BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
The New York City Council
voted nearly-unanimously
on Nov. 23 to approve the Gowanus
rezoning, offi cially setting
the project in motion after
years of planning and debate.
“It shows that many people
will accept growth within
their neighborhood if they
are a real part of the planning
process and see it as a way to
achieve shared values,” said
Councilmember Brad Lander,
who represents the bulk of
the district set to be upzoned.
“This rezoning began nearly
a decade ago in grassroots
community conversations.
It was strengthened through
robust conversation in literally
scores of meetings. It was
strengthened through the
advocacy of the remarkable
Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition
for Justice, a diverse
coalition of public housing
residents, environmentalists,
artists, small businesses and
community leaders.”
Lander highlighted the rezoning’s
precedence — it’s the
fi rst rezoning to undergo a racial
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COURIER L 18 IFE, DECEMBER 3-9, 2021
impact study and the fi rst
rezoning in a “whiter, wealthier
neighborhood,” after the
implementation of Mandatory
Inclusionary Housing, which
will ensure all new buildings
have a number of affordable
apartments.
Last month, Mayor Bill de
Blasio reached an agreement
on the rezoning with Lander
and Councilmember Stephen
Levin, who represents part
of Gowanus, and community
groups including the Gowanus
Neighborhood Coalition for
Justice just ahead of the Council’s
Land Use Committee vote.
The agreement included parts
of the three core demands laid
out by GNCJ, which Lander
and Levin both said needed to
be included for the project to
win their approval.
Those agreements included
$200 million to fund improvements
and repairs at Gowanus
Houses and Wyckoff Gardens,
two New York City Housing
Authority complexes within
the boundaries of the 82-block
The Gowanus Canal seen looking north from the Third Street Bridge. Photo by Kevin Duggan
rezoning, and $174 million
to improve sewers along the
fl ood-prone Fourth Avenue,
as well as a vote of confi dence
that the United Stormwater
Rule will ensure that Combined
Sewer Overfl ow levels
do not increase even as tens of
thousands new residents move
into the neighborhood in coming
years.
The city will also work
with a third party to develop
and run a “Task Force,” who
will keep an eye on the city
and on private developers over
the course of the rezoning to
ensure promises made during
negotiations are met.
The rezoning is expected
to bring more than 3,000 units
of affordable housing to Gowanus,
including the 950 affordable
apartments slated for
Gowanus Green, a city-owned
site currently known as Public
Place, after remediation
of the lot is completed and 43
units at Mercy Home, which
is planned for Fourth Avenue.
Just ahead of the Land Use
vote, Lander and local arts collective
Arts Gowanus reached
an agreement with a number
of developers to enter a Community
Benefi ts Agreement,
which will see more than 150
new, affordable artist studios
in new developments.
Councilmember Carlos
Menchaca, who represents the
neighboring District 39, including
Red Hook and Sunset
Park, was the lone “no” vote.
The Council vote is the last
formal step in the city’s Uniform
Land Use Review Process
— Mayor de Blasio could
have stepped in with a veto,
but did not do so in the allotted
timeframe.
“This is exactly the kind of
thing we came here to do,” he
said following the vote. “And
it’s such a great pleasure to do
this right as we’re fi nishing
these eight years together.”
GO-WANUS!
Council greenlights nabe rezoning
Dear Friends!
I wish you and your families a happy and
healthy holiday season.
I feel blessed and I am grateful for your
support.
It is my honor to work for you.
We are all in this together.
Ari Kagan
Councilman-Elect, 47th Council District
Democratic District Leader, 45th Assembly District
Paid for by Friends of Ari Kagan-2012
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