A critical vote that would have determined the future of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal was postponed Friday, according to the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
"With the recent development of additional state funding for the BMT project, and at the request of Task Force Leadership, the vote on the Vision Plan is postponed until mid-July," the EDC said in a statement without expanding further.
The 28-person task force includes residents and local elected officials who have opposed the BMT Vision Plan as it stands, which includes overhauling a crumbling marine terminal and building about 6,000 apartment units, 40% of which would be affordable housing.
Critics of the plan have said the city is rushing the approval process, should not pay for such a large project through the development of luxury housing and the plan fails to address transportation and other infrastructure issues.
State Senator Andrew Gounardes said there's a reason why the task force vote was postponed rather than proceeding with a "no" vote.
“Late last night, state officials notified me that they plan to commit funding to re-imagine and modernize the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, an important win for which I and fellow Task Force members have been fighting for months. While this commitment is exciting, many important details remain unclear. In order to fully understand the implications of this funding and how it could shape the Terminal’s future, I asked EDC to push back the Task Force’s vote," he said in a statement.
He continued: “I know there are some in the community who want the Task Force to stop engaging in this process and simply say ‘no.’ But I am deeply concerned about the implications of walking away and starting over. My staff and I have spent hundreds of hours in Task Force meetings, public engagements, town halls, and conversations with community members, all in service of identifying and fighting for better outcomes in this plan."
In an op-ed published Thursday in BK Reader, Adolfo Carrion Jr., the Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce, pushed for the task force to approve the plan.
"By voting yes, you are saying yes to jobs, homes, industrial space, public parks, resilience, and a city that can develop and deliver ambitious projects that ensure New York retains its status as the greatest city on earth," he wrote.
Had the plan been approved on Friday, the project on the Red Hook/Columbia Street Waterfront District would have then entered an environmental review process and construction would have started in about three to four years, according to EDC President Andrew Kimball, who spoke on Spectrum News New York 1 on Friday morning.
