Sunset Park 'Speak Out' To Discuss Industry City Rezone Proposal

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — Residents will get the chance to sound off about Industry City's long-awaited rezoning application, just a week after the developers surprised the neighborhood by officially submitting the proposal.

Community Board 7 has scheduled a neighborhood "Speak Out" about the rezoning application for Wednesday night in front of its Land Use and Landmarks Committee. The two-hour meeting will let residents share their opinions about the Industry City proposal, which was officially submitted Friday, Oct. 25.

The proposal starts the clock on a seven-month review process for a transformation of the 35-acre private complex and surprised local leaders, like Council Member Carlos Menchaca, who had asked that the private developers hold off on sending in the application until they signed onto an agreement with neighbors.

The agreement, Menchaca has said, would make Industry City legally bound to a list of conditions the developers said last month they would take on.

The current application, which was certified by the City Planning Commission the following Monday, doesn't yet include these conditions, though developers say they will be added in throughout the review process.

If previous meetings about the Industry City rezoning — which would bring more than 1 million square feet of new development to the complex — are any indication, Wednesday's meeting will likely include protesters who argue local leaders should reject the application outright.

Menchaca said last week he is prepared to vote no when the proposal reaches the City Council floor.

Neighbors from the largely working class, immigrant neighborhood, have argued that the proposal will exacerbate gentrification already rampant in Sunset Park. They worry that Menchaca could change his vote should the agreement he called for with the community be reached before the application reaches City Council.

Menchaca's conditions include not allowing two planned hotels, limiting the 900,000 square feet of new retail and requiring city investments in affordable housing and a new technical high school.

Wednesday's "Speak Out" will start at 6:30 p.m. at Sunset Park High School, found at 153 35th St.