At a public hearing scheduled for next week, worried Borough Parkers are hopeful that Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso will join the growing list of those opposing a sought zoning change that may bring a 93-foot-tall apartment complex to a residential street.
The area under question is a collection of undeveloped parcels on 57th Street between 12th and 13th Avenues.
A zoning change from R5 to R6A would allow for construction of an eight-story, 79,330-square-foot building that would be complemented by a 10-foot height bulkhead, according to an environmental assessment statement provided by the developer.
Currently, only the neighborhood’s avenues are permitted to have taller structures; three floors is the maximum height allowed for buildings on residential streets in Borough Park.
To voice their opposition to the zoning change, some hundred Borough Parkers attended a Community Board 12 meeting on April 20th.
The zoning committee of Community Board 12 voted unanimously against the amendment, and the board then voted to reject it in a consultative role.
Reynoso will hold a public hearing on May 15 at Brooklyn Borough Hall. Free transportation will be available from Borough Park, according to a grassroots organization opposing the zone shift, and attendees are encouraged to show their support for the initiative.
Avrumi Klein, a local, said the zoning application is similar to one made for potential development in Dyker Heights.
According to the Brooklyn Eagle, the developer of that project, which was slated to be built on the four-lane-wide 86th Street, withdrew it after the neighborhood rejected it.
According to Klein, one significant distinction between the two projects is that an outsider is creating the Borough Park project while a longtime resident is building the Dyker Heights project. John Gulino, a resident of Staten Island and the former Democratic Party chairman of Richmond County, was identified by Klein as the developer. Gulino was ranked number 12 on City & State New York’s list of the 50 most influential people in Staten Island in 2019.
According to Klein, “This developer doesn’t care about the community,” Without the initial plans being dropped, the developer’s amended proposal for a smaller building is pointless.
“It is essential that people attend and express their ideas. We must demonstrate to the borough president that Borough Park opposes this.
Reynoso’s acceptance or rejection of the zone change is merely the next step in the procedure; the City Council will make the final determination.
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