City Council member Diana Reyna is investigating Community Board 4’s allegedly unpublicized approval of the Read Property Group’s plan to build high-rise apartments and retail space at the former Rheingold Brewery site in Bushwick.
Reyna said the decision may have violated the rules of transparency, and the dearth of public notice could warrant a revote. The board elected to table the vote on rezoning from June to July.
If the voting meeting was closed or not publicized, the community board violated the law, said Robert Freeman, a member of the New York state Committee on Open Government. Community Board 4 District Manager Nadine Whitted said the meeting had been closed to the public since “it was only a vote and a public hearing already took place in June.”
“If there was anything done inappropriately, we’re making sure it’s rectified,” a spokesperson for Reyna said.
Read Property proposed to develop several rental buildings on a mostly vacant 6.7-acre site, as previously reported. The project would add 977 apartments, retail space and a park to the area near Woodhull Medical Center. [DNAinfo] – Mark Maurer