In March, the city released a draft scope of work which projected the perspective rezoning of Gowanus will trigger the creation of approximately 8,200 new apartments by 2035. The draft scope maps out the environmental impact study that must take place before the project can move into the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP).
It’s been a long time in the planning stages but at last The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will begin it’s Superfund cleanup of the Gowanus Canal next summer.
On the issue of preserving the history of industry in Gowanus, last month the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission voted in favor of calendaring 5 properties in Gowanus as landmarks; The Gowanus Flushing Tunnel Pumping Station and Gate House located at 196 Butler Street; The Somers Brothers Tinware Factory (later Old American Can Factory) located at 238-246 3rd Street; The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) Central Power Station Engine House located at 153 2nd Street; The Montauk Paint Manufacturing Company building located at 170 2nd Avenue and The American Society For The Prevention of Cruelty To Animals (ASPCA) Rogers Memorial Building located at 233 Butler Street.
Local Council member Brad Lander said that he would push for additional sites identified by the Gowanus Landmarking Coalition, including the Roulston Grocery Warehouse located on 9th Street and 2nd Avenue and the R.G. Dun & Company building located on Nevins and Butler Streets.
The history of the neighborhood includes a Native American fishing ground site and a Revolutionary War Battlefield site that paved the way to a booming and vibrant port for the Shipping and Manufacturing industry, then an urban renewal area and finally the neighborhood that exists today.
As the city gets closer to formalizing the rezoning of Gowanus, some plans are being presented to provide waterfront protections by elevating land near the shoreline, affordable housing, new parks and bridges over the canal.
The rezoning draft covers the blocks bounded by Bond Street to the West, Baltic Street to the North, Fourth Avenue to the East and along the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone to the South, near the Gowanus Canal and Seventh Street.
The new zoning would permit more mixed use buildings on Fourth Avenue and create a waterfront green space along the canal, as well as the redevelopment of a city owned lot located at the corner Smith and Fifth Streets into a mixed use, affordable housing building that includes retail and open space.
To Be continued…
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