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Jan. 18–24, 2019 Including The Brooklyn Paper
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BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
The city rejected a developer’s
controversial request to upzone
a block of Surf Avenue
in Coney Island, citing this
newspaper’s reporting that
the builder would consider going
against city code by revising
the application to only upzone
its own properties on the
stretch.
Amending the rezoning application
to only include the
developer’s own lots and not
the entire Surf Avenue block
would violate city-planning
principles that prohibit such
upzonings from directly benefi
tting the properties of those
who request them, according
to a City Planning Commission
report issued after the
panel panned the request on
Jan. 9.
“The commission cannot
turn a blind eye to the facts on
the ground,” the report read.
“This would not be an appropriate
and rational land use.”
Eight of the commission’s
11 members voted against developer
Winiarski Entities’s
application to upzone Surf Avenue
between W. 22nd and W.
23rd streets to allow for the
construction of six-to-10-story
buildings, in line with those
that can rise in the nearby
Special Coney Island District
the city rezoned back in 2009.
The builder needed the upzoning
to erect two mixed-use
high-rises — a 12-story tower
facing W. 22nd Street and a
fi ve-story building facing W.
23rd Street, which would be
connected by a ground-fl oor
retail strip — on the fi ve lots
on the stretch it already owns.
But the developer ultimately
applied to rezone the
entire block at the suggestion
of City Planning honchos, according
to its attorney Richard
Lobel, who previously told
local civic gurus that his client
chose to take the offi cials’
advice, despite it being in the
FERRY HAPPY: From far left, Coney Island ferry proponents including Alliance for Coney Island executive
director Alexandra Silversmith, Councilman Mark Treyger, and Coney Islanders 4 Ferry founder Daniel Ioannou,
joined other locals to cheer the city’s decision to create a new ferry stop in the neighborhood by 2021.
Photo by Steve Solomonson
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
Call it ferry good news for Coney
commuters!
Coney Island will receive
a long sought after stop on
the city’s ferry service as part
of a new South Brooklyn express
route to Manhattan,
Mayor DeBlasio announced
on Jan. 10.
“We’ll connect Coney Island
to lower Manhattan,”
Hizzoner said during his
State of the City address delivered
on the distant isle.
The city tentatively plans
to build the dock near the
mouth of Coney Island Creek
at W. 33rd Street and Bayview
Avenue, according to Economic
Development Corporation
spokeswoman Stephanie
Baez, who said ferries originating
in Coney will stop in
Bay Ridge, before sailing to
Wall Street’s Pier 11 — a trip
she estimated will take a little
less than 40 minutes dockto
dock.
NYC Ferry service to
and from the People’s Playground
should begin by 2021,
and when it does, the system’s
current South Brooklyn
route — which sails from
Bay Ridge to Sunset Park,
Red Hook, Brooklyn Heights,
and Dumbo before heading
to Manhattan, with weekend
stops at Governors Island —
will eliminate both the Bay
Ridge stop, which will become
part of the express line
between Coney and Manhattan,
and the Dumbo stop,
which will become part of the
East River route.
The news is “another great
victory” for Coney Island, according
to its Councilman
Mark Treyger, who pushed
for a local stop since the fi rst
batch of citywide routes debuted
in May 2017, and said
the new boats will ease the
commutes of neighborhood
residents and summer tourists
alike.
“From day one, I made
public transportation improvements
a top priority,
and the expansion of the NYC
Ferry system to Coney Island
is a major step forward
for Southern Brooklyn’s stu-
Continued on page 12
Vol. 74 No. 3 BROOKLYNDAILY.COM
Continued on page 12
FERRY GOOD!
City votes down
scheme to rezone
Surf Ave. block
City ferry service will add Coney stop
RELIEVED: Councilman Mark Treyger,
who opposed the rezoning due
to its potential to displace locals
living on the Surf Avenue block,
applauded the city’s decision.
Photo by Julianne McShane
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/BROOKLYNDAILY.COM