At around noon yesterday, the City Planning Commission of NYC met to discuss a wide-range of city projects, including the rezoning of Rheingold Brewery in Bushwick. The City Planning Commission heard arguments for and against the massive rezoning project that would allow for the construction of 7 and 8-story apartment buildings containing 977 dwelling units over the span of approximately four years. The Commission seemed genuinely surprised by what they heard from Bushwick residents in attendance…

In August, we reported that Community Board 4 (CB4) had held a very important meeting – behind closed doors – in which they voted on the proposal to rezone sections of the site from M-1 and M-3 to R-6 and M-1, respectively. We were baffled that our Community Board chose to hold the vote in a private session and were shocked to find that CB4 voted to approve the rezoning proposed by Forrest Lots LLC, a division of Read Property Group LLC, with a staggering vote of 29 to 3.

First up to speak yesterday was proponent Mitchell Korbey of Herrick, Feinstein LLP, who emphasized that the site is currently “largely vacant, underutilized” and that the rezoning is far from unusual, that it’s a “rezoning that’s predictable.” He pointed out that 24% of the dwelling units would be affordable housing, a portion of which would be inclusionary housing (units that must remain permanently affordable), and there would be publicly accessible open spaces. Commissioner Michelle de la Uz asked Korbey if the already crowded schools in the area might be affected by an influx of students. Korbey replied yes, eventually, but conversations are underway about how to address the estimated 75 new students the residential buildings would bring to the area.