The current issue
Neighborhood Map
Bay Ridge
  • Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights
Brooklyn Heights
  • Downtown, DUMBO
Carroll Gardens
  • Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Boerum Hill
Fort Greene
  • Clinton Hill, Crown Heights
North Brooklyn
  • Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick
Park Slope
  • Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights
GO Brooklyn
Dining Guide
Where to GO
Events calendar
Classifieds
The Brooklyn Wire
Not Just Nets
Police Blotter
Perspective
Parenting
Politics
Transit
Podcasts
Brooklyn Cyclones
Merchant news
About The Paper
RSS Feeds

Council trims Two Trees plan

By Mike McLaughlin
for The Brooklyn Paper

Tools

Print this story
digg
del.icio.us

A Council subcommittee on Tuesday turned down a controversial proposal by a powerful developer to build apartments on Atlantic Avenue between Court and Clinton streets. The building would be the first exception to the 50-foot height limit in the Cobble Hill Historic District.

The unanimous vote by the 11-member Council’s zoning subcommittee is a victory for neighborhood groups that feared that low-rise historic districts would be threatened by many developers if the DUMBO-based Two Trees Management was allowed to build a 60-foot residence in the 50-foot zone.

Two Trees said it need the extra height so it could turn a profit and also generate sufficient revenue to maintain the landmark Independence Bank building next door, which it also owns. A Trader Joe’s supermarket is slated to go into that space next year.

The developer said that its situation was so unique that no other builder would be able to make the same argument.

Councilman Bill DeBlasio (D–Cobble Hill) had previously endorsed this proposal on repeated occasions, but surprised many constituents by coming out against it on Tuesday.

“The height waiver is not appropriate,” he said. “This building can [make] a contribution to our community so long as it stays within the 50-foot height limit.”

Councilman Tony Avella (D–Queens), who chairs the zoning subcommittee, told The Brooklyn Paper that Two Trees must now go back to the Department of City Planning and the Landmarks Preservation Commission to come up with a new design.

Before that happens, neighborhood groups were basking in DeBlasio’s change of heart.

“We were tremendously gratified that Bill agreed that the 50-foot height limit would cause a wave of attempts by developers in historic districts,” said Roy Sloane of the Cobble Hill Association.

The unexpected outcome knocked Two Trees back to the drawing board, but reminded it of a lesson learned long ago.

“My mother told me if I didn’t have anything nice to say, not to say anything,” said Jed Walentas, a spokesman for the company, and son of Two Trees’ owner, David Walentas.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

←Park Slope: Methodist gives back parking
→Theater: Don’t act, don’t tell

Reader Feedback

Enter your comment below

By submitting this comment, you agree to the following terms:

You agree that you, and not BrooklynPaper.com or its affiliates, are fully responsible for the content that you post. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented material or any material that may violate applicable law; doing so may lead to the removal of your post and to your being permanently banned from posting to the site. You grant to BrooklynPaper.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part world-wide and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.

First name
Last name
Your neighborhood
Email address
Daytime phone

Your letter must be signed and include all of the information requested above. (Only your name and neighborhood are published with the letter.) Letters should be as brief as possible; while they may discuss any topic of interest to our readers, priority will be given to letters that relate to stories covered by The Brooklyn Paper.

Letters will be edited at the sole discretion of the editor, may be published in whole or part in any media, and upon publication become the property of The Brooklyn Paper. The earlier in the week you send your letter, the better.