Community Board 6's Landmark/Land Use Committee To Hold Public Hearing On Whole Foods

This just in from Craig Hammerman, manager of Community Board 6.

"Please be advised that there will be an upcoming Public Hearing and committee review ofan application* by Whole Foods Market to construct and operate a Food Store at 172-220 3rd Street (aka 214 3rd Street) at 6:00pm on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at St. Mary's Star of the Sea, 41 1st Street (between Hoyt/Bond Sts), Brooklyn.

*The project application is available for review at the Brooklyn CB6 district office during regular business hours."

This hearing certainly means that Whole Foods is still moving forward with their Gowanus Store at Third Street/ Third Avenue. The project has seen little action since 2006, when the national organic food purveyor announced that it was planning on opening a store along the polluted canal. It was tentatively supposed to open in 2008.

However, since the 2.15 acre site was contaminated with a plethora of industrial waste from a former coal yard, a petroleum oil company and a freight company, it first needed to be cleaned. The land was remediated under the Brownfield Clean-up program in early 2010. The work was overseen by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.

However, the project was temporarily stopped again when the Environmental Protection Agency declared the Gowanus Canal a Superfund site.

Now it would seem that Whole Foods is finally moving forward again. The Community Board public hearing is the first step in getting the zoning change needed to proceed.

After public input, CB6 will formulate "a recommendation on an application submitted to the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA Calendar No. 66-11-BZ) for a variance of Section 42-00 of the Zoning Resolution that would permit a Food Store (UG 6) in excess of 10,000 square feet in an M2-1 zoning district."