Accountability At Center Of NYC Council Hearing On Industry City

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — Tense stand-offs about whether Industry City will deliver on its promises to Sunset Park should a massive rezoning of its complex be approved were at the center of the proposal's first hearing with NYC's City Council.

More than 200 people signed up to speak at a hearing in front of the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises on Tuesday, the first time the controversial plan to change zoning rules to expand the 35-acre site faced the legislature since it was submitted last year.

Much of the hours-long hearing focused on lingering questions about Industry City's claim that the rezoning will bring jobs and opportunity — rather than exclusion and displacement —to the gentrifying surrounding neighborhood.

The question has been a sticking point for local Council Member Carlos Menchaca, who came out against the rezoning after years of tense negotiations with Industry City owners.

"Promises by major developers are broken every day…with two months to go, there is no way to reach a level of accountability that my community demands and deserves," Menchaca said Tuesday, referring to the November deadline for the Council to vote on the project.

Negotiations between Menchaca and Industry City broke down late last year, when the private developers submitted their rezoning application before signing a legal agreement to several conditions laid out by the council member.

His opposition would normally be a death sentence for the rezoning based on City Council tradition to defer to the local representative on land use applications. But several city council members and Industry City itself have urged the legislature to buck that trend.

Menchaca's conditions include eliminating two hotels, limiting retail and adding a high school to the rezoning. The city's department of education has not yet signed onto the idea of the high school.

Industry City CEO Kimball maintained Tuesday that he is committed to finishing the agreement before the November vote.

"Our promises are real and our seven-year track record has been proven," Kimball said Tuesday. "... There’s plenty of time between now and when the council votes."

Menchaca and others also questioned Industry City's promise to bring more than 20,000 jobs with the rezoning, the top selling point for its supporters.

The 20,000 number touted by Industry City not only includes existing and "off-site" jobs, but is based on pre-pandemic 2017 projections, members said.

But Kimball pointed to an offer he made this week that Industry City will be legally barred from expanding its space should it not prove job growth, including showing that a certain percent of jobs is going to local residents.

Supporters of the rezoning have pointed to Industry City's rezoning as a needed boost to New York City's fight to maintain its manufacturing industry and its struggling post-coronavirus economy.

Those who spoke in favor Tuesday included the Brooklyn and Queens chamber of commerces, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, current Industry City or Sunset Park businesses and several construction worker unions.

Opponents, like Menchaca, have said Industry City has failed to gain the support of its surrounding community for the plan and will exacerbate gentrification in Sunset Park.

Those who spoke against it Tuesday included U.S. Rep. Nydia Valazquez, Sunset Park community board members, newly-elected Assembly Member Marcela Mitaynes and several environmental groups.

The hearing was ongoing at the time of publication for this story at 4:30 p.m. and video of it can be found here.

Read more:

• SEE: Activists Confront De Blasio Over Industry City Rezoning
• Industry City Rezone In Their Own Words: A Sit-Down With The CEO
• City Council Hearing Set For Controversial Industry City Rezoning
• Industry City Might Pull Its Controversial Rezoning: Report