Online meeting Tuesday 2-5 pm will inform scope of review for Atlantic Ave. Mixed-Use Plan. 2034 vision: 4,108 new apts., new office/retail but not industrial.

The Department of City Planning (DCP) has set an online Scoping Meeting for Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan (AAMUP), set to transform a significant stretch of property just east of the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Street project to Nostrand Avenue, for 2 to 5 pm next Tuesday, Oct. 17. 

New high-rise construction, streetscape improvements, retail, and office space are expected, with an elimination of or decline in auto-rlated uses and warehouses. There could be 4,108 new apartments in ten years, with a significant fraction "affordable," or below-market, adding 9,859 new residents. 

Another 2,998 workers could be added, albeit mainly in office or retail, not the industrial work that Brooklyn Community Board 8 has sought.

According to the Environmental Assessment Statement, there are numerous projected and potential development sites. Nearly all are east of Washington Avenue, which indicates that the map omits the numerous private rezonings already passed.

The unofficial map below, prepared by urban planner Kaja Kühl, shows how several spot rezonings, three of which have led to completed buildings, already stand to change the area.

While Brooklyn Community Board 8 had long been proposing a rezoning, known as M-CROWN, but could not get city cooperation, the AAMUP launched after a request from Council Member Crystal Hudson, apparently as part of a package deal to approve two spot rezonings.

Map by Kaja Kühl. Rezoning in light blue pending. Potential apartment counts are from
Environmental Assessment Statements and include areas beyond the parcels owned by applicants.

Limited impact?

Such scoping meetings give the public a voice in a proposal's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), a document disclosing environmental impacts and mitigation. 

Phone dial-in numbers and links to register for the meeting via videoconference or watch via livestream will be posted here at least one hour in advance of the meeting.

Written comments on the Draft Scope of Work and the Environmental Assessment Statement (bottom) also can be sent, before 5 pm Oct. 27, to 24DCP019K_DL@planning.nyc.gov.

Once the Draft EIS is issued, comments will be sought, which will generate the Final EIS. These are disclosure documents that can generate changes and/or reveal new details, but, crucially, they provide the "rational basis"--the not-so-onerous legal threshold--to defend against any legal challenge.

Agenda and presentations will be posted at the Department of City Planning. The Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan project page also has the documents below.

Scoping Protocol

According to the protocol, opening remarks will be made by the lead agency, followed by introductions.

The applicant and/or consultants, attorneys and representatives will provide a presentation of the proposal and an overview of the draft scoping document. Potential impacts, proposed methodologies and assessments will also be discussed.

Then come comments from the representatives of the involved and interested agencies, public officials and community boards regarding methodologies and issues to be addressed in the Draft EIS.

Then speaking time will be provided for the members of the public, in the order received through the online registration process. Each individual will be allotted three minutes.

Scoping Notice

The Scoping Notice states that DCP, together with New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and other partner agencies, is proposing a series of land use actions, notably a rezoning, to reshape an approximately 20-block area, primarily along Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Community Districts 3 and 8, and generally bounded by Vanderbilt Avenue to the west, Nostrand Avenue to the east, Herkimer Street to the north, and Bergen Street to the south. 

Also, the Proposed Actions would affect a separate, non-contiguous area located on a portion of two blocks in Prospect Heights bounded by 6th Avenue to the west, Carlton Avenue to the east, Dean Street to the north, and St. Marks and Flatbush Avenues to the south. That allows the development of two city-owned sites.

Transformation coming

The rezoning would transform the area, expected to eliminate warehouse and auto uses and diminish manufacturing, and adding high-rise housing, office space, and retail, along with community facilities.

New streetscape regulations and active ground floor uses would change the corridor. Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) would require either 25% or 30% affordable units, albeit not at the lower-income levels achieved in some recent spot rezonings and, presumably, a legitimate template for the larger rezonings. 

(Let's see whether Council Member Crystal Hudson tries to get more affordability.)

