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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MARCH 24, 2019
2019
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THROWING SHADE: Two 39-story towers proposed to rise on Franklin Avenue would destroy half of all
plants growing in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden within 10 years, according to a horticulturalist at the
preserve. Continuum Company
Building gloom
Proposed Franklin Ave. towers would kill half of Bklyn
Botanic’s plants within a decade, horticulturist claims
BY COLIN MIXSON
Shadows cast by a proposed
39-story development
in Crown Heights
would destroy half of the
Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s
collection of rare
and exotic plants within
10 years, according to one
of the horticultural museum’s
chief green thumbs,
who urged members of the
City Planning Commission
to seriously consider
the project’s shadow impact.
“The rezoning proposal
would cause serious, tangible
damage to the gardens,”
Rowan Blaik, director
of living collections
at Brooklyn Botanic Garden,
said during a March
12 public-scoping meeting
about the development.
Developer Continuum
Company is seeking permission
to rezone the
property at 960 Franklin
Ave., the site of an
old spice factory, to pave
the way for two 39-story
mixed-use towers , which
together would host a
whopping 1,578 residential
units split evenly between
luxury and below-marketrate
housing.
Garden honchos have
for months claimed that
the development will
bathe the green space in
as many as three hours of
additional darkness per
day. Blaik stressed the effect
those shadows would
have on critical growing
facilities located within
the green space, which
house a stunning 18,500
plants — including 150 endangered
species — and
are necessary to breed
replacements for the approximately
fi ve percent
of plants that die off naturally
around the garden
every year.
“These propagation
and growing facilities are
the heart of the garden,”
he said.
And because the garden’s
grow houses heavily
depend on sunlight to
function, compromising
their ability to soak up
rays could result in catastrophic
loss of plants, according
to Blaik, who said
that importing new species
— which could carry
pests and diseases — is
not an option.
“Should we lose propagation
growing facilities,
more than half of our collection
will be gone in a
decade,” he said. “There
are no commercial alternatives
to on-site propagation
facilities for botanic
gardens.”
A spokeswoman for the
builder, however, insisted
that although it has yet to
complete a full environmental
impact study of
the project, early analysis
shows that the development’s
impact on the garden
would be negligible,
citing research conducted
by Continuum’s own environmental
experts.
“Based on preliminary
fi ndings, no signifi cant adverse
shadow impacts are
Continued on page 8