South Park Slope Community Group

By Charles Hack
*The Park Slope Courier.*

Even as community members celebrate the City Council’s lightning fast approval of the Planning Department’s rezoning of South Park Slope, concern has turned to whether developers will be allowed to finish 12-story towers they started building before the rezoning became law.

The City Council unanimously voted to approve the rezoning plan on Nov. 16, which will prevent nine to 12-story tower developments that were being built in South Park Slope. The new rules took effect immediately.

“This is a great victory for the South Park Slope and Green-Wood Heights area,” said Aaron Brashear, co-founder of the Concerned Citizens of Green-Wood Heights. “This will discourage development that was so rampant in area. We need to move onto the next phase of community advocacy, which is to be a watchdog of current and new development sites in our area.”

Responding to community pressure, the Department of City Planning rezoned 50 blocks in South Park Slope, the outer boundaries of which reach 15th Street, Fourth Avenue, Prospect Park West and 24th Street and Green-Wood Cemetery.

The proposed zoning, which aims to protect the low-rise character of the neighborhood, will continue to allow mixed retail and residential buildings on several avenues, and higher density buildings along Fourth Avenue. Incentives will be provided for affordable housing on Fourth Avenue.

“The South Park Slope rezoning fulfills a commitment from the Bloomberg Administration to respond to the outcry from this community regarding out-of-scale, inappropriate development and I am thrilled that it has been adopted by the City Council,” said Amanda M. Burden, chair of the City Planning Commission and director of the Department of City Planning.

The fate of several developments — where developers have been working furiously to pour the foundations before the new zoning becomes law – is still unknown.

On the day the council voted, the Buildings Department was inspecting the status of nearly 80 building sites that could be affected by the new zoning, to decide whether they fell under the new zoning or the old zoning.

“We have been taking photos and creating files for 78 properties that we feel might be impacted by downzoning and are completing review of those inspections to determine who has been vested (grandfathered) under previous laws and who has to comply with newly prescribed zoning,” said Jennifer Givner, press secretary for the Buildings Department.

Some stop work orders were issued on properties that may violate the new zoning laws, where the foundations were not yet poured.

According to Brashear, these include construction sites at 245 16th St. and 200 16th St.

The Buildings Department has already posted a notice on a 12-story building at 182 15th St. — where a stop work has been in effect for several weeks — saying that the plans will not be vested. This means the developer must resubmit new plans that comply with new zoning laws.

But the fight may not end with the Buildings Department. Some buildings, whose foundations have been partially poured, may fall into a gray area and the developers may decide to appeal to Board of Standards and Appeals for a waiver.

Other developers may claim hardship and request a variance.

The Buildings Department allowed the architect of 614 Seventh Avenue to self-certify the foundations were completed on the day the rezoning was complete. The development could block the view between Green-Wood Cemetery’s Minerva statue and Lady Liberty.

The future of another controversial building, a 12-story development at 162 16th St. is still unknown.

Bo Samajopoulos, who supports the rezoning says that he fears that appeals to the BSA will be approved.

“The problem is, it’s all about money,” said Samajopoulos. “And they have the money.”

However, he said that the community will do “anything and everything” to prevent nonconforming developments from going through.

John Burns, founder of South Park Slope Community Group, one of the driving forces behind the rezoning effort, said that the speed at which the rezoning was approved- they requested the rezoning only last year- was because of intense pressure after the rezoning of Park Slope to the north.

“Hopefully this will preserve a good chunk of the neighborhood from overreaching development,” said Burns.

_Reprinted with permission from the Park Slope Courier._

It’s official!! As of 2:40pm, Wednesday the 16th of November 2005, South Park Slope and Greenwood Heights have been downzoned. Another mindless R6 district has bitten the dust thanks to the hard work of dedicated neighbors, the Brooklyn Office of the Dept. of City Planning, politicians, one very active Community Board (CB7), and numerous other supportive individuals and groups across NYC. Our thanks goes out to the many, many persons that have donated time, money and resources to this cause.

*The City Council voted unanimously in favor* of the South Park Slope/Greenwood Heights downzoning proposal. R6b and R5b zoning protections now control the area. See the new detailed map for more info.

