Focus on: Gowanus

Of the perhaps 15 rezonings being pursued by Mayor DeBlasio to support his housing plan, a cornerstone of which is Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) to create more affordable units, six rezonings have been completed. Another rezoning that seems likely in the near future is an approximately 80-block area of the Gowanus neighborhood. This likely rezoning would transform areas along and near the Gowanus Canal, a neighborhood in Brooklyn where housing is now prohibited. On privately owned sites, the city predicts that the Gowanus rezoning could create approximately 7,200 apartments, with approximately 2,000 permanently affordable under MIH. On a city-owned site, the city expects approximately 1,000 additional new affordable housing units. The rezoning’s proposed actions are expected to produce 696,000 square feet of commercial space; 251,000 square feet of community facility space; and 6.4 acres of new open space, including over an acre of newly mapped parkland. According to the Department of City Planning, the scope also projects over 3,100 new jobs. But this effort has not been without criticism.