Brooklyn Bridge Park residential development plan sparks flooding oncerns

The Bloomberg administration’s plan to find a developer for a new luxury tower in Dumbo’s flood zone is facing criticism from politicians and locals alike, the New York Daily News reported. On Monday, Brooklyn Bridge Park officials unveiled plans for a plans 13-story complex with 130 residential units, ground-floor retail and up to 110 Parking Spaces On A Vacant Lot On John Street near the Manhattan Bridge. Despite plans to include state-of-the-art flood protections, such as a raised bottom level and an electric system on a top floor, the site saw more than four feet of water during Hurricane Sandy, causing some to question the wisdom of the plan.

“We now know what a big bad storm can do to Dumbo and it ain’t pretty,” City Councilman Steve Levin, a longtime critic of housing in the park, said. “We need to re-evaluate how we build along the water and this would be a great place to start.”

The 147,460-square-foot lot — currently owned by Con Ed — should have a developer by March and is scheduled to be completed by 2016. But Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund president Judi Francis has also joined the growing chorus of opposition: “It’s shocking that they’d consider building a 13-story building on the site given what happened during a tropical storm,” Francis said. [NYDN] —Christopher Cameron