And so what happens to the numerous sites that were racing to beat the clock? Like the two Isaac Katan 12-story monsters on 15th and 16th streets? And the Robert Scarano building on 23rd St. and 7th Ave. which threatened to block the view from Minerva on Battle Hill to the Statue of Liberty? Well, it looks like it might be a clean sweep in favor of the community. More info in the days to follow as DOB follows through on inspections, but it looks like none have completed foundations.

If that is the case then I’m sure we’ll still be in business fighting these developers for the foreseeable future. The downzoning is done, but we are not going anywhere! We will continue to fight this battle wherever the developers take it.

But today we celebrate.

Members of the community testify in front of the City Council Sub-Committee on Zoning 11-14-05.

The City Council’s Sub-Committee on Zoning, chaired by Councilman Tony Avella, was ready to show its support for the neighbors of South Park Slope (SPS) and Greenwood Heights this morning. This is one of the busier committees because of the outcry from the many communities in need of zoning protections. *The committee approved the SPS ULURP* and will send their recommendation on to the full committee for a vote tomorrow, Tuesday 11-15. Once the full committee votes it will then be presented before the City Council on Wednesday 11-16. The moment it is signed it is law.

Do you hear that? That is the sound of developers furiously pouring concrete in an effort to get their foundations in by Wednesday. (A very dangerous situation, to say the least.) Councilman Avella is sponsoring a bill that will impose a freeze on new buildings once a ULURP has been certified by the Dept. of City Planning (Bill number 679). We should all keep a look out for this bill and do what we can to urge its passage. In essence it will make this “foundation race” a moot point.

The full Planning Committee meeting is in the Committee Room at City Hall, Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 10:00 AM.
The full City Council will hear the matter at 1pm on Wednesday.

By Ariella Cohen
_*The Brooklyn Papers*_

If you feel like you are just blowing hot air over the
telephone, you may be right. The Brooklyn Papers
learned this week that while 311 operators
will hear out your complaints, they might not necessarily be
taking them down. In fact, whenever more than one
complaint comes in aboutthe goings-on at a
construction site, the first — and only the first — has
to be filed by an operator.

This came to light as a result of a heated exchange
between a 311 operator who refused to take a
repeat complaint from a 23rd Street resident on
Oct. 29.

Aaron Brashear, founder of Concerned Citizens
of Greenwood Heights, called 311 at 7:34 am
that day to report what he called off-hours
construction at a house on his block. Fourteen
minutes later, he called back to log a
second complaint

*Park Slope Courier.*

Charles Hack

For two groups that exist to protect the character and scale of their neighborhood, the imminent downzoning of South Park Slope might seem a good time to celebrate, pack up and move on. But with a seemingly endless development boom, the South Park Slope Community Group and Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights know that their work has just begun. The two organizations met to discuss how they can protect their neighborhood from unscrupulous developers, at the Grand Prospect Hall, 263 Prospect Avenue, on Nov. 1. “Even though we are going to be downzoned in most of the areas — and upzoned along Fourth Avenue — there is still going to be development in the community,” said Aaron Brashear, co-founder of the Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights. “There are going to good developers and there are going to be bad boys, and we have to become a watchdog group.” The group wants neighbors to work together by asserting their rights against shady development practices that the speakers say are prevalent in the area.

New zoning laws preserve the low-density character of South Park Slope and Green-Wood Heights, while allowing developers to increase the height and density of new buildings on Fourth Avenue.

South Park Slope Community Group founder, John Burns, anticipates that developers who plan to construct properties that will be prohibited under new zoning laws will try to seek waivers from Board of Standards & Appeals to finish their plans.

For example, they may claim hardship, said Burns, who is an attorney.
“We want start to build a case and start looking at the violations, problems and all the issues that are there,” said Burns.

Faced with some 30 building sites in the 50 blocks, the Park Slope Community Group is creating and circulating a leaflet entitled “Know Your Rights,” which is available on the organization

*Thursday November 10th, 7pm.* Stable Brooklyn, an East Windsor Terrace group also asking for zoning protections, will be presenting their case at a public hearing of the CB7 Land Use Committee. Topic will be the 22 Canton Place ULURP. They are attempting to keep the developer from upzoning the site from R6 to 7A.

This meeting is going to be held at the International Baptist Church – Spanish Auditorium located at 312 Coney Island Ave. (Enter at school entrance on Canton Ave.) For more info on Stable Brooklyn. Stable Brooklyn has been a big supporter of our cause. We should all make an effort to come out for this event and return the favor.