Fund Raising

A positive step for rezoning Prospect Lefferts Gardens

Dear Neighbors,

Broad support prevails throughout our neighborhood for a contextual rezoning by City Planning to prevent out-of-scale buildings like the 23-story luxury building at 626 Flatbush Avenue. Lack of appropriate zoning in Prospect Lefferts Gardens has lured developers seeking big profits threatening our community, stressing our infrastructure, while failing to preserve affordable rent.  Only community-defined contextual zoning can protect the neighborhood from changing overnight into a place we won’t recognize.

Unfortunately, however, controversies and delays surrounding recent efforts by our Community Board (CB9) to request a zoning study from City Planning have left many of us in PLG without confidence that CB9’s process will result in benefits for our neighborhood. Because the current agenda of City Planning seems to rely more on removing than imposing limits on developers, we feel we would be foolish to deal with the City unprotected by professional expertise.

We therefore propose to take a positive step as a community. And we’re asking for your moral and financial support. 

We feel strongly we must retain a professional planner to develop a zoning plan tailored to our specific needs. Such a plan would serve as a basis for negotiation with City Planning. Given the lethal combination of developers’ aggression and our unique vulnerability, there is no time to lose.

Paul Graziano is a deeply experienced planner with many successes in helping neighborhoods preserve character. (Explore Paul’s background http://www.paulgraziano.com/biography.html.) We want to retain Paul to develop a comprehensive, defensible zoning plan for PLG, taking into account both our desire for preservation of neighborhood character and diversity and the City’s agendas regarding housing and development. We think hiring Paul will not only help us arrive at a clear basis for negotiating with the City but also serve as a means for focusing community discussion on the rezoning issue.

Our immediate goal, therefore, is to raise $6000 to enable Paul Graziano to begin the first of four phases of work on the rezoning study. Concerned Citizens for Community-Based Planning have already raised $3000, and we’re in the process of forming a non-profit organization and establishing a dedicated bank account for the project. We have high hopes that raising many modest contributions toward the goal will empower community action, and we’ll be scheduling an event to further discuss the effort and report progress. In the meantime, no contribution is too small (or too large!).

There are two ways to donate:
(1) Credit or Debit Card - choose an amount and click the donation button on the right
(2) Checks should be made out to Concerned Citizens for Community-Based Planning and mailed to 190 Lincoln Road, Brooklyn, NY 11225.

To learn more about how zoning and other planning issues affect PLG, see the following website:
Concerned Citizens website www.CB9rezoning.org

Thanks for any support that you can give this effort to develop a plan to protect our neighborhood.

Signed,

Bill Hogeland and Gail Brousal, 87 Fenimore Street             
Alan P. Berger, 190 Lincoln Road
Suwen Cheong & Barnabas Wolf, 79 Fenimore Street                    
Sarah and Alex Prud'homme, 219 Lincoln Road
James Betts & Grace Kessler Betts, 227 Lincoln Road                    
Rebecca Burrows & Erik Addington, 246 Midwood
Grahame Conibear & Sandra Skoblar, 47 Sterling Street
J. Milton, Fenimore Street
Denise Dostaly, 55 Sterling Street
Susan Kuralt Smith & Nat Smith, 99 Hawthorne Street


Building Heights

Buildings under 50ft: (8253 buildings, 96% of CD9)

 

Buildings 50ft-70ft:  (278 buildings, 3% of CD9)

Buildings 70ft-80ft:  (52 buildings, <1% of CD9)

Buildings 80ft-100ft: (15 buildings, <1% of CD9)

Buildings over 100ft (25 buildings, <1% of CD9) 

Data Source: NYC City Planning (Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output, or PLUTO)
Map: OpenStreetMap, PLUTO, NYC Building Footprints

New Developments

TOTAL RESIDENTIAL UNITS IN DEVELOPMENT: 2529




AddressUnitsJob#AddressUnitsJob#
533 ALBANY AVENUE9320981880742 LEFFERTS AVENUE7320622171
690 ALBANY AVENUE95320135616744 LEFFERTS AVENUE7320622180
738 ALBANY AVENUE11432013560733 LINCOLN RD87320350678
1566 BEDFORD AVENUE320302766329 LINCOLN RD.22320359303
1930 BEDFORD AVENUE38321081342336 LINCOLN ROAD6321098968
1967 BEDFORD AVENUE8320914267338 LINCOLN ROAD6321098977
543 BROOKLYN AVE5320917059371 LINCOLN ROAD5320622796
559 BROOKLYN AVE6320545077429 LINCOLN ROAD8320419766
517 BROOKLYN AVENUE8320913428451 MAPLE ST0320516394
537 BROOKLYN AVENUE8321061676521 MAPLE ST0320576578
931 CARROLL ST.69321080833521 MAPLE ST8320576578
50-54 clarkson ave93321087453525 MAPLE ST8320576587
111 CLARKSON AVENUE28320917745525 MAPLE ST0320576587
149 CLARKSON AVENUE10320593559237 MAPLE STREET17320523910
91 E46TH STREET8320753788435 MAPLE STREET6320596253
93 E46TH STREET8320753779453 MAPLE STREET0320516401
918 EAST NEW YORK AVE66320597181518 MAPLE STREET4320622233
474 EAST NEW YORK AVENUE10310065096531 MAPLE STREET10302068615
155 EMPIRE BLVD320914622109 Montgomery Street173321090029
43 EMPIRE BLVD320159902295 MONTGOMERY STREET3301441973
510 FLATBUSH AVENUE56320374064601 NEW YORK AVE22321080815
626 FLATBUSH AVENUE254320514760664 NEW YORK AVE37321084526
902 FRANKLIN AVE209321042304651 NEW YORK AVENUE40320591775
293 HAWTHORNE20320904955844 NOSTRAND AVE29320986590
272 HAWTHORNE STREET2320596119628 PARKSIDE AVE29321098192
274 HAWTHORNE STREET3310037153520 PARKSIDE AVENUE22320917736
276 HAWTHORNE STREET33100371621721 PRESIDENT STREET17320622386
278 HAWTHORNE STREET3310037171267 ROGERS AVE165320613813
280 HAWTHORNE STREET3310037180491 RUTLAND ROAD3320513510
316 HAWTHORNE STREET8321017582495 RUTLAND ROAD3320513529
318 HAWTHORNE STREET8321017608533 RUTLAND ROAD3320593032
546 KINGSTON AVENUE40301605449329 STERLING ST.28320707749
546 KINGSTON AVENUE40301605449195 SULLIVAN PLACE19320624598
492 LEFFERTS AVE3832062764886 SULLIVAN PLACE28302095462
396 LEFFERTS AVE.4320498163341 TROY AVE26321214574
374 LEFFERTS AVENUE321009591445 TROY AVENUE0320082085
382 LEFFERTS AVENUE463022143601764 UNION STREET16320622260
393 LEFFERTS AVENUE50301540170995 WASHINGTON AVENUE2320589877
470 LEFFERTS AVENUE320551372560 WINTHROP STREET293320595058

