a little late but...
TEXT AMENDMENT FACT SHEET
HOW IS MY PROPERTY VALUE AFFECTED BY THIS CHANGE ?
The value of your home should increase. It is the law of supply and demand. By limiting the size of new buildings or additions (the "supply"), all of the existing buildings in Carroll Gardens will be worth more with respect to the rest of Brooklyn and the city. Your Front Gardens are not affected.
WHAT HAPPENS IF MY HOUSE IS ALREADY LARGER THAN THE NEW ZONING LIMITS ?
Nothing. Your house is protected as it is. This happens all of the time, all over New York City, whenever City Planning makes any kind of ZONING change. Your value remains the same and in fact, will grow along with the rest of the neighborhood. This change will not require you to take any action.
WHAT HAPPENS IF MY HOUSE IS SMALLER THAN THE NEW ZONING LIMITS ?
You have some room to grow. You and all of your neighbors will have the same limits. You may still build an addition, within those limits. And, even if you cannot afford to build an addition, or plan on selling your home with the potential of an addition, you do not have to worry about someone blocking your light with a seven (7) story, 65 foot deep new structure or addition (which can happen now under the current regulations and is happening all over the neighborhood).
SO WHAT IS THE CHANGE ?
Right now, the blocks specified in this amendment are treated, zoning-wise, just like Court Street—where, for example, the developers of the ILA site are allowed according to the rules, a 70 foot, very bulky building. Our little side streets are obviously not the same as Court Street! This change would make these blocks just like the rest of the side streets in our neighborhood.
The measurement number used to govern how big and bulky the building can be is called, Floor Area Ratio, or FAR. Under the Quality Housing Program in the current zoning laws, the FAR for these few side streets is 3.0.; height limit-70 feet. Under the change, these side streets will have a FAR of 2.2., height limit-55 feet-just like all the other side streets in Carroll Gardens.
Very simply put, if your FAR is less than 2.2 now, you may build up to that point. If your FAR is at or more than 2.2 now, you cannot.
To find out your FAR, you can go this web site: www.oasisnyc.net/OASISMap.htm (or just google OASIS MAP NYC) and type in your street address or your block and lot number. Scroll down until you find the area on the page that lists your home's information. Your current FAR is there. Look and see if you are under, at or over, 2.2.
WHO DOESN'T LIKE THIS CHANGE ?
Generally, it is developers and property owners who want to convert their property into condos. They want to build as big as possible to maximize their profit. Some homeowners, who have the means and plan to build REALLY big additions may be against this as well.
WHY SHOULD I SUPPORT THIS ?
Do you like what you see happening to the buildings around you ? Without some protection, greed will forever change the character of our neighborhood.
Statistics show that neighborhoods that remain intact and maintain their size, scale and character are the ones that retain the highest possible value. We have a beautiful brownstone neighborhood here. Its integrity, heritage and visual beauty is being assaulted by these out of scale and out of character structures that are going up.
In the end, these larger buildings will only serve to lower the value of our original beauties.
If you are still unsure; talk to ask a trusted architect for professional advice.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
OFFICE OF THE BROOKLYN BOROUGH PRESIDENT
Notice is hereby given that the Brooklyn Borough President will hold a public hearing on the following matter in the
Community Room, Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street,
Brooklyn, New York 11201,
commencing at 5:30 P.M. on May 7, 2008.
CARROLL GARDENS ZONING TEXT AMENDEMENT
COMMUNITY DISTRICT 6
080345 ZRK
The Department of City Planning has submitted an application for amendments to the Zoning Resolution. The proposed text amendments would apply the narrow street zoning provisions for height, setback and floor area ratio to streets which are mapped as wide on the City map but share a similar character to other narrow streets in the area. These streets are 1st Place, 2nd Place, 3rd Place, 4th Place, and Second Street, Carroll Street and President Street between Smith Street and Hoyt Street in Brooklyn Community District 6.
What is the Place block text amendment?
A text amendment is the tool used by City Planning to correct an inappropriate zoning designation. The zoning remains the same; in this application, the text amendment simply restores the Place blocks to their original street width designation at the City Planning office. They will then match the other streets in the neighborhood.
How did this happen?
When the Place blocks were designed by Richard Butts in 1846, there were no zoning laws. He laid out the first "planned" brownstone community in Brooklyn to his own standards. He plotted blocks with lots of 100 feet, and front courtyards of 33 feet. Between the courtyards, he defined a 50-foot wide "street", consisting of 13 foot sidewalks and a 24 foot wide "carriage way" down the center of each block. This was written into the law that created this planned community.
The City of NY organized a zoning plan in 1961 and measured the streets differently. A Street was defined as the distance from property line to property line. This makes the Place block front gardens part of the street. The streets are now classified as "wide" (75 ft. or more), as in arterial streets like Court St or Atlantic Avenue as compared with "narrow" (less than 75 ft) side streets, often residential.
