TOWERS
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 a rapid, catastrophic
loss of plant life, according
to Blaik, who said that
importing new plants — which
could carry pests and diseases
— to replace dead ones is not an
option.
“Should we lose propagation
growing facilities, more than
half of our collection will be
gone in a decade,” he said.
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 anticipated
on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden,”
said Lupe Todd-Medina.
Todd-Medina further alleged
that her bosses at Continuum
Company attempted to
speak to garden brass about the
development, but that the horticulturists
their proffered olive branch
aside.
“To date, all outreach and
requests to meet have been rejected,”
she said.
City Planning bigwigs are
accepting written public comments
on the rezoning proposal
through March 25, after which
Continuum honchos must compile
their environmental-impact
statement for the upzoning,
which will then begin its
journey through the lengthy
Uniform Land Use Review Procedure,
where it will again go
before the City Planning Commission,
as well as the local
community board, Council,
and ultimately Mayor DeBlasio.
The public can submit written
comments about the Franklin
Avenue rezoning request to
the Department of City Planning
via e-mail at 19DCP095K_
DL@planning.nyc.gov.
F-LIAR: These fl iers, which allegedly circulated amid Councilwoman Laurie
Cumbo’s successful 2017 reelection campaign, claimed the lawmaker
would fi ght against any plan to redevelop the Bedford-Union Armory that
didn’t include 100-percent affordable housing.
FLIP-FLOP
COURIER L 46 IFE, MARCH 22–28, 2019 PS
routinely brushed
Cumbo’s chief of staff, said at
a March 12 meeting of the City
Planning Commission.
But Baker doubts the pol
will uphold the critical stance
her rep showed at the meeting
— and predicts the legislator
will ultimately move to support
the project, like she did for other
developments that she gave her
blessing to after publicly questioning
their necessity.
In December, the councilwoman
voted to approve a rezoning
that builders Cornell Realty
and Carmel Partners sought
in order to erect two 16-story
towers at 40 Crown St. and 931
Carroll St., after the developers
added more below-market-rate
housing to the project.
But her blessing came after
she subjected reps for the builders
to a severe tongue lashing
at a November Council subcommittee
meeting, where she
asked the proxies how gentrifi
cation makes them feel , and
criticized the project’s thensmaller
affordable-housing
component.
And in 2017, amid Cumbo’s
Council reelection bid, campaign
fl iers circulated claiming
the legislator would vote down
a hugely controversial scheme
to transform the city-owned
Bedford-Union Armory in her
district into a mixed-use development,
unless the site’s developer
made all of the residential
units below-market-rate.
But Cumbo ultimately
agreed to endorse builder BFC
Partners’s requested rezoning
for the armory redevelopment ,
and allow the fi rm to include
149 market-rate rentals in the
building, weeks after voters reelected
her.
CB9 members, meanwhile,
voted to oppose both of those
developments outright, and
Baker expressed frustration at
the apparent indifference with
which Cumbo and her peers
treat local residents’ opinions.
“I’m frustrated and disappointed
in our elected offi cials,”
she said.
The panel members, however,
are still waiting for Continuum
Company reps to present
their Franklin Avenue
project before taking an offi cial
stance on it.
Still, Baker expressed serious
misgivings about the impact
the towers’ 1,578 units
— half of which will be belowmarket
rate — and their occupants
will have on local infrastructure.
“There’s a lot of development,
and the community has
a lot of concerns, about infrastructure,
the sewers, the transit,
the schools,” she said.
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