Critics of a rezoning plan that promises to bring millions of dollars in new revenue to Brooklyn are demanding Mayor de Blasio include public housing in the project’s footprint.
New York City Housing Authority developments in Gowanus are being left out of a map for the plan, potentially excluding the authority from cashing in on zoning “air rights” it now holds.
The housing complexes in question are the Gowanus Houses, Wyckoff Gardens and Warren Street. A rezoning of the area south of those developments could grant real estate developers considerably more leeway to build taller in the neighborhood — without having to pay the city.
Including the buildings in the plan would better position them to preserve zoning rights owned by NYCHA — rights the agency could sell and use the money for much needed long-term improvements, the critics argue. The purchase would allow owners of neighboring parcels to build higher.
The Wyckoff Gardens public housing complex is also not on the rezoning map. (Danielle Maczynski/for New York Daily News)
Elena Conte, deputy director of the Pratt Center for Community Development, described NYCHA’s exclusion from the map as a huge flaw that “we’re trying to expose and correct.” If it the flaw remains, she said, it’s developers who would most stand to benefit.
NYCHA needs more than $30 billion to fund vital infrastructure repairs throughout the five boroughs.
A report from Pratt, titled “Public Action, Public Value” and obtained by the Daily News, laid out Conte’s rationale about why public housing should be included in rezoning map.
“All of this ability to profit is being created by public action,” Conte said. “The value above that ability to profit should go to addressing this vast unmet current public need.”
The Gowanus Houses on Baltic St. are not included in a city rezoning map. (Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News)
Conte estimates that anywhere between $100 million and $200 million could be generated through the sale of air rights from those three developments alone.
City Hall spokeswoman Jane Meyer said the transfer of NYCHA air rights is a “key part” of the administration’s city housing policy and that the agency developments have been included in the Gowanus Neighborhood Plan study. Conte was quick to note that that plan is different than the rezoning map.
“Generating funds for NYCHA improvements and improving residents’ quality of life is a top priority,” Meyer said. “We are working with residents and elected officials to address their concerns and discuss neighborhood investments.”
A city government source noted that NYCHA cashing in on air rights in Gowanus would depend on a “buy-in” from the development’s wealthier neighbors.
Brooklyn Councilman Stephen Levin (Shawn Inglima/for New York Daily News)
Local lawmakers also think city housing should be included in the rezoning.
“The Gowanus Rezoning will be the biggest rezoning of the de Blasio administration and will unleash tremendous investments in the neighborhood,” Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn) said. “We cannot let that happen without including the NYCHA public housing developments immediately outside of the rezoning area.”
Councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn) described NYCHA residents there being “forced to endure substandard living conditions for far too long, despite dramatic land value increases all around them.”
“By selling NYCHA air rights and investing that income into nearby public housing, the rezoning can insure that NYCHA residents are firmly and fully included in a vibrant, sustainable, mixed-income, and mixed-use future for Gowanus,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment