‘Gross and innapropriate’
City disapproves Botanic Garden-adjacent mega development
BY BEN VERDE
The City Planning Commission
will vote to disapprove
the controversial Crown
Heights apartment tower that
threatens to block the Brooklyn
Botanic Garden’s sunlight,
the commission’s chair
said on August 16.
During a public meeting of
the commission, Lago reiterated
concerns about the size of
the development and the risk
it poses to the horticultural
museum — as the garden’s
leadership claims the building
would block out much-needed
sunlight and destroy some of
the local plant life.
“In light of these land use
and environmental concerns,
as well as the commission’s
concerns and the public testimony
that we heard, the department
intends to prepare
for the commission a report
in which the commission will
disapprove the application,”
Lago said.
The developer behind the
project, Continuum Company,
proposed the 34 story multitower
COURIER L 16 IFE, AUGUST 20-26, 2021
development at 960
Franklin Avenue near Montgomery
Street, one block from
the Botanic Gardens’ grow
houses, and they’ve been met
with fi erce resistance ever
since.
The developer attempted to
submit a shrunk-down 17-story
alternative to the commission
along with its Environmental
Impact Statement material,
but commissioners refused to
evaluate it, saying they did not
have enough time.
“The applicant is now seeking
to have the commission
modify this complicated proposal,
which shouldn’t have
been pursued in the fi rst
place,” Lago said.
Lago blasted the proposal
as “grossly out of scale” and
“inappropriate for this location.”
“Not only inappropriate
for this location, but also casts
extensive shadows over the
Brooklyn Botanic Gardens’
greenhouses and conservatories,
which are unique, sunlight
sensitive receptors,” she
said.
The City Planning Commission’s
review is one of the
last steps the project faces as
it moves through the city’s
Uniform Land Use Review
Process. Unlike community
boards and the borough president,
both of which have offered
advisory rejections of
the proposal, the commission’s
vote is not advisory, and
does not bode well for the project
as it heads to the city council
for a vote. A downvote from
the commission is rare — it is
often described as a ‘rubber
stamp‘ commission that is on
the side of developers.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who
has the power to veto a landuse
change, has already voiced
his disapproval of the plan.
A recent report by the Municipal
Art Society detailed
the extent to which the garden
would lose sunlight were
the 34-story tower to be built,
with the garden losing up to 3
and a half hours of sunlight in
June, and 1 to 2 hours of sunlight
in March. The building
could also cloak nearby Jackie
Robinson Playground and the
Medgar Evers College campus
in shade, the report found.
Continuum has opted to go
on the offensive against the
garden and its backers, claiming
in its Environmental Impact
Statement that the garden
was not an integral part
of the Crown Heights community
because it is fenced off
and requires an admission fee
to enter.
The proposed 960 Franklin Ave. project. Rendering by Hill West Architects
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