{"id":2251,"date":"2024-08-12T01:01:39","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T05:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/?p=2251"},"modified":"2024-08-12T01:01:39","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T05:01:39","slug":"crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"Crown Heights Community Rallies Against Developer&#8217;s Tower Rezoning Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bkreader.com\/writers\/megan.mcgibney\">Megan McGibney<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dozens of Brooklyn residents testified against a developer&#8217;s\u00a0plan to build a residential tower\u00a0that would cast a shadow onto parts of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden\u00a0during a City Planning Commission public hearing on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Real estate developer\u00a0<a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.continuumcompany.com\/about-us\" rel=\"noopener\">Continuum Company<\/a>\u00a0is asking\u00a0the city to rezone\u00a0<a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/zap.planning.nyc.gov\/projects\/2022K0423\" rel=\"noopener\">962 &#8211; 972\u00a0Franklin\u00a0Avenue\u00a0<\/a>in Crown Heights\u00a0so it can build a 14-story residential tower. The lot is currently zoned for buildings\u00a0that are six to eight stories.<\/p>\n<p>Continuum said the building\u00a0will bring 119 affordable apartments\u00a0to the neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>One concern\u00a0mentioned at the meeting included the impact on the sewage system and water supply if the city approves a zoning amendment that would allow the developer to build 475 apartments.\u00a0 In addition, overall rent in the area will likely rise, residents said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If this was in Florence, Italy, there would be no hearing,&#8221; said local resident George McCracken. &#8220;This is going to affect the long-term environmental and socio-economic health of the neighborhood. Once it&#8217;s degraded, it won&#8217;t stop. Once amenities are destroyed, we&#8217;ll never get them back.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Jack Kaplan, a resident who spoke at the meeting,\u00a0said there was a need to stop this development, in order to &#8220;prevent future developers from doing the same.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Rent is always going up,&#8221; said Fred Baptiste, the chair of Community Board 9, which represents parts of Crown Heights. &#8220;[This]\u00a0will encourage landlords to raise rents to keep up. Two years ago, CB9 voted in opposition because there were too many threats to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This\u00a0is deja vu all over again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The opposition Baptiste referred to was the previous proposal made by Continuum starting 2019, when the firm wanted to construct several buildings, two that would reach 34\u00a0stories,\u00a0in the same lot. This led the BBG to launch the\u00a0<a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbg.org\/support\/save_the_sunlight_oppose_rezoning\" rel=\"noopener\">Fight for Sunlight<\/a>\u00a0campaign because the structures would cast long shadows over the garden that would ultimately harm its\u00a0plants.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It would&#8217;ve damaged the garden, especially where the sunlight is most radiant&#8221; said Elizabeth Reina-Longoria, the director of marketing and communications at the BBG said about the old proposal.\u00a0&#8220;It would&#8217;ve effected our tropical plants, nursery, conservatory\u00a0and the greenhouses.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The current proposal\u00a0is Continuum&#8217;s second attempt to get the city rezone the lot. Residents said they remained concerned that other nearby locations, including Ebbets Field Apartments, will also lose sunlight if a 14-story building is erected.<\/p>\n<p>In July, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynosos held a\u00a0<a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nyc.gov\/assets\/planning\/download\/pdf\/applicants\/applicant-portal\/lur.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\">Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP)\u00a0<\/a>hearing about the rezoning at Borough Hall, where dozens of\u00a0Crown Heights residents spoke out against the plan.<\/p>\n<p>Ten days later, Reynoso declined the proposal. He wrote\u00a0<a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/scl\/fo\/ip39udgfp4mhbpq8bk2n7\/AIEyWQTu6QdU52WvzzRehSs?dl=0&amp;e=1&amp;preview=CD+9+962-972+Franklin+Ave+C230356ZMK+N230357ZRK+C230358ZSK.pdf&amp;rlkey=1vl9qqnegn1n449n5n95ljly3&amp;st=ooclq3qp\" rel=\"noopener\">in his recommendation\u00a0<\/a>to the City Planning Commission\u00a0that while affordable housing is needed, this plan is &#8220;simply the wrong place for this proposed building because of its adjacency to a critical, public\u00a0sunlight-sensitive resource.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Continiuum\u00a0Company said it had no comment on the issue\u00a0when reached by BK Reader.<\/p>\n<p>With the City Planning Commission hearing complete, the community will wait for a decision\u00a0in about two months.<\/p>\n<p>CB9&#8217;s Baptiste seemed to have faith that the city would listen to constituents&#8217; concerns.