BROOKLYN COMMUNITY BOARD 6
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
JULY 6, 2017
Attendance:
J. Armer P R. Levine P M. Shames P R. Bashner A S. Lonial P M. Silverman A P. Bellenbaum A R. Luftglass P S. Turet P P. Blake P E. McClure A P. Fleming P T. Miskel P G. Kelly E M. Racioppo A A. Krasnow P P = present, E = excused, A = absent
Guests:
M. Torrence
*** M I N U T E S ***
Committee Reports and Votes Parks/Recreation/Environmental Protection:
Department of City Planning report on Flood Resilience Zoning Update: DCP basically presented a review of what they have done previously, nothing new. Explanation was made about the difficulty to get changes to work within the new zoning. Flood text amendments are about 5 years out – since they have to wait until the new FEMA maps are published. Red Hook Fields: New field design. Motion is made to support the design as presented, with one amendment to incorporate more bike racks (regular racks, not Citibike). Q. What is the turf material? A. It was not described. Q. Make sure that the surface used is not the same as Cadman Plaza. Q. Why can’t they put back natural turf? A. Even though there is remediation, there would still be the potential for contamination to come back through grass. o Add to Motion: Conditional support to remove natural turf and replace with artificial turf, but the turf needs to be reviewed by CB6 prior to Bid. o Motion: Support the field design as presented, with two amendments: 1) incorporate more bike racks, 2) artificial turf must be reviewed and approved by Board, prior to being bid out to contractors.
Vote: 9 Yes, 1 No
Landmarks/Land Use Key Food Development. 2-year process with developer, elected and stakeholders. Key Food put the property on the market. (1-story building w/ surface parking) o Developer plans to build 2 buildings: One 5-7 story building on site of existing bldg. and a 4-story building on far side of lot. In between will be public for pedestrians only.
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o Council Member, Brad Lander and Fifth Avenue Committee took on the issue with local stakeholders. o Developer’s initial offer was a 9,000square foot supermarket. After negotiations, offer was 22,000 square feet, with 186 parking spaces. Rental apartments on Baltic. 25% of apartments (41 units) will be affordable (not Mandatory Inclusionary); 40% Area Median Income to 100% AMI. o Construction start date: anticipated Spring 2018, 2 years construction. o Request is for a change to the Urban Renewal Plan, which limits the site to a 40 foot height limit. However, the site zoning has a 75 foot’ contextural height limit. Motion was made to approve this change. Q. Any changes to design? A. No, same images were shown There will be some restrictions on Supermarket operator: specific operators are not allowed, such as higher end supermarkets. Community has some say on design Developer MUST commit to 22,000 square feet supermarket, 25% affordable units, active ground floor retail. o Note: CB6 has not been involved in negotiations, however, the outcome seems to be very good. The process was very public. o Motion: To remove 40foot height limit, and allow 75 feet as-of-right for zoning o o Vote: 11 Yes. 0 No Permits & Licenses
158 Beard Street Brewing Inc. Many local resident came out with concerns. Some issues were not related to the permit. Conditions were agreed to that the residents could live with. Limited closing times, no outdoor space, no private events, no live music, etc. None of the conditions are enforceable – but it is important to identify these conditions as part of the relationship between operation the operator the operator and CB6. o Suggestion was made to send the list of agreed conditions to other local agencies, such as NYPD who can enforce. 78th Precinct has been sent information on bars 76th Precinct should be sent conditions that are initialed. o Motion: Conditionally approve 158 Beard Street o Vote: 11 Yes. O No o 346-348 Flatbush (the old Frannies location) Small Italian restaurant. New liquor license o Motion: Conditionally approve 158 Beard Street o o Vote: 11 Yes. O No o 278 6th Street: Small Wine bar New liquor license o Motion: Move to approve o o Vote: 11 Yes. O No o Question: P&L has a quorum with only 5 people? A. The committee had more members when it was paired, but then the same number of people would come but they could never get a quorum.
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Cacao Preito 220 Conover Street: New liquor license. Community was notified, no opposition. o Motion: Move to approve o o Vote: 11 Yes. O No
Economic/Waterfront/Community Development & Housing
Self-Storage Zoning Text Amendment. City Planning proposal to limit self-storage businesses in IBZs. All three Councilmembers support the amendment. SWBIDC approves. o City Policy priority is to preserve locations in IBZ for a broad range of industrial uses. Self-storage has less employees and is more lucrative so it puts real estate pressure on manufacturing spaces. o Comment: Two major problems with this proposal: 1. It should have been tied to Hotel restrictions, as originally intended 2. Should protect all M zones (Self-storage is as-of-right in M1, M2, M3 and C8), but this only singles out the IBZ. That means the facilities will now target the M zones outside of the IBZ, where it tends to be more mixed use. o Comment: This is a step towards protecting IBZ, because the amendment proposes a new “District” within the IBZ in which Self-Storage will require a special permit. Currently IBZs do not have any zoning or regulatory protection and are not mapped as zoning. o Comment: Because the Hotel restrictive zoning is not ready – Hotels are likely to be pushing into IBZs right now. If this amendment is approved, then Self storage would push into M zones outside IBZs. o What are the criteria for the Special Permit? Similar to Variances – it must be proved that the site is not appropriate for industrial uses. o Why not require Special Permit in all cases; similar to Physical Culture establishments? o Motion: To support the Self-Storage Zoning Text Amendment. o Friendly Amendment: To fully support the IBZ and newly “Designated areas” and conditional support for the Self-Storage Text Amendment if the following is included: Hotels and other non-industrial uses are added to the list of businesses that require a Special Permit, and Special Permits are required in all M zones. (or did we just mean all M1 zones outside IBZs) o o Vote: 10 Yes, 1 No.
Youth/Human Services/Education Committee
Department of Homeless Services: DHS presented their plan for adding new shelters and reducing the “bad” shelters (Hotels and cluster sites). They requested that people consider what might be “acceptable” sites and help to get them developed. o If a building or site seems appropriate – what DHS suggests is to refer the site/owner to a non-profit who would be the DHS contract recipient. (DHS said that they pay market rate)
There being no further business to come before the committee, the meeting was adjourned.
The minutes were prepared by Ariel Krasnow 3