Citywide and local organizations now urge the full City Council to approve this important project

NEW YORK, NY – Today, the City Council Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee and Land Use Committee demonstrated their support – and voted yes – for the Gowanus Neighborhood Rezoning. This plan is the culmination of over a decade of collaboration between community groups, elected officials, environmentalists, affordable housing advocates, and residents. Community stakeholders have worked diligently to improve the neighborhood plan throughout the process. As a result, the community and its elected officials have won hundreds of millions of dollars in new capital funding for surrounding NYCHA properties as well as space allotted for artisans and makers at a subsidized rate. This rezoning will help create a cleaner and more accessible, equitable, and diverse neighborhood.

Among other benefits, the rezoning will provide six acres of publicly accessible open space, approximately 2,500 new affordable housing units, infrastructure and resiliency-focused measures to ensure the neighborhood can accommodate growth and prepare for climate change, and a retention of a mix of artists, maker and light industrial space that reflects Gowanus’ character. We applaud the City and Council members Lander and Levin for using the rezoning as an opportunity to direct much-needed capital investment to the neighboring NYCHA complexes, which RPA has supported throughout the process. Regional Plan Association (RPA) and the organizations listed below are happy to see this important plan come to fruition, and now call on the full City Council to approve this rezoning as well.

“The Gowanus rezoning is an outstanding example of how good planning can meet both neighborhood and citywide needs,” said Moses Gates, Vice President for Housing and Neighborhood Planning, Regional Plan Association. ​“The fruition of years of community planning, it addresses the neighborhood’s environmental resiliency and its need for more affordable and equitable housing, including the commitment to critical funding for Public Housing repairs. It is also the first rezoning plan to work toward fair housing goals by creating thousands of affordable housing units in one of the city’s more affluent neighborhoods. We are proud to support this plan and applaud Councilmembers Brad Lander and Steve Levin, and the countless professionals and community stakeholders who have worked so hard on this over the past decade, and urge the full City Council to pass this critical plan.”

“The proposed Gowanus rezoning provides an opportunity we cannot miss, to address housing inequalities in our city that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, while providing the good jobs New Yorkers need,” said John Santos, Assistant to the President, 32BJ. ​“By creating thousands of affordable housing units in a historically affluent neighborhood, as well as up to 3,000 family sustaining jobs, including many building service positions paid the prevailing wage, this proposal addresses immediate bedrock needs for a good future for our city. We applaud the City Council Zoning and Franchises subcommittee and Land Use committee for approving the plan and urge the full City Council to do the same.”

“The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce supports the Gowanus rezoning and recognizes the opportunity to advance an equitable economic recovery,” said Randy Peers, President and CEO, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. ​“If we are going to continue to grow as a Borough and a City, we need to encourage density in areas that can sustain it while simultaneously addressing the need for affordable housing. Increased residential density is the foundation for small business success in Gowanus. The permanent jobs as well as the construction jobs this development creates will help advance economic growth and our overall economic recovery from the pandemic. We thank the City Council Zoning and Franchises subcommittee and Land Use committee for voting yes on the Gowanus rezoning today and helping put Gowanus, and New York, back on track.”

“If we are going to address our city’s housing crisis, the Gowanus rezoning represents a crucial part of the solution,” said Rachel Fee, Executive Director, New York Housing Conference. ​“While other rezoning efforts in the city have focused on densely populated, lower income residential areas, Gowanus is a primer on more equitable planning. According to the recent Racial Equity Report from Columbia University, the rezoning will take a wealthier, whiter and lower density neighborhood and make it more diverse, affordable and vital to the city’s future. We stand behind the Gowanus neighborhood rezoning and capital funding for the local NYCHA developments and applaud the City Council Zoning and Franchises subcommittee and Land Use committee for recognizing the necessity of this plan. The full City Council now has the opportunity to make real, impactful stride towards addressing our city’s housing crisis by approving this rezoning.”

“Citizens Housing & Planning Council (CHPC) sees the Gowanus rezoning as a crucial opportunity to deliver affordable housing to a neighborhood that desperately needs it,” said Jessica Katz, Executive Director, Citizens Housing & Planning Council (CHPC). ​“In doing so, the plan will also advance crucial citywide goals for fair housing and racial equity. These benefits are highlighted in the recent Racial Equity Report from NYC Council Land Use, FAC, and Columbia University, which found that the rezoning will result in two times the rate of new affordable housing in Gowanus and create housing at deeper affordability levels than would be met without it. CHPC fully supports this plan as a means to increase diversity and strengthen housing access in a high-opportunity neighborhood and encourages the full City Council to do the same.”