Data Source: NYC City Planning, DOB Permits, DOB Job Applications
Map: OpenStreetMap, PLUTO, NYC Building Footprints

Zoning Requests

CB9 2008 Rezoning Request

City Planning 2008 Response

Borough President 2013 Rezoning Request

City Planning 2013 Response to Borough President

Councilman Eugene 2013 Rezoning Request

ULURP Meeting Agenda September 2013

CB9 March 2014 Draft Rezoning Request

Population Density

2010 Population Density By Census Tract, NYC Department of City Planning


As you can see by the dark strips near Prospect Park, Prospect Lefferts Gardens is already one of the densest parts of Brooklyn.

Community District 9 is already the densest district in Brooklyn:


BROOKLYN COMMUNITY DISTRICTSPopulation Density / Square Mile
BK9Crown Heights South, PLG, Wingate60,536
BK8Crown Heights North58,880
BK4Bushwick55,411
BK14Flatbush, Midwood54,503
BK3Bedford Stuyvesant53,674
BK12Borough Park, Ocean Parkway53,433
BK11Bensonhurst, Bath Beach 49,172
BK16Brownsville, Ocean Hill46,566
BK17East Flatbush, Rugby, Farragut46,146
BK1Williamsburg, Greenpoint36,621
BK2Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene35,008
BK6Park Slope, Carroll Gardens34,144
BK15Sheepshead Bay, Gerritsen Beach33,808
BK7Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace33,793
BK13Coney Island, Brighton Beach32,979
BK5East New York, Starrett City32,794
BK10Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights31,258
BK18Canarsie, Flatlands22,894




Support Community Sponsored Rezoning

SAY NO TO CITY PLANNING! 

SAY YES TO COMMUNITY SPONSORED CONTEXTUAL REZONING! 



Dept. of City Planning at a recent community informational session stated:

  • they want out of context buildings of 10-12 stories and more market rate density on all major avenues
  • they will worry about infrastructure and needed services after development takes place


If City Planning controls this process:

  • they can propose as much height and density as they want
  • we will not be able to change those proposals to reduce density during the public process

Here's what this means for all of us:

  • we could get as many as 16,000 new units or 43,000 new residents!*
  • we would lose light and air as canyons of 10-12 story buildings fill the avenues
  • Given higher density linked to ten and twelve story height limits, builders would tear down 3-6 story buildings
  • a tremendous increase in traffic, mass transit overcrowding, school overcrowding, parking, negative effects of construction-- noise, vibrations, garbage, etc.
  • many long time residents and small businesses would be forced out
  • we would lose the essential character and diversity of our neighborhood


Here's what you can do about it:

  • call or write CB9 board members and tell them to vote no to any resolution asking Department of City Planning to “begin a study”, regardless of what the resolution proposes.
  • join us in calling for an independent professional planner to create a community sponsored plan and rezoning application that reflects what we want and need.
  • come to the land use (ULURP) meeting  this coming Wed. Feb. 4th at 7pm (St Francis DeSales School 260 Eastern Parkway, corner of Classon Avenue
  • come to the CB9 General Meeting - Feb 24, 7pm (location TBA)


Here's why a community sponsored rezoning application and study  is better than simply requesting a zoning study from City Planning:

  • we determine the height limits and density changes
  • we will have a much better chance to keep the character and diversity of our community
  • we can make infrastructure/service needs and real affordability a higher priority
  • we have a vision for our community that adds a reasonable amount of truly affordable housing with the infrastructure and services that we need as a community while preserving the character and diversity of our neighborhood 


Concerned Residents of Community District 9 supporting community sponsored rezoning



*Mayor de Blasio's housing plan calls for 80,000 new units of affordable housing to be built by upzoning just 15 neighborhoods out of 59 community districts. That means each rezoned neighborhood has to build about 5,500 units of “affordable” housing. To reach 5,500 new affordable units our neighborhood will have to build 16,000 new units (if we can negotiate 1 affordable unit for every two market rate units) - that's 43,000 new people, at 2.7 people per unit, moving into PLG and south Crown Heights!