REMARKS
230 Kent Avenue Rezoning: Presentation
2:06:42
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8 min
Judy Gallant, land use counsel to Kent Riverview LLC, the owner of 230 Kent Avenue, delivers a presentation explaining the 230 Kent Avenue rezoning.
Speaker 1
2:06:42
And now the applicant team may begin.
2:06:44
Panlist, as you begin, we'll continue.
2:06:47
I'll just ask that you just please reinstate your name organization for the record.
Speaker 29
2:06:50
Yes.
2:06:51
I am Judy Gallant from BCLP, land use counsel to Kent Riverview LLC, the owner of 230 Kent Avenue, which is located in the north side, neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
2:07:03
Can I have the slides?
2:07:11
Next slide, please.
2:07:14
As the chair indicated, This is an application to facilitate the construction of an 8th story building containing 40 apartments, 12 of which would be permanently in Commerce trusted under NIH option 2 with ground floor retail.
2:07:27
The necessary land use actions to achieve that are rezoning of Block 23 62 from an M 14 district to an MX district pairing in M 14 and an R 7X district.
2:07:39
A zoning text amendment to establish an NIH area over the entirety of Block 2362 and a zoning text amendment to establish R Seven X as a designated residence district within MX8 and CD1 in Brooklyn in which MIH is required.
2:07:53
May I have the next slide?
2:07:59
The development site is located on North First Street between Kent Avenue on the East And River Street on the West.
2:08:05
Rezoning area is the entirety of Block 2362, which consists of just 2 lots.
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Lot 1, which is a development site, and Lot 3 to its north.
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Both lots are currently vacant.
2:08:16
Can I have the next slide?
2:08:18
This aerial photo shows the site and it's surround context to the west is the river Ring project which was rezoned in 2021 to facilitate the development of a predominantly residential project containing over a 1000 dwelling units, community facility and commercial space, as well as a 3 acre and waterfront public open space.
2:08:40
Grand Prairie Park, Domino Park, and the the northernmost domino buildings are shown on the bottom left.
2:08:46
Next slide, please.
2:08:49
The applicant owned development site is shown on the left.
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It's a 54100 square foot lot that was formerly occupied by paint manufacturing facility.
2:08:57
As I indicated, the applicant purchased the site in 2017 and remediated at a cost of between $7,000,000 $8,000,000 through the New York State brownfields cleanup program.
2:09:08
DEC issued a certificate of completion for that cleanup in 2021.
2:09:13
The application proposes to rezone the site to a mixed use district because the area around it has really changed.
2:09:19
From a manufacturing area to an increasingly mixed use area.
2:09:23
The proposed MX would facilitate the development of this block at a scale that really provides a rational transition between the 510 and 6 560 and 710 foot tall trap towers that are proposed that were approved by city planning and the city council on the River Ring site, on the waterfront, and the 5 to 8 story buildings that are located to the east in the upland blocks, while also allowing manufacturing uses on the site.
2:09:55
The other lot in the rezoning area is the 13,380 Square Foot vacant lot owned by Con Edison, and it's shown on the right.
2:10:03
Have the next slide.
2:10:06
Land uses in the surrounding areas shown in these photos include a mix of manufacturing, commercial, and residential uses, east of the site across Kent Avenue, our 27 Story Residential Buildings.
2:10:17
The block to the southeast on the right contains 3 to 7 Story mixed use buildings as well as fully residential buildings, commercial buildings, and light manufacturing.
2:10:26
Next slide, please.
2:10:28
To the south across North First Street is a four story commercial building.
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Recently renovated, that contains retail, coworking, some light manufacturing, and a banquet hall.
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Further to the south, you see the northernmost of the domino buildings, which is a 2 tower building containing a 2 tower development containing 332 dwelling units.
2:10:47
As well as commercial space and retail.
2:10:50
Next slide.
2:10:52
Directly north of the site, across Metropolitan Avenue was a six story relatively recently developed building that contains offices, accessory parking, and a Trader Joe's supermarket.
2:11:03
Below grade and further north.
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You can see on the right, 740 story residential buildings.
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So the area that really has evolved from manufacturing to contain quite a lot of residential development, and that's what makes sense for the development site.
2:11:18
Next slide, please.
2:11:20
This is a side by side comparison of the existing zoning on the left and the proposed zoning on the right.
2:11:26
The rezoning area as well as the block to its north where both rezoned in 2021 as part of the rivering application from M31, which is a heavy manufacturing district, to M14, which is a light manufacturing district, largely to preclude heavy manufacturing uses in close proximity to both existing and proposed residential uses in the rivering application and what existed in the community.
2:11:51
But M1 districts are typically mapped as buffers.
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Between heavy manufacturing districts or uses and residential or commercial districts and uses.
2:12:00
But here, as you can see, from the slide.
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The rezoning area is sandwiched between districts on the east and west that permit residential use.
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There's a c 62 on the waterfront and an MX district to the east.
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And between light manufacturing district on the north where the Trader Joe's was recently developed.
2:12:19
No manufacturing there at all.
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And a heavy manufacturing district on the south that is developed with a retail and banquet hall building in which there was recent investments.
2:12:30
So there really is no use for this pure buffer zone on the development site.
2:12:37
The proposed rezoning would maintain the M14 manufacturing designation, but it would pair it with a residential district which would facilitate development consistent with the area and at a scale that's already permitted by existing zoning.
2:12:52
The proposed rezoning would not change the commercial or manufacturing f a r f 2, but by pairing it with the r 7 x would permit residential use with NIH at a FAR 6, which is actually less than the maximum FAR permitted on the site today.
2:13:09
Today, the maximum FAR under the M 14 is actually 6 and a half.
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That's the community facility FAR.
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So we're really not looking to change the density at all.
2:13:18
But just to shift the uses to which that density can be put in a way that's appropriate to what's there.
2:13:24
Next slide.
2:13:27
This land use map shows that the rezoning is consistent with the character of the area, which as you can see from the map, is continuing to move away from its manufacturing past.
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The red, yellow, and peach are commercial, residential, and mixed use.
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Development, respectively.
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The 2 river ring lots shown in gray on the waterfront will soon be peach whenever they get going because there'll be mixed use.
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And the much less prevalent purple is manufacturing.
2:13:55
Next slide, please.
2:13:57
This is an illustrative rendering of an eight story approximately 33,000 square foot building containing 40 dwelling units and 33100 square feet of ground floor retail that could be built on the site.
2:14:10
Approximately 12 of the building's 40 units would be permanently affordable under option 2.
2:14:16
I already spoke about the sustainability measures would be incorporated in the building.
2:14:21
I would just say in closing that the proposed rezoning offers a number of benefits beyond the cleanup that the council member mentioned and the sustainability benefits that he elicited from me.
2:14:33
Not only would it result in the activation of a lot that has been vacant for more than 10 years, but it would facilitate development of that lot.
2:14:42
That is in a nature more consistent with the prevailing land use character of the area and at a scale that is consistent and provides a transition between river ring and the upland blocks, it would also facilitate development of much needed housing and much needed affordable housing in an area in which residential demand is increasing.
2:15:04
And by pairing it with an m the M14 with an R7X, it would also allow more community facility uses that are needed to serve the areas such as schools, which under the M 14 today are not as of right but require a special permit.
2:15:19
From the board of standards and appeals.
2:15:21
And finally, the proposed MX zone would preserve manufacturing uses as of right on the Con Ed side if on it chooses one day to use the site for utility purposes.
2:15:33
I have nothing further, but I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.
Speaker 1
2:15:37
Thank you so much.
