South Park Slope Community Group

Protesters Jeer Park Slope Hi-Rises.
*Park Slope Courier*

By Charles Hack

Developers are under fire from residents in the South Slope, accused of barreling through zoning laws to build two high-rise properties in an area of townhouses and low-rise apartments — as they try to beat the clock before new zoning laws would make higher developments illegal.

Demonstrators packed the sidewalk, waving placards and shouting “save our neighborhood,” and “four stories, that’s OK, 12 stories, take it away,” as they marched around the two square blocks that contain 166 16th Street and 182 15th Street between 5th and 4th Avenues, on Sept. 18.

The developer plans to build two 12 story buildings adding more than 110 units to the block, according to Jane Cyphers, a resident of 128 16th Street.

“He is not only doubling the population of two blocks, but permanently changing the fabric of our neighborhood,” said Cyphers.

“Amanda Burden at City Planning has done an extensive study in our region and came to the conclusion that it should be downzoned,” said Cyphers. “It’s not appropriate to have a three-story building next to a 12-story building. It’s just not appropriate.”

“It’s going to change the fabric of our neighborhood forever,” she said.
Cyphers said that she was initially enthusiastic that the vacant lot on 16th Street was going to be developed, but this changed when she heard how big the building was to be.

The two strips are currently zoned as R6, which might allow buildings up to 12 stories, according to the Department of City Planning Zoning Handbook. Under proposals to rezone 50 blocks in the South Park Slope, these sites would fall into an area that would be rezoned as R6B, which typically rises to just four stories.

This change has caused some developers to rush to lay foundations before the new zoning becomes effective.

“They don’t care what kind of damage they are causing. Their only concern is to get that foundation in,” said Raymond Zielinski of 151 16th Street, who says his house is being damaged by the vibrations from bulldozers, jack hammers and other excavation equipment at a nearby building site.

Sarah Safford, a resident of 251 15th Street, who joined the protest, said that she lived next door to a property which was originally to be a four-story building but ended up with seven stories.

“I want to help people to stop it from getting worse,” she said. “They [developers] had no consideration for any of the buildings around, what it looks like.”

John Burns, founder and chair of the South South Slope Community Group, said that the plot on 16th Street was a former winery purchased a year and half ago.

“We are not trying to hurt him financially,” said Burns.

City Councilmember Bill de Blasio said that the progress on the downzoning is “incredible” and urged the protesters to continue demonstrating against builders who were trying to beat the clock.

Calls to the developer, Issac Katan, were not returned in time for publication.

_Reprinted with permission from The Park Slope Courier._