Gowanus Rezoning Public Review Still On Hold After 2nd Court Date

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN —The long-awaited kickoff to the city's plan to rezone Gowanus is still on hold even after a second court hearing over a lawsuit against the proposal.

Kings County Supreme Court Justice Katherine Levine said Thursday that she is waiting to let the city "certify" its Gowanus Neighborhood Plan — a step that kicks off the public review process known as ULURP — until she mulls arguments about the use of virtual hearings during the coronavirus crisis.

The city had planned to certify the proposal on Jan. 19 before a lawsuit from local groups, who say the city should wait until in-person meetings about it can be held.

"I am not lifting the stay on the ULURP proceeding because I have to decide the issue of what kind of hearings will be held," Levine said.

The decision, or lack thereof, comes a week after Levine partially lifted a restraining order on the Gowanus plan so the city could release a copy of the application to the public, a step that usually comes after certification.

The rest of the restraining order will likely be lifted soon. Levine said Thursday she is leaning toward siding with the city on the question of whether they followed proper "pre-certification" steps, like notifying local community boards and posting that notice on their website.

The majority of the community board in question have said they have no problems with the way they were notified and the entire application is now online, Levine pointed out.

In both court hearings, the judge has also seemed skeptical about delaying the rezoning altogether until in-person public hearings are allowed, but has asked city officials to "be creative" with how to ensure everyone has access.

"Guess what, we have the UK COVID, we have the Brazilian COVID, my husband is in the hospital with COVID for a month — everybody is sick, and it's going to get worse, not better," she said Thursday. "COVID is still here."

Last week, she floated the idea of setting up computers at a public site where those without access to technology could come tune into city hearings while social distancing.

This Thursday, Levine discussed other qualms the groups filing the lawsuit — Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus (FROGG)— have with virtual meetings, including the moderator controlling who is seen and who speaks and not being able to see everyone who is there.

Lawyers for the city maintained that they've already made virtual meetings as accessible as possible.

"We’ve done everything within reason that could be done," Christopher King, from the city's law department, said. "Yeah, virtual meetings aren’t perfect, neither are in-person meetings...At the end of the day, it’s not how we can perfect this process…it’s about whether what the city is doing is rational and reasonable under the circumstances."

Levine said she will study case law surrounding the City Charter's requirement for a "public assembly" to make her final decision.

Read more:

• How To Find The Recently-Released Gowanus Rezoning Application
• Judge To Partially Lift Restraining Order On Gowanus Rezoning
• Judge Stalls Controversial Gowanus Rezoning After Local Lawsuit
• Gowanus Rezoning Opponents Sue City For Using Virtual Meetings