Brooklyn Community Board 13 threw a fork in the road for a major redevelopment of Coney Island on Wednesday when the board declined to approve the land-use application for a $3 billion casino project.
With a 24-11 vote, with three recusals and eight abstentions, the CB13 general board said no to the land-use application for The Coney, which is looking to turn parts of the beach-front community into a major entertainment district that includes a casino, hotel and shopping center.
The pro-casino group is headed by real estate developer Thor Equities, which is looking to snag one of three coveted downstate casino licenses that is expected to be handed out by Dec. 31. Ahead of this, The Coney is pushing forward with its Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) to demap, or alter the current land use restrictions, on parts of Bowery Street so it can build higher structures with pedestrian bridges.
Thor Equities already owns the properties on the proposed site adjacent to Surf and Stillwell Avenues.
The community board vote is only a recommendation, but Wednesday’s meeting was a temperature check on community support for the casino project. The NYC Planning Commission makes the final decision on any land-use revisions, and the casino consortium needs the approval of the state Community Advisory Committee and Gaming Facility Location Board before receiving a casino license.
That said, in order for the CAC to advance the proposed projects to the GFLB for final recommendation, proposals need to show "sufficient demonstration of public support." The GFLB will then make a recommendation to the New York State Gaming Commission, which has the final say.
The auditorium at NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health, where the meeting took place, was overflowing with people. More than two dozen people stood outside the room where police officers controlled the crowd.
Inside the hot auditorium, residents fanned themselves with their signs while supporters and opponents traded the microphone to talk about the project.
Marie Mirville-Shahzada, a community organizer, asked those opposing the casino project, “What have you offered the community? What job training? What community investments have you made?”
Thor Equities, which did not respond to a request for comment on the board's vote, has promised to bring in 4,000 new union jobs, create a $200 million community trust to support Coney Island and bring “year-round” business to the area.
Adam Rinn, the artistic director of the nonprofit Coney Island USA and a leading opponent of the project, spoke out against the proposal at the meeting by reading a statement from the National Amusement Park Historical Association.
The association called The Coney the “death knell” to Coney Island. The proposal does not provide enough parking, the towers would block the views on the attractions, and it would “irreversibly alter the personality of the Coney Island amusement district.”
Rinn lamented that Coney Island USA didn’t have the financial backing The Coney has.
“Every one of us has day jobs, every one of us is spending our own money and our own time to really fight because it really may very well be the fight of our lives,” Rinn told BK Reader.
Marissa Solomon, a volunteer docent at the Coney Island Museum, also derided Thor Equities for snatching up property in Coney Island.
During a tour of the museum, Solomon pointed to an asphalt lot sparsely filled with shipping containers that house food vendors. The lot used to house the Coney Island Bank and Grashorn Building, according to Solomon, but that was before Thor Equities bought the land and tore them down.
“I opened my first bank account there… [Now] it’s basically a rat home,” Solomon said. “We're so willing to throw away our treasures and then we wonder why we don't have anything.”
At the meeting, people held signs that read “Stop the Phoney." Solomon noted that "there is nothing Coney Island," about the casino proposal.
“Coney Island, it's the people's playground," Solomon said. "You're at the beach. You're supposed to be outside in the sunshine, on the rides, in the water, not inside, in a dark casino building gambling your money away.”
