City Planning Begins Atlantic Avenue Rezoning

The city is moving forward with plans to transform an industrial section of Atlantic Avenue with 4,600 new homes.

The City Planning Commission on Tuesday kicked off the land use review process to rezone a 21-block area, mostly along Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. After a decade of drama over the area, the rezoning builds on the long-stalled M-Crown plan, a community-led effort launched in 2013 to change the area’s outdated zoning.

The plan is expected to lead to the construction of between 1,436 and 1,646 affordable units, depending on which Mandatory Inclusionary Housing option is selected.

The plan is significant, as new construction in the area is now largely limited to one- to two-story industrial and commercial buildings. The neighborhood’s current zoning does not permit new housing.

A map of the area along Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn (City Planning Commission)

Local City Council members Crystal Hudson and Chi Ossé provided some support for the proposal on Tuesday, while emphasizing the need to continue working with the community.

In a statement, Hudson said the framework “brings us closer toward pursuing comprehensive planning across Council District 35.”

“Community stakeholders shared local priorities and dozens of community-informed recommendations to ensure this vital section of Brooklyn can support its small businesses, visitors, and, most importantly, protect and uplift its longtime residents,” she said. “As the process moves forward, I will continue to fight for a final plan that realizes these priorities and delivers a more just, equitable, and vibrant Atlantic Avenue.”

The district’s “dire” housing shortage “is causing prices to skyrocket,” Ossé said in a statement emphasizing the importance of the rezoning.

The Council members will ultimately determine the rezoning’s fate when the proposal goes to the City Council for a final vote.

The proposal also includes plans to build housing on four city-owned sites, such as 167 apartments at 1110 Atlantic Avenue.

HPD-selected developers will build 151 affordable units for seniors at 542 Dean Street and 111 affordable apartments at 516 Bergen Street, both sites now used to park city vehicles. At 457 Nostrand Avenue, a 200-unit affordable housing project is planned at a building owned by the Department of Education and occupied by the Brooklyn Adult Learning Center.

HPD is also working with the nonprofit Acacia Network to build 110 to 125 homes at 1134-1142 Pacific Street.

The city has committed to $23.9 million in improvements to St. Andrew’s Playground as part of the rezoning, as well as a nearly $3 million investment from HPD’s Partners in Preservation program to community-based organizations “focused on anti-harassment and anti-displacement programming.”

The Adams administration announced the Atlantic Avenue rezoning last year, one of the few neighborhood-based rezonings targeted by the mayor. The scope of the rezoning and housing unit projections have slightly increased since then, in part because city-owned sites were added to the plan.

In August, the City Council approved the rezoning of 46 blocks near four new Metro-North stations. To secure support from the local member, parking mandates were added to the plan. The change was out of step with the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, which seeks to eliminate parking requirements for housing construction. The Atlantic Avenue rezoning does not, at least for now, require off-street parking with new housing.