Despite the Department of City Planning approving the rezoning of a controversial Crown Heights property on Monday, the developer of the project decided to scrap the plans altogether and start from scratch.
In a bizarre twist, the Continuum Company decided to withdraw its project application at 962-972 Franklin Ave. after the DCP approved plans for the developer to build a 10-story residential building. Ian Bruce Eichner, the firm’s founder, told the Real Deal that the approved rezoning would devalue the property.
Eichner could not be directly reached for comment, but his attorney, David J. Rosenberg, told BK Reader that Continuum plans to “move forward with evaluating our options on an as-of-right basis.” This means that the firm could build a six to eight story building without any affordable housing units under current zoning laws.
The rezoning of the Franklin Avenue lot was controversial as many residents, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Community Board 9 and some elected officials said any tower built on the property would cast a long shadow, and for too long, onto the botanic garden. It was a source of countless tense public meetings and debates over numerous years.
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden's campaign against the developer was called "The Fight For Sunlight."
At the CPC vote on Monday, Continuum was asking for the city to rezone its Franklin Avenue property so it could build a 14-story residential building. However, DCP approved a plan for a 10-story structure instead. The smaller building would have contained 355 units, instead of 475.
According to DCP, the shadow cast by a building that was 10-stories would have a “partially mitigable impact” on parts of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and provide a more limited shadow coverage on the Hardy Nursery Yard and the garden’s propagation tunnel. At 10-stories, the shadow on the garden would be reduced by 20 minutes and 18 minutes for both areas, respectively, DCP said.
“This has certainly been one of the most debated private applications to come before the City Planning Commission in years, and for good reason,” said DCP Director Daniel Garodnick, who voted in favor of the rezoning. “It calls out the need to balance an opportunity for new housing in the midst of a generational housing shortage and the protection of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, one of the jewels of the borough.”
Other members, however, had differing opinions on DCP’s compromise.
“I found it to be interesting that it took scores of people, hours of hearing, for that compromise to happen and for DCP to kind of be the intermediary to push for that to happen,” said DCP Commissioner Leah Goodridge, who voted against the rezoning and urged developers to take the community engagement process seriously, without DCP to arbitrate.
“I’m tired of these kinds of proposals coming through and people acting like this is something to be happy about,” said Goodridge, referring to the price of affordable apartments at the proposed site, with some studios hovering around $3,000 a month.
The DCP vote is part of the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), which is required when an applicant wants to rezone a land area. The plan would have gone to the City Council for approval next.
Now that the developer is looking to build as-of-right, it is yet unclear what will be built on the lot in the future.
