Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Sitings and Dispositions · Thursday, February 29, 2024

The one where a Brownsville arts-and-housing project shrank from 291 to 283 units and the council sent it back for recei

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An HPD team brought a Brownsville mixed-use rezone , affordable housing over a 25,000-sq-ft ground-floor arts center with a Black Box Theater , to the subcommittee. But the numbers moved the wrong way: the project started at 224 units in 2018, peaked at 291, and was now down to 283. Darlene Mealy hammered HPD over removing NYCHA parking, the $12M price tag, and a pattern of communities of color getting 'just the construction jobs.' Oswald Feliz called the bedrooms closet-sized; Farías pressed on the community board's redesign demand and flexible arts space. Artists and arts nonprofits testifie

From the room

“a new nine-story building with approximately 282 affordable rental apartments with one additional unit for a superintendent”
— Anthony Drummond

“approximately 42 apartments will be set aside for supportive housing run by the Brooklyn Community Housing Services”
— Saren Chow

“I thought this was the opportunity for y'all to come in with all this information that we don't be spinning our wills”
— Darlene Mealy

“we have also made changes to provide deeper affordability while also maintaining the proportion of family-sized units”
— Anthony Drummond

The decisions

01LU 0016-2024C 240030 ZMKZoning MapLaid over

Brownsville Arts Center and Apartments

with 2 related matters · LU 0015-2024 · LU 0017-2024

A zoning map amendment (C 240030 ZMK) and its companion zoning resolution (N 240031 ZRK) were read into the record together for the subcommittee's consideration.

Land-use review

Conditions

letter explaining design guidelines for the record; show both sides of changes; show option with parking; show MWBE plan; deliver sooner rather than later before deliberation
follow-up report showing where square footage was increased and which unit types were improved, for the body to deliberate
Recommend the applicant return to the community board to confirm the facade redesign is acceptable, not just to the council member personally

Legislation →ULURP case →

Also in the record

Records not linked to a specific agenda item

Land-use review

CB CB16

Conditions

redesign units to maximize bedroom and living room sizes per HPD design guidelines, in response to community board feedback

Questions & answers

Darlene Mealy: You just went to the community board and said you were not going to speak about this project — what was the whole intent of going to the community board if you were not going to tell them about the upgrades?

Darlene Mealy: Who can live in a two-bedroom apartment only 800 square feet?

Darlene Mealy: Applicant says she spoke only to announce the hearing was happening today for the ULURP and to invite people

Darlene Mealy: One parking space required for every one thousand feet of commercial space — will that apply?

Darlene Mealy: Mealy notes proposal cites one parking space required per 1,000 sq ft of commercial space and that this is a mixed-use commercial building (nonprofit and residential)

+3 more exchanges

Procedure

Chair passes to Council Member Mealy for the first round of questions — Kamillah Hanks
Testifiers sign up with the sergeant; written testimony to testimony@council.nyc.gov; no approaching the dais — Sergeant-at-Arms
Meeting held in hybrid format; remote testifiers register at council.nyc.gov/land use and join Zoom — Kamillah Hanks
Written testimony emailed to land use testimony@council.nyc.gov; indicate LU number and/or project name in subject — Kamillah Hanks

+3 more procedural steps

Where it standsCB CB16 ✓→Committee→Full Council

The people

Public testimony: 9 in favor

Practitioners & applicants

Cordine Lewis Allen · Catherine Bali Green Johnson · Kamillah Hanks · Committee Counsel (unbound; dominant corpus role-holder lineage = Christian Hilton, NOT self-stated/introduced in 20688) · Anthony Drummond · Sergeant-at-Arms (unnamed)

The intelligence

Every parcel, owner, and applicant in this meeting, cross-referenced against Zonable’s NYC ownership, enforcement & legislative graph — the record behind the record.

Sign in for the full graph

Owner portfolios, open OATH/ECB violations, 311 & DOB permits across every parcel discussed, developer track records, and an “ask this meeting” chat.

Ask about this meeting

Chat with AI about this meeting. Free account required.

Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Sitings and Dispositions · Thursday, February 29, 2024

The one where a Brownsville arts-and-housing project shrank from 291 to 283 units and the council sent it back for recei

Contents & search

item

laid over

land-use item

avg AMI

60%

Try

From the room

“a new nine-story building with approximately 282 affordable rental apartments with one additional unit for a superintendent”
— Anthony Drummond

“approximately 42 apartments will be set aside for supportive housing run by the Brooklyn Community Housing Services”
— Saren Chow

“I thought this was the opportunity for y'all to come in with all this information that we don't be spinning our wills”
— Darlene Mealy

“we have also made changes to provide deeper affordability while also maintaining the proportion of family-sized units”
— Anthony Drummond

The decisions

01LU 0016-2024C 240030 ZMKZoning MapLaid over

Brownsville Arts Center and Apartments

with 2 related matters · LU 0015-2024 · LU 0017-2024

A zoning map amendment (C 240030 ZMK) and its companion zoning resolution (N 240031 ZRK) were read into the record together for the subcommittee's consideration.

Land-use review

Conditions

letter explaining design guidelines for the record; show both sides of changes; show option with parking; show MWBE plan; deliver sooner rather than later before deliberation
follow-up report showing where square footage was increased and which unit types were improved, for the body to deliberate
Recommend the applicant return to the community board to confirm the facade redesign is acceptable, not just to the council member personally

Legislation →ULURP case →

Also in the record

Records not linked to a specific agenda item

Land-use review

CB CB16

Conditions

redesign units to maximize bedroom and living room sizes per HPD design guidelines, in response to community board feedback

Questions & answers

Darlene Mealy: Who can live in a two-bedroom apartment only 800 square feet?

Darlene Mealy: Applicant says she spoke only to announce the hearing was happening today for the ULURP and to invite people

Darlene Mealy: One parking space required for every one thousand feet of commercial space — will that apply?

Darlene Mealy: Mealy notes proposal cites one parking space required per 1,000 sq ft of commercial space and that this is a mixed-use commercial building (nonprofit and residential)

+3 more exchanges

Procedure

Chair passes to Council Member Mealy for the first round of questions — Kamillah Hanks
Testifiers sign up with the sergeant; written testimony to testimony@council.nyc.gov; no approaching the dais — Sergeant-at-Arms
Meeting held in hybrid format; remote testifiers register at council.nyc.gov/land use and join Zoom — Kamillah Hanks
Written testimony emailed to land use testimony@council.nyc.gov; indicate LU number and/or project name in subject — Kamillah Hanks

+3 more procedural steps

Where it standsCB CB16 ✓→Committee→Full Council

The people

Public testimony: 9 in favor

Practitioners & applicants

The intelligence

Every parcel, owner, and applicant in this meeting, cross-referenced against Zonable’s NYC ownership, enforcement & legislative graph — the record behind the record.

Sign in for the full graph

Owner portfolios, open OATH/ECB violations, 311 & DOB permits across every parcel discussed, developer track records, and an “ask this meeting” chat.

Ask about this meeting

Chat with AI about this meeting. Free account required.