The City Council gave the green light to the largest rezoning of Mayor de Blasio’s administration on Tuesday, paving the way for more than 8,000 new apartments and a multi-million dollar public housing investment in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn.
The rezoning, which was championed by local Democratic Councilman and Comptroller-elect Brad Lander, will also earmark millions of dollars for strengthening stormwater infrastructure in the flood-prone neighborhood, as well as renovations to a public library and the historic Old Stone House.
“As we recover from the pandemic, Gowanus provides a model for the more integrated, vibrant and resilient New York City we can build for the future,” Lander said.
Of the approximately 8,500 new apartments that are expected to come to the neighborhood under the rezoning, some 3,000 are supposed to be “permanently affordable” and set aside for low to moderate-income families, according to Mayor de Blasio, whose administration has pushed for the plan for years.
Ahead of the vote in the Council, the outgoing mayor touted the plan as “the biggest rezoning this administration has done over our eight years” and vowed to sign off on it in the coming days.
“We’re thrilled,” de Blasio said, calling the rezoning “a big, big deal” that’s “going to create so much affordable housing, jobs, so much good for people in Brooklyn and beyond.”
In addition to the new apartments, the rezoning funnels $200 million into capital improvements and renovations at the Gowanus Houses and Wyckoff Gardens, a couple of NYCHA developments in the neighborhood.
Another $250 million is baked into the plan for building and repairing supporting infrastructure in the area, including parks, community centers and sewer systems.
The rezoning was widely supported among New York politicos, including Mayor-elect Eric Adams, who gave it his blessing over the summer.
It passed the Council in a 47-1 vote, with the only no coming from Brooklyn Councilman Carlos Menchaca, who has a record of opposing rezoning efforts in the city.
The plan has also stirred some criticism from local residents.
A group known as the Voice of Gowanus has long raised concern that incentivizing major development in the area could exacerbate pollution in Gowanus Canal, already one of the dirtiest waterways in the city.
The activist group has also charged that the rezoning did not undergo adequate environmental impact reviews.
Lander and other rezoning supporters have countered that such concerns are overblown since developers are required under the plan to clean up long-polluted brownfield sites in the area, elevate their buildings to protect against long-term daily tidal flooding and meet new stormwater management requirements to curb sewer overflow.
But Martin Bisi, a local studio engineer and organizer with the Voice of Gowanus, said he’s not buying it and suggested his group is still holding out hope that courts could block the plan.
“As Brad Lander celebrates a massive violation of state and federal law today — one that endangers the safety of our community and the environment, and bends to the interests of big real estate — we note that a certain lady has not yet sung when it comes to the Gowanus rezoning,” Bisi said. “See you in court.”
