A controversial plan to build 700 units of luxury apartments along the shores of the toxic Gowanus Canal was greenlighted last night by a Brooklyn community board.
But Community Board 6 also passed a resolution calling on the city Planning Department to conduct a full study of the area surrounding the canal for a potential rezoning to protect the neighborhood from overzealous developers.
The board was mostly split on the project but ultimately opted to support the plan by Manhattan-based Lightstone Group. Some members had called on the developer to lower the project’s height from 12 stories to eight, add additional affordable units. Some questioned whether the neighborhood could handle the project.
Lightstone is in discussions with the city’s Planning Department seeking some modifications to project approvals previously given to Toll Brothers. Toll Brothers had planned to build a total of 477 condos and townhouses along the shore at Bond, Carroll and Second streets but dropped its project because it believed the federal Superfund designation of the waterway would limit its ability to get financing.