Toll Brothers Gowanus Development Gets Scoped

The City Planning Department held its Scoping Hearing yesterday for the proposed Toll Brothers development on the Gowanus Canal. With neighborhood resistance to the project getting organized, the hearing attracted more attention than the average technical City Planning session. The room was full during the afternoon session and about 18 people spoke on the project. Blogger Pardon Me for Asking told us that 14 people spoke against the Toll rezoning and three spoke supportively of the project, though not necessarily the special rezoning. PMFA wrote that she was "proud" of the community's performance at the hearing:

Clearly urging the Board to not issue the spot zoning change that Toll Brothers' will need to push their project through, Carroll Gardens residents listed some of their concerns. Amongst the concerns raised about the effects the development will have on the area were effects on the infrastructure, the obvious hazards of building on a very polluted site as well as the recurrent flooding around the canal.

Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman, who is a candidate for City Council and has been working as a volunteer with residents to coach them on the land use review process used the session to blast the city government's approach to both Carroll Gardens and Gowanus. "Political and economic forces seem to have wrenched control of the neighborhood's destiny from the community itself," he said in a prepared statement. "The community is here to take it back." Mr. Hammerman seemed to reserve his harshest criticism for the city's handling of the Carroll Gardens rezoning issue:

It's a community that has been lobbying actively for the Department of City Planning to apply contextual zoning protections to prevent further destruction of its built form. We know the Department has committed to looking at Carroll Gardens at some unspecified future date. It is apparent, however, that we will likely need to wait for a new administration to take over before that will happen. In the interim, irreparable damages to the community will continue to mount. The decision not to act expeditiously is a conscious act that suggests that our city government is not there to protect us.

Mr. Hammerman urged the Planning Department to listen to resident concerns. "We're raising an army of citizen planners to raise the issues that we believe must be considered," he said. "We know that if an issue doesn't make it into the scope we can't get it studied, and if it isn't studied it can't be considered when looking at changes to the project." Mr. Hammerman sought to draw a distinction between Carroll Gardens and Gowanus, which he called "a mixed-use community with an important industrial heritage whose distinct architecture has been deemed eligible by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for listing in the National Register of Historic Places."

The Toll Brothers are asking for approval of their project ahead of any rezoning of Gowanus. All indications are that the city will recommend a zoning framework very similar to the density that the developer are seeking. Written comments can be submitted through March 24. The comments should be sent to Robert Dobruskin, Dept. of City Planning, 22 Reade St., New York, NY 10007. A copy should also be sent to Community Board 6 at 250 Baltic St., Brooklyn, NY 11231.