Residents who live around the Columbia Street Waterfront District remain worried about the scope of the city’s Brooklyn Marine Terminal plan, which would bring thousands of new apartments in several 30- to 40-story buildings, fearing it would transform the neighborhood without addressing critical infrastructure needs.
Last year, a task force of city, state and federal officials voted to give the ambitious $3.5 billion project the go-ahead, following a protracted and spirited political fight by local residents and elected officials against the plan that includes building 6,000 apartments, of which 40% would be marked as affordable housing, in a bid to transform the 122-acre waterfront area. City officials are now moving the project through a series of public scoping presentations while putting together an environmental impact statement on the proposed new development, as part of the state’s Environmental Quality Review Act, known as SEQRA.
Opposition to the project has largely unified the economically disparate corner of Brooklyn residents, many of whom say placing thousands of new residents in an area that is a transit desert and part of a flood zone is not smart urban planning.
“We will take comments on alternatives, but SEQRA does not require that we have to implement or pursue an alternative,” Hilary Semel, a lawyer with the Mayor's Office of Environmental Coordination, said at a presentation last week in Red Hook.
“It influences the decision making but there is no requirement to drive the decision making in any way,” she added, a point Semel returned to numerous times in response to questions.
“Why are we not using the city process?” complained John Leyva, a longtime tenant activist and opponent of the plan, who would prefer to see the plan's next steps go through the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure instead of the state’s General Project Plan process.
Going through ULURP would subject the plans to nonbinding votes from local community boards, instead of the task force of 28 politicians and local officials, who did not meet publicly and repeatedly delayed voting on the plan until task force leaders privately secured the support of initial opponents, including Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and City Council Member Shahana Hanif.
The fight over the development last year had attracted significant political attention – at least seven members of the task force publicly voted against the plan, including state Assemblymembers Jo Anne Simon and Marcela Mitaynes.
Lisa Gitlin, a columnist for the Red Hook Star-Revenue, said she was dismayed with the EDC's plan to build structures that are 325- to 425-feet-tall.
“Those kind of buildings would overshadow the neighborhood," she said.
Lizette Chaparro, vice president of Neighborhood Strategies at the city Economic Development Corporation, said the city is considering building designs that suit the area.
“What I would say is we are thinking very carefully about urban design decisions that we could make to make sure that it is an integrated neighborhood,” said Chaparro.
Residents have until March 31 to submit their own comments on the plans, with the Office of Environmental Coordination taking comment directly, per their site.
