COURIER L 4 IFE, FEBRUARY 7-13, 2020
The proposed rezoning would allow a 13-story development. Renderings by FXcollaborative
BAPTIZED BY IRE
Scheme to redevelope Windsor Terrace
church sparks community outrage
BY BEN VERDE
Residents are furious over a baptist
church’s scheme to build a 13-story
building in Windsor Terrace, saying
the proposal would forever alter the
fabric of the neighborhood.
“You guys have got to be on crack
if you think that’s what this neighborhood
looks like,” said Mark Duffi n at a
rezoning hearing on Jan. 30.
The International Baptist Church
is partnering with JEMB Realty to rezone
and redevelop the lot at 312 Coney
Island Avenue — where a bulky fourstory
brick building currently houses
a house of worship, a school, and a
large parking lot.
Under the current zoning laws, the
church could turn the property into a
17-story hotel, with space for a medical
offi ce, community facility, and church
elsewhere in the building — but the
organization feels that a residential
apartment building would be better
suited for the sleepy residential neighborhood,
according to the developer’s
lawyer.
In addition to a new church, the
proposed residential project would
contain 278 units, with 70 permanently
designated as so-called “affordable” —
offered between $856 a month for a studio
and $1,504 for a three-bedroom.
The apartment tower would also be
home to an 80 car parking garage that
would provide spaces for churchgoers,
140 bike parking spaces, and groundfl
oor retail storefronts.
At 13 stories, the building would
top out at 145 feet with a 15- to 20-foot
bulkhead, reps for the developers said
— but that stands in stark contrast to
the rest of the neighborhood, where
most buildings top out at six or seven
stories.
At the rezoning meeting, locals
worried that the infl ux of housing
units would lead to an increase of traffi
c during rush hour, piled garbage on
the street during collection days, and
accelerated gentrifi cation.
“I’m a single mom, I’m a teacher.
I can barely afford to live in Brooklyn
anymore. I’ve been chased from
neighborhood to neighborhood,” said
Dannette Plagge, who lives across the
street from the proposed site. “I look at
this proposal and I think what — do I
have to go back to the midwest where
I came?”
Others countered, arguing that the
solution to skyrocketing prices in the
area — where the formerly majority
working-class population has left, and
an infl ux of young professionals has
settled in — is to increase building.
“People will move to apartments
that are affordable — and if they are
not moving into new apartments they
are moving into apartments that already
exist,” said Charles Mangiardi,
a Caton Place resident, who echoed a
sentiment backed up by urban studies.
“That’s what drives up the cost of
rent.”
If the city doesn’t promote construction
of new housing, then the
old-guard of the neighborhood will be
pushed out, said Mangiardi.
“The buildings might look the
same, but the people in them are not
going to look the same if we don’t build
more,” he said.
The Borough President will hold
a hearing on the rezoning on Feb. 12
at Borough Hall, before Community
Board 7 makes its purely advisory recommendation
on Feb. 19.