Text change approved protecting Carroll Gardens

Landscaped front yards in Carroll Gardens. Photo: Molly Brennan.

City Council approves “narrow streets” characterization. On July 23, 2008, the City Council approved a text amendment designed as a stopgap to curb out-of-character development in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn. The proposal amends the zoning text to identify six blocks of Carroll Gardens as having “narrow streets,” addressing a unique situation in that Brooklyn neighborhood. The affected blocks have deep, landscaped front yards that … <Read More>


Park Slope may get BID

Plan encompasses over 900 businesses. On January 9, 2008, the Planning Commission approved an application by the Department of Small Business Services to create the Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District. The BID would represent 605 properties and 515 property owners, including 106 residential properties.

The BID would allow an annual assessment on businesses and residents to enhance sanitation, security and marketing. The $300,000 firstyear budget would come from assessments on commercial properties, with … <Read More>


Proposal for Trader Joe’s on Atlantic Ave. approved

South Brooklyn Savings Bank building at 130 Court St. Photo: Sam Porter.

Opponents challenged 60-foot height. On September 17, 2007, the Planning Commission approved the special permit application of Two Trees Management Co. LLC, facilitating its controversial plan to build a six-story, 60-foot tall building adjacent to the South Brooklyn Savings Bank, a 1922 building located at Atlantic Avenue and Court Street within the Cobble Hill Historic District. Overall, the development would include 31,512 sq.ft. … <Read More>


DOT proposes one-way plan for Park Slope avenues

Comm. Board’s transportation committee opposes initial plan. The Department of Transportation proposed a plan to Brooklyn Community Board 6 to change 6th and 7th Avenues in Park Slope to one-way traffic and reduce the number of lanes on 4th Avenue.

On March 15, 2007, DOT presented the proposals to Board 6’s Transportation Committee. DOT proposed to turn 6th Avenue between 23rd Street and Atlantic Avenue into a northbound one-way avenue, and 7th Avenue between Flatbush … <Read More>


Residential use approved in Red Hook industrial zone

BSA sides with owner despite strong opposition. On August 22, 2006, BSA granted a variance to Atlas Packaging Solutions Holding Corporation, the owner of a vacant, 2,500- square-foot lot at 146 Conover Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, to allow construction of a six-unit, four-story, 5,350-square-foot residential building in a manufacturing zone (M2-1). Prior to 1980, the lot contained a residential building.

In support of the variance, Atlas argued that the site’s small size and the … <Read More>


New mixed-use building okayed after size reduction

Variance will allow 11 new dwellings and ground floor commercial in a manufacturing zone. BSA approved a use variance, permitting a five-story residential development with ground floor commercial on an M1-1 zoned lot with unobstructed views of lower Manhattan at the corner of Columbia and Congress Streets in Brooklyn.

When the project site, two lots totaling 4,773 sq.ft., was purchased by the variance applicants, Isaac, Jacqueline, and Maurice Douek, it contained two vacant four -story … <Read More>