Gowanus Rezoning Process Resumes This Week: What To Expect

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — A months-long delay on the Gowanus rezoning during the coronavirus crisis will come to an end Thursday as the city starts a final push toward the land use review process, bringing to a head nearly a decade of planning for the neighborhood transformation.

The kick-off on Thursday will come in the form of a presentation from Department of City Planning officials at Community Board 6's Landmark/Land Use Committee meeting, where they plan to unveil a timeline for certifying the rezoning proposal by January.

Once certified, the proposal will officially begin the city's Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP).

Planning officials have promised the lead-up to January will include a series of public meetings, which will nail down final details of the plan and likely bring to a head what have been fierce disagreements between the rezoning's supporters and opponents.

Patch talked with Council Member Brad Lander about what to expect in those final months. Here's a summary based on the conversation:

First of all, what is the Gowanus Rezoning? How did we get here?

The Gowanus Rezoning Plan, developed by the Department of City Planning over the last decade, aims to bring more affordable housing, climate-change protections and varied development to the once-industrial neighborhood.

The drafted proposal was officially released in 2019 after years of both community-led and city-led brainstorming about the goals for the neighborhood, which first started in 2013.

The proposal was originally set to start ULURP in the spring, but was held off by the coronavirus crisis, which paused land use applications from moving through the process.

Full details about the draft can be found on the City Planning website here.

What might change in the Gowanus Rezoning plan before January?

According to Lander, the most significant question that remains in the city's proposal is how it will address concerns of New York City Housing Authority residents, who have urged for the plan to include investments in their buildings as a means of promoting racial justice in the neighborhood.

Both Lander and community groups have said they will not support the rezoning should a plan for these investments be absent.

"Unless we get an adequate plan...we won't move forward. There won't be a rezoning," Lander told Patch. "That's the big outstanding area that remains."

What will be considered an adequate plan will be pretty clear-cut, Lander added, given that the list of repairs needed at the Gowanus and Wyckoff houses are well documented. How it is funded — whether through city capital, a NYCHA preservation trust, or developer deals — will be up to the Department of City Planning.

The next few months will also include updates from City Planning about a few, smaller outstanding details.

Among them will be:

• Information on whether 75 or 100 percent affordable housing is expected on what's known as the "Gowanus Green" development.
• How the city will address a new stormwater requirement passed since the rezoning proposal was released.
• Updates on what Lander said are the "transit bonus" and "school bonus" elements of the plan. The Gowanus Rezoning has promised extra school seats to accommodate the influx of new residents, as well as infrastructure upgrades to nearby subway stations.
• Whether the city will agree to narrow the uses for what's known as the "Special Gowanus Mixed-Use District." There has been a push for it to focus more so on arts, artisan and nonprofit uses.

What will those meetings, in the age of the coronavirus crisis, look like?

Like most meetings amid the coronavirus crisis, the pre-certification meetings and the ULURP process will likely be led virtually, a concern for some critics of the proposal.

To prepare for the restart of ULURP, the city launched an online portal called NYC Engage, which is meant to give the public access to remote meetings and hearings.

Lander said there is also work underway to provide technology help to those that might need it to participate.

Ensuring involvement in ULURP is a challenge even outside of the pandemic, he said, but he feels good about the "starting point" for this particular proposal.

"Over last 8 years, since 2013, there’s been probably more public engagement in planning for the future of Gowanus than any other neighborhood around — We’re starting from a good base of involvement," Lander said.

"Making sure we keep true to that through the pandemic is a new challenge. That’s why we're restarting the process with a couple months of public meetings."

Thursday's Landmarks/Land Use Committee is at 6 p.m. Find information about how to watch here and the portal to submit comments here.