Last night was an eventful one at Scotto's Funeral Parlor, what with the Carroll Garden's Neighborhood Association's meeting about rezoning and the Smith Street Scarano debacle going on. Is ours the only community that holds its neighborhood meetings at a funeral home? I know this is Carroll Gardens and things are done differently here, but I just remember walking into what I though was a meeting once just to catch a glimpse of a dearly departed at the back of the room. Since then I have had an unsettled feeling everytime I attend a meeting of this worthwhile group. (Please someone: won't you offer them a more fitting meeting place? )
My husband was in attendance since he is pretty involved with C.G.N.A. Downzoning the neighborhood in time to save it from high-rises is high on his and the group's priority. But it seems that every time they try to move the agenda forward, it gets somehow tied in with the Gowanus Canal rezoning from manufacturing to residential. Funny how that works.
Our elected officials have a way of promising help with protecting C.G. in exchange for support in building high-rises along the shores of the canal. That is a clever ruse by our politicians, but a deal that C.G.N.A. should not make.
There are dark forces busy along the Gowanus. Developers are dreaming of making a fortune by building residential housing. Yes, I know, its all about the mighty dollar.
Of course there is the tiny little fact that most of the land is pretty much polluted and highly toxic. So this "brownfield" area first has to be cleaned up under the New York Brownfiled Cleanup program which give tax incentived to developers in exchange for cleaning the land. It may take awhile for all this to fall into place, but rest assured, the developers and the politicians already see a type of Battery Park along the Gowanus, high end condos starting at a "million five".
Problem is, under the New York Brownfield Cleanup Program, building condos on that land is forbidden. A friend who is very involved with this issue. sent me the link to the N.Y. Cleanut Program a while ago. If I am not mistaken, it is pretty clearly stated that no privately owned housing is to be sold on that land.
Here it is:
The New York Brownfield Cleanup ProgramFrom an analysis made by the law firm Knauf and Shaw, LLP
"In 2003, the New York State Legislature created the Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP), which is primarily set forth in Title 14 of New York Environmental Conservation Law Article 27. The law, which is administered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), provides a process for voluntary cleanup of sites contaminated with hazardous waste or petroleum, rewarding the applicant with a liability release and tax incentives
Condominium and single-family residential home projects are not covered by the tax credits because the credits only apply to depreciable property. The legislative bill drafters did not want the credits to apply to “for sale” property, including condominiums and single-family residential homes, because they did not want developers constructing remedial systems that may operate for extended periods of time and pass on the responsibility to operate such systems to home owners. A legislative fix is not anticipated in the near term. However, the program can be used for residential apartment development, and commercial developments that are part of the same development projects. Condominiums can be constructed but the proportional share of the project attributed to the condominiums would lose the tax credits for the portion of the project. There is currently a controversy over whether the tax credits do apply to co-operative development projects where the developer still owns the real estate, but sells shares in the co-operative corporation. Confirmation from the state on the co-op issue is anticipated shortly since several developers may be filing petitions with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance to clarify the issue.
Now I don't know what all of this means, but reading the above passage makes me wonder if anyone has even considered this when dreaming about privately owned condos along the Gowanus. It sure sounds to me that only rental buildings and maybe co-ops may be allowed.
Does anyone out there have a better idea? And are the mighty forces of the Gowanus just ignoring this? Just asking!
