City planning honchos will address the community on their vision for the long-stalled Gowanus rezoning on Oct. 22, giving a chance for local civic gurus to ask questions of the hotly-contested land use changes, according to a city rep.
“The Department of City Planning will give a general overview of the current status of the Gowanus plan and provide info on upcoming meetings and the ULURP process. We will also take questions from the Community Board about the proposal and timing,” said DCP rep Joe Marvilli in an email Friday.
The agency’s scheduled update on the project to Community Board 6’s Landmarks and Land Use Committee comes ahead of the roughly seven-month public review, known as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which the city plans to start by January at the latest.
The civic panel’s district manager hailed the city’s decision to engage the community on the proposed rezoning — but made no promises about the reaction of locals, saying only that the planners needed to adhere to demands of residents.
“This is good news as we’ve been asking for pre-certification meetings long before the pandemic hit. However, what is presented, and not just the timeline, will ultimately determine our reaction,” Michael Racioppo wrote in an email announcing the meeting Thursday.
The city scheme calls for wide-ranging land use changes which would allow for more and taller residential construction on former manufacturing land, potentially bringing around 20,000 new people to the neighborhood, along with new waterfront open spaces along the noxious Gowanus Canal and improvements to the area’s public housing stock.
Gowanus is one of the last major rezonings under the de Blasio administration, and has been given new life after the mayor resumed land use review procedures in September — which came after a several-month halt due to COVID-19 that put the rezoning’s future in jeopardy due to Hizzoner’s dwindling time left in office.
DCP presentation about the Gowanus rezoning to Community Board 6’s Landmarks and Land Use Committee. Oct. 22 at 6 pm. Register for the Zoom webinar here.
