City Council Rejects Rezoning of Carroll Street Property

COLUMBIA WATERFRONT, BROOKLYN — The City Council rejected a developer's request to rezone 14-18 Carroll St. from a manufacturing zone to one permitting a residential development, as reported by CityLand.

The rezoning application, filed on behalf of Rothkrug, Rothkrug & Spector LLP, was viewed as a test case by Community Board 6 and Councilman Brad Lander, who represents the neighborhood.

At a CB 6 hearing in August, the board voted to conditionally approve the small project, which was intended to construct a building with approximately 10 units (though that number had yet to be determined).

The development's size, however, was a key issue. New buildings that are 10 units or fewer, or are 12,500 square feet or less in size, do not have to adhere to the city's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) laws, meaning they don't need to contain affordable apartments.

If a new building is between 11 and 25 units, the owner has the option to either include affordable units, or contribute to a fund that will be used for affordable housing elsewhere.

In August, CB 6 and Lander said they were worried Rothkrug, Rothkrug & Spector would get the zoning change it wanted, only to then alter its design so as to fall below the MIH threshold. That, in turn, could become a tactic other developers would use as well.

As such, CB 6 added three conditions to its zoning change approval: a statement that the board wants to increase the number of affordable units in its neighborhoods; that the developer would maintain the building's exterior design as originally presented; and that any funds contributed to an MIH fund be used within CB 6.

However, when company principle Adam Rothkrug finally came before the City Council, his company had proposed a 10 unit building standing at 12,450 square feet, below the MIH threshold. No affordable units were planned.

Rothkrug also said the sum the city would likely have asked him to pay into an affordable housing fund if he'd been required to do so — $2.2 million, based on a calculation related to the size of the development and cost of the land — was too high. However, he said the company was willing to make a payment in the mid-to-high six figures.

During a contentious Dec. 12 Committee on Land Use subcommittee hearing (you can watch the video here), Lander and Rothkrug argued about the merits of the project. The developer said he had been waiting for four years for the zoning change to go through, since before MIH was even passed, calling the delay "cruel and unusual punishment."

Lander, meanwhile, said Rothkrug was eliminating a manufacturing property and replacing it with something of far less community value, all without providing affordable housing or an adequate payment into the MIH fund.

"You're taking away something that is useful to the public and adding nothing that is useful to the public," Lander said. "I don't understand why we would even consider supporting it given the value proposition."

In past dealings with the city, Rothkrug countered at one point, "It wasn't pay us this money and you'll get your rezoning. Unfortunately, maybe that's where it's headed, with the money going to a good cause."

"I think you should step back that comment," Lander said curtly in response. "We are looking and thinking about the public value of this land, and of our zoning. If you don't take that statement back, I'm going to just leave the hearing."

"At the end of the day, there's an exemption in the law we qualify for," Rothkrug said, adding that his company still understands that affordable housing is important, and is ready to make a contribution to the cause.

At the end of the hearing, Williamsburg Councilman Antonio Reynoso expressed little sympathy for another argument Rothkrug had put forward: that he had essentially been left with a property he paid a residential (not manufacturing) price for, which he now couldn't use for free market condos.

"You paid the price of a Lamborghini for a Civic," Reynoso said. "The absurd part is what you paid for the property, not what we're asking you to do. You made a bad investment."

"It happens," Rothkrug said jokingly.

"It happens," Reynoso agreed, "but that's your problem, not ours."

As reported by CityLand, the subcommittee rejected the zoning application by a vote of 5-0, with the full Committee on Land Use disapproving it 18-0 on Dec. 14.

Pictured at top: 14-18 Carroll Street. Image via Google Maps.