The controversial proposal to rezone the Arrow Linen site in Park Slope to make way for two at least 13-story apartment towers has gained the support of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, but Reynoso is calling on developers to deepen the project’s affordability as a condition of his support.
Following an Oct. 9 hearing held at Brooklyn Borough Hall on how to move forward with developing the commercial site at 467 Prospect Avenue, Reynoso last week released his recommendation to the City Planning Commission. He’s backing the rezoning proposal with modifications to increase the number of affordable units beyond Mandatory Inclusionary Housing requirements, but did not specify income levels.
In the recommendation, Reynoso said the Arrow Linen team had signaled during the hearing they were open to including more affordable units than what MIH requires, and were looking into NYC Housing Preservation and Development programs to fund more affordable units.
He said the developer should pick one of three options for increasing affordability: set aside 30-40% of the units in the new development as permanently affordable; construct the project in two phases with one building including market-rate and MIH units and the other being 100% affordable and constructed with city financing; or build both buildings using NYCHA Section 8 vouchers.
The proposal put forward by Arrow Linen as part of the rezoning application has two at least 13-story buildings that include at least 244 apartments. Of those apartments, a rep from developer Apex Development has told the community at least 61 (25%) would be affordable to households earning 60% of Area Median Income. The developer said the buildings will include a mix of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments.
In a phone call with Brownstoner today, Reynoso said as the proposal stands, the number of affordable units isn’t adequate, and said there is time now for Council Member Shahana Hanif to work with the developer to make his recommendations more binding.
“I do want to say that in these agreements that we’ve done in the past, in the history of the City of New York, when it comes to getting more affordable housing from developers, there are very few developers that haven’t followed through on on their commitment to affordable housing, even if not binding,” he said, adding there are also opportunities for Hanif to work with the developer and HPD to make binding agreements.
A large segment of the Park Slope and Windsor Terrace community has been vocally opposed to the rezoning application, saying it is out of context with the largely residential stretch of three-story row houses and would not meet the affordability needs of those most in need of housing. Through the group Housing Not Highrises, many locals have lobbied for a development that would be shorter at seven to nine stories, 100% affordable, and potentially have more apartments than Arrow Linen’s plan.
Following a raucous pair of hearings in which locals clashed over the proposal, Community Board 7 rejected the plan last month with chair Julio Peña III noting at the time the board had received “well over 1,000 public comments” on the matter as well as a number of testimonials at the hearings.
Housing Not Highrises pitched an alternative proposal of a 100% affordable development during the process, but Reynoso said in his decision that Arrow Linen had told an affordable housing developer it was not interested in selling the site and as such the proposal wasn’t “a bona fide alternative.”
“It would not be appropriate to assess the merits of the applicant’s proposal against the possibility of an alternative development scenario under different ownership. Moreover, such a proposal should not be considered as a means to disapprove an application or pressure an applicant to sell their property,” he states.
In his recommendation, Reynoso echoed the arguments of those in favor of the rezoning, saying in his approval that Windsor Terrace residents have a low risk of displacement, according to city data, and new housing will ease demand to live in the area rather than push existing residents out. He also says that the area has produced little new housing over the past decade and has instead been subject to unit conversion and consolidation.
In regards to the building’s height, Reynoso told Brownstoner that increasing the number of units built in Brooklyn and their affordability are more of a concern to his office than building heights, adding each neighborhood has to be part of the solution in getting more units built.
He said in the decision while he would back a design change to a shorter and bulkier development, as some in the community have called for, he would do so only if it did not result in a reduction in the number of apartments or their size.
The rezoning application for the Arrow Linen site has been going through the city’s land use review process (ULURP) at the same time as the mayor’s major City of Yes for Housing zoning overhaul. Because of the additional floor area ratio that City of Yes would allow for in some development scenarios, residents have raised concerns that if both rezonings are approved, Apex could build up to 19 stories.
However, Reynoso says in his recommendation that the developer has said there is “no alternative for a 19-story building that they would pursue.” He adds that with the limitations set by FAR on the current plan for the towers, the developer would only be able to build up to 14 or 15 stories with the City of Yes concessions.
In regards to the row houses included in the rezoning area, Reynoso said they should remain included in the proposal but should be rezoned to R6B rather than R7-1. He said as they are, many are currently overbuilt due to a 2005 downzoning in the neighborhood, and changing the zoning to R6B would bring them into compliance. It would also, he said, limit construction within 25 feet of R6B to 55 feet, helping to transition the existing houses with the new development.
Reynoso says in his decision that he backs a more comprehensive planning process for the entire neighborhood, like some residents had called for during the review process, saying a “Windsor Terrace neighborhood plan would present an essential opportunity to intentionally plan sorely needed housing, both through mapping sites for carefully designed setbacks for taller mid-rise buildings such as this application, and by adding a little bit of housing over a wider area by mapping higher- density contextual districts that reflect many of the buildings that already exist in Windsor Terrace.”
Another modification Reynoso calls for as part of his approval is that Arrow Linen relocate its business into one of Brooklyn’s Industrial Business Zones. Currently, the company, started by the Magliocco family in 1947 and still family-owned, is mostly operating out of its facility in Garden City, N.Y., on Long Island.
The rezoning application will now go before the City Planning Commission where there will be another hearing and a vote, before it goes to the City Council and eventually the mayor’s desk.
This story first appeared on Brooklyn Paper’s sister site Brownstoner
