City Releases Long-Awaited Rezoning Proposal for Gowanus Neighborhood

NEW YORK CITY—The New York City Planning Department released on Wednesday the long-awaited draft plan to rezone a wide swath of the Gowanus neighborhood in Brooklyn.

The plan calls for the increased development of what city officials hope will be inclusive mixed-use developments and affordable housing, as well as better access to the long-polluted Gowanus Canal that is in the final phases of an estimated $506-million cleanup. The draft zoning proposal covers an area bounded by Bond Street to the west, Baltic Street to the north, 4th Avenue to the east, and Huntington, 3rd, 7th and 15th streets to the south.

The draft Gowanus zoning proposal will be a part of a comprehensive package of city initiatives, city officials state. The draft rezoning plan seeks to achieve multiple goals outlined in the Gowanus Framework released last June with affected areas to support mixed-use growth with affordable housing, maintain and grow Gowanus’ commercial and industrial businesses. The plan also affords property owners the means to activate ground floors and create new public spaces.

The draft plan calls for the Gowanus Canal to become the centerpiece of a “green, resilient neighborhood” with new, sustainable, mixed-use development boasting more than six acres of new open space and parks.

“The Gowanus draft zoning proposal is a strong next step toward the sustainable, inclusive, mixed-use neighborhood that the community has been envisioning for many years,” says New York City Council member Brad Lander. “The draft zoning proposal and framework updates address issues of environmental remediation and sustainability, a dynamic and resilient waterfront, significant new affordable and market-rate housing, public housing improvements, preserving the ‘Gowanus mix’ of arts and manufacturing, integrated schools, historic preservation, new open space, and school and transit improvements.”

“Gowanus has a rich history as an industrial and manufacturing hub in New York City,” said James Patchett, president and CEO of New York City Economic Development Corp. “The Gowanus neighborhood plan will foster an inclusive and more resilient community by promoting economic growth and affordable housing. I applaud our colleagues at the Department of City Planning for their tremendous work on this effort.”

The rezoning plan calls for measures geared at the remediation of brownfield sites to foster new development. Some of the measures include requirements for new development along the canal to meet more stringent standards for climate resilient development and to elevate the shoreline to protect against long-term daily tidal flooding, while allowing for access to the waterfront.

The plan also would ensure the creation of continuous public waterfront open space with ecologically functional design across properties and street ends, including opportunities for green infrastructure to reduce the impacts of runoff. Other components would promote the creation of neighborhood open space and schools.

A zoning transit easement on properties above subway stations along 4th Avenue to support new entrances, ADA accessibility and other station improvements is also part of the plan. In addition, Department of Environmental Protection infrastructure upgrades, including recently completed sewer construction as well as planning, design and property acquisition for infrastructure to reduce sewage entering the Canal are also part of the plan. This work and additional planned city investments complement the aforementioned federal Superfund cleanup of the Gowanus Canal.

The draft zoning proposal calls for maintaining areas that currently feature light industrial, artist, commercial, and community activity only, including those between 3rd and 4th Avenue and around 4th and Hoyt streets. The proposal would increase the density for job-generating uses and new rules would perhaps spur the development of loft-style buildings sought by many businesses today that are difficult to build under current zoning. To further support business growth and expansion, outdated parking and loading requirements for commercial and industrial uses would be eliminated.

Along the Gowanus Canal and near the Thomas Greene Playground zoning requirements and incentives would look to facilitate larger-scale mixed-use developments with active ground floors, housing and an incentive for uses that the planning department states would “reflect the neighborhood character.” These uses include: light industrial and repair-based businesses, non-profit organizations, arts and cultural uses, and other job-generating uses. Publicly accessible waterfront open space also would be mandated in connection with private developments along the Gowanus Canal.

Other key facets of the plan include that where new residential is permitted, new buildings would be required to provide a portion of the residential space as permanently affordable housing under the provisions of the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program.

A bone of contention for well over a decade in the Gowanus neighborhood has been that a large portion of 4th Avenue was rezoned as part of the 2003 Park Slope Rezoning that allows for new development without any affordable housing. To ensure new developments along 4th Avenue set aside a certain amount of permanently affordable housing, the proposed zoning would apply MIH coupled with a moderate increase in the existing allowable density. Additionally, existing ground-floor parking could be replaced by active ground-floor uses to further improve the streetscape and safety along 4th Avenue, city officials note.

The rezoning plan also would facilitate the redevelopment of a vacant city-owned site, known as Public Place, at the corner of Smith and 5th Street for affordable housing and complementary uses. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development is planning for a major mixed-use development with affordable housing, community-oriented space, as well as retail and open space at the site.

Once a Draft Environmental Impact Statement and land use application are complete in connection with the proposed zone changes, the official public review process (ULURP) will begin on the Gowanus proposal.

The New York City Department of Planning has scheduled a meeting on Feb. 6 to detail the finer points of the proposal and gather feedback from the public on the zoning proposal. The session will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will be held at PS32 at 317 Hoyt St.