I am pleased to announce that the City Council approved the Culver El Rezoning today.  By combining the strengths of the initial proposal (developed by community organizations and elected officials in 2005) with changes suggested by community members and achieved by the Council, the rezoning we passed today will create much-needed and long-term affordable homeownership, preserve commercial and manufacturing jobs, and set a path for addressing open space and school over-crowding issues in the surrounding neighborhoods.

The Culver El Rezoning maps low- and mid-rise, mixed-use, contextual zoning districts on seven blocks in Brooklyn Community District 12 (bounded by 36th Street on the north, 14th Avenue to the east, 39th Street to the south, and 12th Avenue to the west).  It also facilitates the disposition of two tracts of City-owned land along 37th Street to the Southern Brooklyn Community Organization (SBCO) for the development of 68 units of affordable housing under the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s New Foundations Program.

I am proud that my office, working with many partners, was able to achieve a number of important modifications to strengthen the proposal, including a doubling of the affordability period from 15 to 30 years, the preservation of commercial and manufacturing zoning on several key sites (which might otherwise have been converted to exclusively market-rate housing, with little or no community benefit), and steps to address open space and school overcrowding issues.

Key features of the Culver El Rezoning, as passed today, include:

•       Creates 68 new affordable homeownership units for low-to-moderate-income families.  These units are greatly needed by growing families currently being priced out of the surrounding neighborhoods of Borough Park and Kensington (families living in Community Board 12 will have priority for 50% of the units).  While the project will be developed through HPD’s New Foundations Program, it will improve on this program in two ways:
o        SBCO has agreed to achieve a deeper level of affordability, so that the units will be affordable to families earning 80%-110% of area median income (approximately $50,000 to $90,000 annually).
o       The affordability period has been doubled from 15 to 30 years through an agreement that I reached with HPD and SBCO,
•       Retains manufacturing and commercial uses on three key sites in the rezoning area, preserving space for over 200 jobs.  Modifications made by the City Council will enable the Bergament department store to continue operating by making it a conforming use and retaining necessary parking.  Without these changes, many of these jobs would likely have been lost, and the block could have been converted, as-of-right, to a 7-story, 100+ unit, market-rate housing development.
•       Sets a path to addressing open space issues in the neighborhood.  I am very pleased to have allocated $600,000, along with an additional $300,000 from Borough President Marty Markowitz, to begin the renovation of Dome Playground (the nearest City park).  We look forward to working with diverse community members to plan a comprehensive, multi-phase renovation that will retain and improve current popular uses and offer new recreation uses in underutilized areas.  In addition, I am working with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation toward the goal of creating new open spaces in the area (potentially including the acquisition of new parkland, unused street space, and reclaiming and improving the school playground at PS 179 for recreational use by students and the community).  I am also pleased to report that Borough President Markowitz secured a commitment from the Parks Department for new tree-planting in the rezoning area and nearby.
•       Addresses the impacts of school overcrowding.  While the rezoning will add only modestly to the population in the area, the nearby schools are already near capacity and will face overcrowding issues in the years to come.  I am pleased to report that the School Construction Authority last week notified the City Council that they will be moving forward with a K-8 public school at Coney Island Avenue and Turner Place in Community School District 22 in Councilmember Eugene’s district, which will address some overcrowding issues in eastern Kensington and Prospect Park South.  The SCA has also confirmed to me that they are working actively to site an additional K-8 school in the southern half of Community District 15 (Sunset Park, Borough Park, Kensington), and that capital funding remains in their capital plan for this purpose.  I look forward to working with them to identify an appropriate site and moving forward to build a new school to address overcrowding in these areas.

Many people were involved in developing and strengthening the Culver El Rezoning.  I would like to thank Speaker Christine Quinn, Land Use Chairman Leroy Comrie, Zoning Subcommittee Chairman Mark Weprin, as well as Gail Benjamin, Carol Shine and Amy Levitan of the Council’s Land Use Division for their assistance.  Thanks to the Department of City Planning (particularly David Parish, Winston Von Engel, Carolyn Grossman, and Purnima Kapur), the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and to Mike Casertano from the Mayor’s Office, for their extensive work on this project, and their openness to changes to help improve it.  Deep thanks are also due to Michael Freedman-Schnapp, my Director of Policy, for his extensive work and keen land use eye, which significantly strengthened the rezoning.

This project was initially put together by my predecessors in the City Council, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Deputy Comptroller Simcha Felder.  Thanks go to them, and to my colleagues David Greenfield and Sara Gonzalez for their support in the process.  In addition, quite a few of the changes that were accomplished in the review process were either suggested or supported by Borough President Markowitz, and I thank Richard Bearak for his guidance in achieving them.

This project was initiated and improved through extensive community participation.  Thanks to SBCO for their endurance and persistence, and also to Community Board 12 (under the leadership of Chairman Alan Dubrow and District Manager Wolf Sender).  Active participation by local Kensington leaders (in person and via the Kensington Prospect blog) also helped to improve the project.  And I want to especially thank Yeruchim Silber who worked extensively on this project, initially as a staffmember for Councilmember de Blasio, then as the Land Use Vice Chair of Community Board 12, and who has provided invaluable assistance to me in this process.

I am grateful to all these partners for their work to achieve a rezoning that will create affordable homeownership, preserve jobs, address open space and school seat issues, and strengthen the Borough Park and Kensington communities for years to come.

(Press Release)