Neighborhood Plans
Perhaps the 1969 plan’s greatest legacy is its empowerment of local Community Planning Councils which have since been superseded by Community Boards (CBs). The rationale was that comprehensive planning should embrace community participation within a greater framework. Today, Brooklyn has 18, CBs each representing a community district (CD) ranging from 50,000 to more than 200,000 residents. CBs (whose members are appointed by Borough Presidents and Council Members) provide local input on planning and development primarily, through their annual district needs statements. Nearly all comprehensive planning efforts start with an “existing conditions” report, and these statements summarize issues of concern to local residents - a valuable component of neighborhood planning. However, it is rare to see a community that does not want to bolster assets such as parks, transportation capacity, and school seats, while at the same time working to block perceived burdens such as shelters or sanitation garages, even if such facilities are critical to City or borough functions. Effective planning requires looking at conditions across the borough, and balancing city- or borough-wide objectives with neighborhood needs and desires.
Communities have also been active participants in the 197-a plan process, which provides a way for communities to guide long-term planning and development. 197-a plans, instituted in the 1989 Charter revision, require collaborative visioning around housing, jobs, schools, open space, and other key issues that go beyond zoning recommendations into true comprehensive planning. Community Boards are not the only entities able to sponsor 197a plans—Borough Boards, Borough Presidents, the Mayor, the Department of City Planning, and the City Planning Commission can initiate the process as well. Moreover, a 197a plan does not necessarily need to apply to a single community district—for instance, the City’s Waterfront Revitalization Program (WRP) was done through the 197a process in 1992
However, the majority of 197a plans have been developed by a Community Board and apply to that geography. Perhaps the most notable community-based 197a plans were the Williamsburg and Greenpoint Waterfront 197a Plans, which the Department of City Planning used as a basis to push its own rezoning of Greenpoint-Williamsburg, and to create the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Waterfront Master Plan. Ultimately, 197a plans are only as useful as the City’s desire and ability to implement them, and the Administration has often prioritized citywide goals before, or even in place of, community desires in implementation. As a result, communities now rarely undertake the 197a planning process, and focus instead on codifying protective zoning changes in the Zoning Resolution (ZR). In this way, neighborhoods have also fallen back on zoning as a primary planning tool.
Planning for Brooklyn
While the Boroughs (and Borough Presidents) lack municipal powers and lost some of their authority and influence in the 1991 charter revisions, they are large, different, and diverse enough to merit comprehensive planning. In terms of population, the Brooklyn Borough President’s comprehensive plan is the largest such municipal planning effort since the 2001 update to the Los Angeles General Plan.
A plan is just that — a plan. It is intended to inform and guide future decisions made by elected officials and government agencies. The existing conditions documented in this report and the forthcoming recommendations are meant to establish this framework for Brooklyn. While the Comprehensive Plan is detailed and expansive, there is a special focus on two deeply intertwined issues - housing and health.
Acknowledgements
RPA Authors
Project Team
- Office of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso
- Asher Freeman, Chief of Staff; John Parsons Douglas, Land Use Director; Erin Buchanan, Deputy Director of Land Use; Inna Guzenfeld, Senior Planner; Ethan Nash, GIS Analyst; Mon Yuck Yu, Director of Policy; Lacey Tauber, Legislative Director; Bruno Daniel Garcia, Senior Aide
- New York Academy of Medicine
- Diane Kolack, MPH, Program Officer; Kumbie Madondo, PhD, Director; Emmanuela Aboagye-Mensah, Program Associate
- Invited Advisory Committee Members
- Arthur Ashe Institute, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, New Yorkers for Parks, RiseBoro Community Partnership, Pratt Center for Community Development, Bed Stuy Restoration, Brooklyn Community Foundation, Chinese-American Planning Council, Community Service Society, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York City Health + Hospitals, Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, Brooklyn Movement Center, Make the Road NY, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Transportation Alternatives, Coney Island Alliance, Waterfront Alliance, The American Association of Retired Persons, Citizens Housing and Planning Council, Mutual Housing Association of New York
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