Given the major complaints about adding a new population in an area without new parks or playgrounds, the documents disclose potential site selection and/or acquisition, related to the potential acquisition of land by the City for the purpose of establishing publicly accessible open space.

That property would be greater than 5,000 sf and within a half-mile radius of the Project Area. That offers a fairly broad ambit.

Notably, as shown in the image above, the rezoning boostraps an unrelated area in Prospect Heights, which contains two city-owned parcels destined for affordable housing, into the process. The transformation of the latter was well underway before the AAMUP was launched. 

The future in 2034?

The Reasonable Worst-Case Development Scenario identifies 51 projected development sites that would deliver 5.5 million square feet of floor area, including 4.4 million sf of residential floor area (about 4,283 dwelling units), 368,408 sf of local retail, 56,686 sf of destination retail, 534,542 sf of office uses, 48,114 sf of industrial uses, and 121,393 sf of community facility uses, and no accessory parking spaces.

That could result in a total of 10,279 residents and 3,524 workers by the analysis year of 2034.

The increase would be 4.2 million sf of residential floor area (4,108 DU), 301,471 sf of local retail , 56,686 sf of destination retail, 511,894 sf of office space, and 97,807 sf of community facility space.

Notable cuts: a net reduction of 319 accessory parking spaces, and a net decrease 189,257 sf of industrial and 81,000 sf of automotive related uses.  

City-owned sites in Prospect Heights

As I've written, it's odd that the rezoning has bootstrapped two unrelated projects on city-owned property, 542 Dean Street and 512 Bergen Street, both destined for 100% affordable housing.

While the map does not suggest that development sites would extend beyond those two parcels, the rezoning map does extend to adjacent lots, which then could presumably be redeveloped at higher density.

As I wrote last month, AAMUP documents disclosed that, instead of developing--according to previous documents--80-100 senior units at 85-95 feet at the Dean Street site, the city instead plans 154 units in a building 115 feet tall. The new documents specify 90,028 sf of residential and 2,925 sf for a community facility.

They also disclose that the still-pending 516 Bergen Street site would contain 118 low-income apartments, in 78,800 sf of residential space, in a building 110 feet tall. It also would contain 4,604 sf for a community facility.

Zoming districts

What zoning is coming? 

(Note: it's unclear if the 20% bonus for affordable housing promised in the city's separate "City of Yes" rezoning effort would be applied to the zoning below.)

The Draft Scope sites a C6-3X at the southwestern corner of Vanderbilt and Atlantic avenues, mapped in connection with the 840 Atlantic Avenue private application approved in 2021. It allow residential uses up to 9.7 Floor Area Ratio (FAR).

Base heights, before setbacks, are permitted to be between 60 and 145 feet on narrow streets and between 105 and 145 feet on or  within 100 feet of wide streets like Atlantic. Building heights are allowed up to a maximum of 190 feet (19 stories) along a narrow street or 200 feet (20 stories) along a wide street, which may increase by 5 feet if a Qualifying Ground Floor--at least 13 feet in height--is provided.

The C6-3A districts were already mapped in connection with the 840 Atlantic Avenue (2021), 870-888 Atlantic Avenue (2022), and 1034-1042 Atlantic Avenue (2022) private applications. They allow residential uses up to 8.5 FAR.

Base heights are permitted to be between 60 and 125 feet before setbacks. Building heights are allowed up to a maximum of 160 feet (16 stories) along a narrow street or 170 feet (17 stories) along a wide street, which may be increased by 5 feet if a Qualifying Ground Floor is provided.

R7A allows residential FAR of 5, permit a maximum street wall height of 85 feet, and can rise to a maximum height of 115 feet, with a maximum of 11 stories. A building setback of 10 feet is required on wide streets and 15 feet on narrow street.

R7D permit a residential FAR of 5.6, permit a maximum street wall height of 95 feet, and can rise to a maximum height of 125 feet, with a maximum of 12 stories. A building setback of 10 feet is required on wide streets and 15 feet on narrow street.