FORT GREENE — The Department of City Planning announced yesterday the start of the public review process for the rezoning of 99 blocks within Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, in response to requests from Community Board 2, local civic groups and elected officials to protect the character of the low-rise, brownstone neighborhoods.

Much of the community’s concern stems from the massive, 22-acre Atlantic Yards basketball arena and high-rise development approved at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues, which is now tangled in court battles. The state agency that approved the development was able to override the city’s zoning. But residents are concerned that, if built, the project would encourage more high-rise development in the quiet, low-rise brownstone neighborhoods.

“It is essential to update the 45-year-old zoning that jeopardizes the neighborhood’s character and built fabric,� said City Planning Director Amanda Burden. “Our proposal would protect this predominantly low-rise area from out-of-scale development while at the same time finding appropriate opportunities for growth and affordable housing by utilizing the city’s groundbreaking inclusionary zoning program.� Inclusionary zoning gives developers a height and density bonus in exchange for providing affordable housing, which could be built on-site, in the same community board, or within a half-mile of the “bonused� development.

The rezoning area is generally bounded by Park Avenue on the north, Atlantic Avenue on the South, Classon Avenue to the east, and Ashland Place, Fort Greene Park and Carlton Avenue on the west. Under these zoning designations, tower apartment buildings without height limits are permitted, which has resulted in buildings that are inconsistent with the brownstone character of the neighborhood. And five blocks along Atlantic Avenue are zoned for light manufacturing and commercial uses, prohibiting residential uses.

According to the City Planning release, the rezoning proposal would:

• Protect the established brownstone character by establishing three-to five-story height limits on approximately 80 blocks;

• Allow six- to eight-story mixed-use apartment and commercial buildings along Atlantic Avenue, while prohibiting new industrial uses;

• Allow mixed retail and residential buildings along the commercial corridors of Myrtle Avenue and Fulton Street, and;

• Provide incentives for up to 260 affordable housing units along Atlantic and Myrtle avenues and Fulton Street through inclusionary zoning.

The community board now has 60 days to review the proposal, after which it will go to the Borough President’s office, the City Planning Commission and the City Council.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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