Gib Veconi
1:46:42
Thank you, mister chair.
1:46:43
My name is Gibb Vaccone and for the last eleven years as a member of Brooklyn Community Board eight, I've helped to facilitate the board's initiative to rezone the M 11 District which is the focus of the Atlantic Avenue mixed use plan.
1:46:55
Our goal since 2014 has been to rezone the district for residential development to cross subsidize both affordable housing as well as light industrial space to promote accessible career path jobs for people lacking a college education.
1:47:10
In 2018, the Department of City Planning presented the board with a zoning framework for the Amcrown District.
1:47:15
The Euler process was set to begin in the spring of twenty twenty when work was halted due to the pandemic.
1:47:21
After the initiative was restarted as AMUP, DCP released a revised zoning framework in September 2023.
1:47:27
It cut manufacturing space in half relative to the 2018 mCrown framework and doubled residential space.
1:47:33
Of greatest concern it provided no incentives for light industrial uses even though zoning that did exactly that had been approved as part of the Gowanus rezoning in 2021.
1:47:43
The board was extremely disappointed with this outcome but we were told we could expect light industrial incentives to be added to the AIM UP application later in the EULIB process.
1:47:53
Now we are within weeks of the final vote on the AIM UP EULRB application and the rezoning still lacks the use incentives that the board believes are critical to the types of jobs that can enable individuals and families to continue to afford to live in our community.
1:48:06
I invite everyone here to consider the injustice of this situation.
1:48:09
DCP has claimed aim up is a community led plan yet will not provide the zoning that the community has sought for more than a decade.
1:48:17
To put it bluntly, why is a zoning tool that was approved for for an affluent Brooklyn community district being refused to Crown Heights, a neighborhood facing one of the highest displacement rates in New York City?
1:48:29
And what will this behavior say to other communities who are looking to address their own needs through engaging the city in in a neighborhood plan.
1:48:39
In sum, I will say that the aim of I I in sum, I'll say, I therefore urge the city council to demand industrial use incentives in aim up as have been requested by Brooklyn Community Board eight, borough president Reynoso, and council member Hudson whose comments I appreciate today and whose leadership I respect.
1:48:56
Thank you for this opportunity.