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our hope, per the resolution we passed in June, is that the commission follows our recommendation to disapprove the project entirely and that the City Council and the Mayor will do the same,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Megan McGibney Dozens of Brooklyn residents testified against a developer&#8217;s\u00a0plan to build a residential tower\u00a0that would cast a shadow onto parts of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden\u00a0during a City Planning [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5888,"featured_media":2252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brooklyn","category-housing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Crown Heights Community Rallies Against Developer&#039;s Tower Rezoning Proposal - NYC Political News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crown Heights Community Rallies Against Developer&#039;s Tower Rezoning Proposal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Megan McGibney Dozens of Brooklyn residents testified against a developer&#8217;s\u00a0plan to build a residential tower\u00a0that would cast a shadow onto parts of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden\u00a0during a City Planning [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NYC Political News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-12T05:01:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/08\/brooklyn_botanical_gardens_cherry_blossom_festival_-_5925008843.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"NYC Politics Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"NYC Politics Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/\",\"name\":\"Crown Heights Community Rallies Against Developer's Tower Rezoning Proposal - NYC Political News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/08\/brooklyn_botanical_gardens_cherry_blossom_festival_-_5925008843.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-12T05:01:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/939ed66bd7624d1689ff44e84f172524\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/08\/brooklyn_botanical_gardens_cherry_blossom_festival_-_5925008843.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/08\/brooklyn_botanical_gardens_cherry_blossom_festival_-_5925008843.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"Cherry blossoms in bloom at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Photo: Supplied\/Ryan Somma via Wikimedia Commons\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Crown Heights Community Rallies Against Developer&#8217;s Tower Rezoning Proposal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/\",\"name\":\"NYC Political News\",\"description\":\"Hyperlocal NYC Political News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/939ed66bd7624d1689ff44e84f172524\",\"name\":\"NYC Politics Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0977cebaf26539cb436ab76b256f102ed507c323f0cce28c441db61efcc193c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0977cebaf26539cb436ab76b256f102ed507c323f0cce28c441db61efcc193c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"NYC Politics Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/author\/originalmediallc\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Crown Heights Community Rallies Against Developer's Tower Rezoning Proposal - NYC Political News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Crown Heights Community Rallies Against Developer's Tower Rezoning Proposal","og_description":"By: Megan McGibney Dozens of Brooklyn residents testified against a developer&#8217;s\u00a0plan to build a residential tower\u00a0that would cast a shadow onto parts of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden\u00a0during a City Planning [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/","og_site_name":"NYC Political News","article_published_time":"2024-08-12T05:01:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/08\/brooklyn_botanical_gardens_cherry_blossom_festival_-_5925008843.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"NYC Politics Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"NYC Politics Staff","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/","name":"Crown Heights Community Rallies Against Developer's Tower Rezoning Proposal - NYC Political News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/08\/brooklyn_botanical_gardens_cherry_blossom_festival_-_5925008843.jpg","datePublished":"2024-08-12T05:01:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/939ed66bd7624d1689ff44e84f172524"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/08\/brooklyn_botanical_gardens_cherry_blossom_festival_-_5925008843.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/08\/brooklyn_botanical_gardens_cherry_blossom_festival_-_5925008843.jpg","width":960,"height":640,"caption":"Cherry blossoms in bloom at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Photo: Supplied\/Ryan Somma via Wikimedia Commons"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/crown-heights-community-rallies-against-developers-tower-rezoning-proposal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Crown Heights Community Rallies Against Developer&#8217;s Tower Rezoning Proposal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/","name":"NYC Political News","description":"Hyperlocal NYC Political News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/939ed66bd7624d1689ff44e84f172524","name":"NYC Politics Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0977cebaf26539cb436ab76b256f102ed507c323f0cce28c441db61efcc193c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0977cebaf26539cb436ab76b256f102ed507c323f0cce28c441db61efcc193c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"NYC Politics Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/author\/originalmediallc\/"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5888"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}