Hi guys,
Look, my better half is quoted on Gowanus Lounge. He is quite eloquent. Must be the Irish in him...


The big Carroll Gardens Issue
For all the discussion in Carroll Gardens about the building that will be built at 360 Smith Street, and its design and height, the bigger issues according to community leaders are rezoning the neighborhood and enlarging its Historic District. The rub, however, is that neither are likely to happen soon. Residents have been told by the Department of City Planning that it will be at least four or five years before the start of a Carroll Gardens rezoning process (which itself could take a year or quite a bit longer). Likewise, the process of expanding the neighborhood's two-block Historic District is likely to involve years of painstaking research.

"We can stomp our feet and snort and growl to try to create political pressure," said resident Glenn Kelly of the most likely way to try to get rezoning accomplished more quickly. Residents fear that parts of the community have a bull's eye drawn over them by developers because the current R6 Zoning makes it an appealing target for relatively high density development. Nearby neighborhoods like Park Slope, Fort Greene, Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights all have zoning which limit building height. R6 zoning doesn't limit height.

"We're very concerned right now," Mr. Kelly said. "There are some very large parcels of land available."