charlie of Citizen Squirrel

Linda Mariano of FROGG and Gowanus Landmarking Coalition

Gowanus' very own Jane Jacobs

Gowanus Dredgers brought canoes to demand rezoning plan include docks and boat launches

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Developers Get Their Way, the Community Not So Much: Gowanus Draft Zoning Proposal Proves That Community Planning Sessions Were All A Sham

You may have heard already that the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) released the long awaited Gowanus Draft Zoning Proposal today. Members of the community, who thought that the lengthy Community Listening Sessions of the past few years by Councilman Brad Lander and DCP would result in a contextual, sustainable, sensible, resilient plan, may feel betrayed by this proposal.  It seems to cater to developers, not the community.

According to Crain's New York, the freshly released Draft Zoning Plan calls for the rezoning of 80 blocks in Gowanus, and "would allow buildings as tall as 22 stories along certain portions near the canal—with one block in particular topping out at 30 stories."

In an email today, Councilman Brad Lander writes:
"I believe this proposal is a strong next step toward the sustainable, inclusive, mixed-use neighborhood that the community has been envisioning for many years."
He added:
"I know that not everyone is excited about the idea of new residential and commercial development at heights taller than the surrounding brownstone neighborhoods. But I genuinely believe we are on the way to getting the balance right."

Balance?  Planning for 22 to 30 story buildings in an area that is prone to flooding is insanity.  Bringing thousands more residents to a neighborhood without adequate infrastructure like schools, subways and sewer system, is foolhardy. 

Moving a rezoning along while the heavily polluted Gowanus Canal has not yet been environmentally remediated and the City has not yet implemented a solution to capture raw sewage flowing into this long neglected waterway, is just criminal.

The Department of City Planning will host a public meeting next week.  Please make every effort to attend and bring your questions and comments.  This re-zoning plan will have major implications for Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Park Slope and of course, Gowanus.

"Next Steps in Planning for Gowanus"

Wednesday, February 6

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

P.S. 32

317 Hoyt St. at Union Street.

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'Not Gowanusy Enough' And "Save The Gowanus Station Building": Local Residents React To DEP's Proposed Gowanus Canal Combined Sewer Overflow Facility Design

Council Member Stephen Levin, in whose district the facility will be built.

Michael DeLoach, DEP Deputy Commissioner of Public Affairs and Communications

Alicia West, DEP Director of Public Design Outreach

RH-03, the 2.4 acre site in Gowanus, where DEP is planning on building the facility.

Conceptual Design for proposed Gowanus Canal CSO Facility at head of Canal

Conceptual design for the open public space planned over the retention tank.

Last night, New York City Department of Environmental Protection and Council Member Stephen Levin held a joint public meeting to give the community a preview of the proposed design for the Gowanus Canal Combined Sewage Overflow facility at the head of the canal at Butler Street.

You may remember that D.E.P. is required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to build an 8-million gallon sewage retention tank at the head-end of the Gowanus Canal to reduce the volume of untreated wastewater entering the waterway as part of the Superfund clean-up.

D.E.P. has taken the requirement for a simple tank to a whole new level by insisting that the C.S.O. tank will also need a massive head house. The building will hold screens, a de-gritter and odor control equipment, as well as an electric room, boiler and other mechanical spaces.

Because of D.E.P.'s insistence that the 8-million gallon CSO Facility be constructed on two privately owned properties at Butler Street between Nevins and DeGraw Street instead of using City-owned parkland across the street as E.P.A. had suggested, the price tag has mushroomed. D.E.P. has estimated the cost for land acquisition of the two lots at $90 million alone, with an additional $400 million for the construction of the facility.

At a City Council hearing in March 2018, Kevin Clarke of D.E.P. spoke of a combined cost of $1.2 billion for both the 8-million gallon tank and a 4-million gallon tank in the middle portion of the canal  that the City is also required to build.
(It is important to note that the E.P.A. had estimated the cost for both the 8-million gallon AND the smaller 4-million gallon Canal at $77 million for both.)

At last night's meeting Council Member Stephen Levin, in whose district the head-of-the-canal facility will be constructed, defended this large expenditure and this financial burden to New York City taxpayers.

"The cost for both of these tanks is likely to be over $1 billion, which is massive. It deserves a long conversation and a real discussion on why that is. I think when you see [DEP's] presentation tonight, you'll get a sense of the scale of this project and why it could possibly cost that much. I just want to say, as an overall perspective, capital projects in New York City always cost much more than we think that they should. Whether it is a park, or a school, or a massive infrastructure project like this one, it is always, always more expensive," he explained." So when that price tag comes up, don't be shocked."

To design the facility, the City has hired two engineering firms: Brown and Caldwell, as well as Hazen and Sawyer. ( See https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160921/gowanus/feds-probe-de-blasio-fundraiser-whose-engineering-firm-won-big-contracts/).

The City also hired Selldorf Architects and DLandStudios, the landscape firm currently positioning itself to make the most of the upcoming Gowanus Canal corridor re-zoning with their Gowanus Canal Sponge Park Masterplan.

Alicia West, DEP Director of Public Design Outreach gave the public its first real look at the proposed design of the massive head house at the northern end of the 2.4 acre site, and the public accessible open space over the tank itself.

To camouflage much of the more unsightly air intakes and outflows  required for the head house Selldorf Architects is proposing a 'breathable cloak" made of terra cotta louvers, like a 'Venetian blind.'

The architectural goal, according to D.E.P. was to establish a 'thoughtful architectural design that respects the character and feel of the neighborhood", by employing "materials that are evocative" of Gowanus.

Michael DeLoach, DEP Deputy Commissioner of Public Affairs and Communications, left no doubt that his agency plans on demolishing the iconic and historic beaux-arts Gowanus Station building on the site, despite repeated calls from the community that is should be saved and incorporated into the overall facility. Instead, D.E.P. maintains that the building is in deplorable shape and can not be saved.

DeLoach explained that 'significant architectural elements' from the building will be saved and integrated on the site.

Most of the residents present seemed unconvinced that D.E.P. was really trying to save the building.

Gowanus resident Brad Vogel felt that D.E.P.'s design for the facility had "not started from a place where the Gowanus Station building would be preserved." He argued that saving 'tidbits' of the building was just not good enough and that pieces of a building, once stored in a warehouse, have a tendency to get lost.

The main goal for many who spoke up last night was to save the entire building, and to perhaps, use it as a community space.

As for the design of the head house and its Venetian-blind cladding, there was little enthusiasm.

People felt that is really did no truly reflect the neighborhood's character, as D.E.P. was claiming.

It was not "Gowanusy" enough, as one resident pointed out.

Suggestions for the 1.6 acres of proposed open space above the tank included a more active use, water access for boaters, indoor community spaces, and  covered areas for a makers market.

The community also urged D.E.P. to consider New York City's 2050 projections for sea level rise and to incorporate resiliency standards.

The most important aspect of all of this is that E.P.A. has yet to approve of D.E.P. 's engineering plans for the facility. It is also significant that E.P.A. will make the final determination whether the Gowanus Station will be saved or not.

Below is a flier handed out by a member of the community in regards to saving the Gowanus Station.

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