100s In Sunset Park Sign Petition Against Industry City Rezone

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — As community board members get ready to revisit a proposed rezoning of Sunset Park's industrial complex, residents and business owners again made a plea to elected officials to stop the plans.

A coalition of activist groups tacked a letter and a petition signed by about 600 residents to the window of Council Member Carlos Menchaca's office on Friday afternoon, urging him to shut down the proposed rezoning of Industry City. Community Board 7 is set to discuss the rezoning Monday night.

Owners of the industrial park had submitted plans to add more than 1 million square feet of development to its 32-acre property in March, but then postponed the application after pressure from Menchaca and others, according to Curbed.

But those organizing in the neighborhood argue that "a delay is not good enough" given their fears the the rezone would displace their largely immigrant, working class residents and business owners.

"The Industry City rezoning, a developer driven rezoning plan, will turn our community into a playground for the wealthy, drive real estate speculation and drastically increase rents and cost of living for current and long time residents and workers," they wrote in their letter to Menchaca, which cced several other elected officials. "If passed, this rezoning will accelerate developer-led spot rezonings. We will lose our housing, our jobs, our friends and the place we call home. This is not what we want for the future of our community."

The letter, including the petition led by the group Protect Sunset Park, argue that the rezoning will only further increase rents that have been on the rise in the neighborhood.

Rents and cost of living has gone up by more than 63 percent in the past decade and more than half of Sunset Park households are rent burdened, the group said. One petitioner, Sky Wong, who owns a bubble tea and snack shop on Seventh Avenue, said he has seen his rent spike from $2,000 to $12,000 in his two decades in the neighborhood.

"If it continues like this, small businesses cannot survive," Wong said at the Friday rally.

The Industry City proposal includes changing zoning rules to make way for 900,000 square feet of food and retail space, 600,000 square feet for classrooms and educational facilities, and a pair of hotels with more than 400 rooms. The owners have said the rezone will bring 15,000 new jobs to the area.

But, residents rallying Friday told Menchaca that these jobs are not enough to justify the shift.

"The few jobs that Industry City might create will be to the detriment of the vibrant and diverse immigrant communities that over decades have built Sunset Park to be the wonderful neighborhood it is," the letter reads. "This rezoning will actually destroy jobs because it will destroy the existing small businesses that cannot compete with Industry City’s rising rents."

Community Board 7's meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Sunset Park library branch, at 4201 Fourth Avenue. It will include a review of all the 2018 Ton Hall meetings about the impact of the rezoning application and the community needs assessment reports.