Senator Montgomery submits comments on Gowanus Neighborhood Rezoning Proposal
May 24, 2019
-
ISSUE:
- Combined Sewer Overflows
- Responsible Community Development
- Development without Infrastructure Upgrades
- Gowanus Canal Superfund Site
- Gowanus Rezoning
"This proposed rezoning is putting the cart before the horse."
On May 24th, Senator Velmanette Montgomery submitted comments to the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) on the Draft Scope of Work for the Gowanus Neighborhood Rezoning Proposal.
In her letter, Senator Montgomery writes:
I am writing to express my opposition to the proposed re-zoning of the community surrounding the Gowanus Canal prior to the completion of the superfund remediation. After decades of uncertainty, there is finally a plan in place to perform desperately needed environmental remediation of a famously polluted site. Cleaning up the canal and working to handle the continuing problem of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) pouring into the canal after each major rainfall or snowmelt is of paramount importance.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental remediation plan is based on the current population. The EPA and the DEP have worked together to design a plan that calls for the construction of two holding tanks that will have a capacity of 12 million gallons of sewage. The tanks should keep most of the sewage at current levels from ever touching the canal. However, when factoring in 8,000 new housing units and an estimated 18,000-20,000 new community residents, there will be significant additional sewage waste associated with the increased population. The proposed holding tanks will not be sufficient causing CSOs to continue to pour into the canal and potentially into neighboring streets.
This proposed rezoning is putting the cart before the horse.
I stand firm in my position that this rezoning must be put on hold until a genuine environmental cleanup can take place. We need to improve the quality of life in the Gowanus community before we add thousands of housing units and people to an already overburdened infrastructure system.
To read Senator Montgomery's letter, download the PDF.
To learn more about the New York City Planning Commission's Gowanus Neighborhood Planning Study Draft Zoning Proposal, visit
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/plans/gowanus/gowanus-framework.page
To learn more about this issue, visit:
https://patch.com/new-york/gowanus/wednesday-meeting-will-give-update-gowanus-canal-clean
https://bklyner.com/reminder-comments-on-gowanus-rezoning-due-monday-may-27/
https://patch.com/new-york/gowanus/clean-it-you-rezone-it-gowanus-activists-tell-city
https://citylimits.org/2019/03/27/city-projects-gowanus-rezoning-will-lead-to-8200-new-apartments/