Oh, and about that affordable housing …
The developers of the defunct Domino Sugar factory made a complete turnaround on one of the most controversial charges against the project on Monday — announcing that all 660 below-market-rate housing units would remain so permanently.
That’s contrary to the Community Preservation Corporation’s promise on Feb. 23 that the affordable housing units in the $1.2-billion, 2,200-unit redevelopment of the old factory would stay cheap for just 15 years.
The prospect of a sunset clause on the affordable units was a key reason for Community Board 1’s Land Use Committee rejection of the proposal last week.
Turns out that the developers didn’t merely change their minds — they refreshed their memories about the rules for building along the Williamsburg waterfront.
“There was some confusion,” Susan Pollock, senior vice president of CPC, said at a tour of the site on Monday. “We realized that the 2005 waterfront rezoning requires permanent affordable housing.”
Even though the housing controversy is relieved, the company still has a long way to go to please everyone — including the full Community Board 1 next week and then Borough President Markowitz, the City Planning Commission and the City Council. The developer’s next big problem is a lack of transportation to the area — with little new transit on the table.
Community Board 1 will take up the issue at its monthly full board meeting at 6:30 pm on March 9 at the Swingin’ Sixties Senior Center [211 Ainslie St. at Manhattan Avenue in Williamsburg, (718) 389-0009].
