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Senator Montgomery urges the NYC Planning Commission to stand with the community and reject the proposal to rezone 80 Flatbush Avenue
Senator Velmanette Montgomery
June 26, 2018
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ISSUE:
- OUT-OF-SCALE DEVELOPMENT
- Housing Development
- Education
- PUBLIC SUBSIDIES AND TAX ABATEMENTS
- TAXPAYER BURDENS
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June 21, 2018
Marisa Lago
Chairwoman
New York City Department of City Planning
120 Broadway, 31st Fl.
New York, NY 10271
Re: Comments Regarding Alloy Development and the NYC Educational Construction Fund proposal for 80 Flatbush Avenue
Dear Chairwoman Lago,
I strongly urge the New York City Planning Commission stand with my constituents, Public Advocate Letitia James, Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley, Community Board 2, Community Education Council District 15, the Boerum Hill Association, Rockwell Place Bears Community Garden, the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, the Society for Clinton Hill, the Fort Greene Association, and countless other community stakeholders in rejecting the proposal to rezone 80 Flatbush Avenue as proposed by Alloy Development and the New York City Educational Construction Fund.
Since the beginning of the ULURP process for the rezoning of 80 Flatbush Avenue, I have expressed my strong opposition to this project. I am unequivocally against taxpayers subsidizing private developers under the guise of public benefits. Our communities should not be forced to accept the larger structures, public subsidy giveaways, and myopic city planning that evaluates projects individually rather than within the context of community development.
New York City is in the midst of a housing crisis. Over the past few decades the impact of gentrification and socially irresponsible development has led not only to the displacement of countless longtime residents, but resulted in a record high of 60,000 New Yorkers currently homeless and cycling through shelters. Our communities have already lost too much. We cannot keep selling our land and air rights to developers in exchange for inadequate housing. All this contributes to the growing inequality in New York City.
The City’s plan to address the affordable housing shortage is to create and preserve 300,000 “affordable" apartments by the year 2026. This plan also involves shuttering the doors of all cluster sites by 2023, which includes the use of hotels as shelters. As of February of 2017, according to a report released by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office, the city spent $530,000 per day on hotel rooms to house the homeless. To date, that expenditure has only grown with the City spending close to $1 million a day on hotel rooms. As federal funding continues to decline, limited resources should be used to create permanent, affordable, and supportive housing for our communities.
Instead, our communities are bombarded with developments like 80 Flatbush Avenue that provide a small percentage of inadequate affordable housing compared to market rate units, tear apart the social fabric of our neighborhoods, and exacerbate overcrowding school districts. This is all done on the taxpayers’ dime.
I appreciate Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams recommendations to the City Planning Commission on the 80 Flatbush Avenue Rezoning. I agree with the Borough President that the affordable housing component of the project “lacks commitment to addressing the shortage of family-sized units as well as affordability for senior citizen households and the formerly homeless”. I also agree that the affordable housing lottery should be modified to include and give preference to local residents of Gowanus Houses and Wyckoff Gardens. With a lengthy waiting list for New York City Housing Authority apartments, giving preference to current NYCHA residents for the affordable housing lottery to make way for new tenants is smart housing policy. However, the recommendation of reducing the floor area ratio (FAR) from 18 to 15.8 is still well above the maximum permitted 12 FAR under the current C6-2 zoning. Alloy Development and the Educational Construction Authority should build as-of-right, pay their taxes, and not burden the community they plan to be a part of.
In conclusion, while I recognize the extensive capital needs of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, the overstated public benefits do not outweigh the millions in public subsidies that will be needed to complete this project.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit comments on the applications to rezone 80 Flatbush Avenue as proposed by the Alloy Development and the NYC Educational Construction Fund.
Sincerely,
Senator Velmanette Montgomery
25th Senate District
cc: NYC Planning Commission Members
Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon
Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley
Public Advocate Letitia James
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson
Brooklyn City Council Delegation
Community Board 2
Community Education Council 15
The Boerum Hill Association
The Fort Greene Association
The Society for Clinton Hill
Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council
For a copy of Senator Montgomery's letter to the New York City Department of Planning, download the PDF.
To learn more about Senator Montgomery's work on 80 Flatbush Avenue, visit:
To learn more about how the communty stands on this project, visit:
http://boerumhillassociation.org/home.aspx
https://www.mas.org/news/mas-opposed-to-80-flatbush-avenue-rezoning-proposal/
To learn more about the 80 Flatbush Avenue project, visit:
https://ny.curbed.com/2018/6/15/17468890/80-flatbush-brooklyn-borough-president-disapproval
https://thebridgebk.com/what-the-borough-president-is-really-saying-about-80-flatbush/
https://bklyner.com/save-our-sunlight-protesters-rally-against-alloys-shadow-casting-towers/
https://thebridgebk.com/inside-battle-over-megaproject-80-flatbush/
https://thebridgebk.com/brooklyn-towers-reach-sky-how-big-too-big/
https://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/41/13/dtg-web-80-flatbush-ulurp-hearing-2018-03-30-bk.html
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