The Place blocks are now treated like Court St; a wide street. The problem: A wide street can be developed deeper, bigger and taller which permits out of character and out of scale designs like the Clarett development for the ILA site on Court Street. This is not appropriate, as the gardens were never intended to be included in the street measurement. Butts wrote his intended courtyard use into law; homeowners can check their deeds to find these regulations attached.
Supported by: The South Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance
Baltic-Warren Neighbors, CGNA, CORD, Cobble Hill Association, Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association, Committee for the Historical Integrity of Cobble Hill, South Brooklyn Local Development Corp, Union-Sackett Block Association, Warren Street Block
*Links to Zoning Text Amendment at the NYC Dept. of City Planning website:
* Overview:
http://home2.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/carroll_gardens/index.shtml
* Existing Context and Zoning:
http://home2.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/carroll_gardens/carroll_gardens_2.shtml
* Proposed Actions
http://home2.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/carroll_gardens/carroll_gardens_3.shtml
See Also:
"All You Ever Wanted to Know About The Carroll Gardens Zoning Text Amendment" at Pardon Me for Asking Blog
AND
"Carroll Gardens Group Takes Zoning Amendment to Subway Plaza" at Gowanus Lounge Blog.
[this post re-produced from the FOB mailing list]
There are a number of issues important to Carroll Gardens residents that have been brought into public discussion. Acknowledging the interest and concern we have expressed, three separate meetings have been scheduled for next week by city agencies,elected officials and KEYSPAN.
The members of the CGNA Board encourage everyone to attend at least one of the meetings. Bring a family member, a friend, a neighbor! (I don't think pets can be accommodated).
These three meetings are all scheduled for Wednesday, May 7.
In time order:
1. Check your mail. A notice was sent out from KEYSPAN/NATIONAL GRID.
They will hold the first public meetings to "discuss the remedial investigation of a former manufactured gas site located at DeGraw near the Gowanus Canal". This is the beginning KEYSPAN's participation in the public discussion on cleaning up the Gowanus gas sites. There are a total of 17 sites. Meetings on Public Place, the Toll Bros site, etc to follow.
Meeting site: PS 32 (317 Hoyt St at Union)
Times: 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM and 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
2. Borough President Marty Markowitz will hold a public meeting
to discuss the pending text amendment proposed by the Department of City Planning. This text amendment will correct the inappropriate "wide street" designation currently applied to the Place blocks; they will be designated as narrow streets, as they were originally defined by law
when they were created, and will match the bulk permitted on the other residential blocks of Carroll Gardens.
Meeting site: Borough Hall, Community Room
Joralemon St entrance
Time: 5:30 PM
3. Plan for the Future Forum: The Gowanus
Sponsored by City Councilmember Bill DeBlasio, CB6, Gowanus Dredgers, Gowanus Canal
Development Corporation and the Gowanus Canal Conservancy Representatives of the NYS Departments of Environmental Conservation, Education, City Planning, Buildings, NYPD, FDNY and NYC Parks and Recreation will be on hand to answer questions. For more info and to pre-register questions,
call Tom Gray at 718 854 9791.
Meeting site: 2nd St at the Gowanus Canal (off Bond)
There will be a tent at the site if the weather is bad.
Time: 6:30 PM-8:30 PM
Once again, we urge everyone to attend at least one of these meetings!
I've put together all the documents I could find that were send in response to the 363-365 Bond Draft Scope of Work
Read the The 363-365 Bond Draft Scope of Work (brooklyncb6.org)
CB6 363-365 Bond Street Scoping Testimony, 3/24/2008 (brooklyncb6.org)
Toll Bros Scoping Response
PARK SLOPE NEIGHBORS: RESPONSE TO THE DRAFT SCOPE OF WORK - click here
Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus: responding to the Draft Scope of Work- click here
Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus: responding to the Environmental Assessment Statement- click here
** If you have one you'd like to share, please let us know: friendsofbond@gmail.com
As you all know, last night representatives of the Toll Brothers' Bond Street development team took the opportunity of the CB6 Meeting at PS 32 to tell their side of the story. Personally I think it's a good sign that they were there at all, as opposed to acting like us and the CB6 didn't exist, but as you can see it was a mixed bag.
The following is from a message posted to the FOB list, by a neighbor:
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
Informational presentation by representative for Toll Brothers, Inc. of a pre-certified application, known as 363-365 Bond Street, that would allow the redevelopment of two blocks fronting on the Gowanus Canal including the block bounded by 2nd Street, the canal, 1st Street and Bond Street (Block 458, Lot 1) and part of the adjacent block bounded by Carroll Street, the canal, 1st Street and Bond Street (Block 452, Lot 1 and 15) with a mixed-use development. The proposed project would result in approximately 447 dwelling units, 1,500 gross square footage (gsf) of neighborhood retail space, 1,500 gsf of community facility space, 260 below-grade parking spaces and 0.6-acres of publicly accessible open space along the Gowanus Canal.
P.S 32 Auditorium
317 Hoyt Street
(at Union/Hoyt Streets)
Brooklyn, NY 11231
6:00 PM
