This from Jeanne Ramirez at New York 1:

A hill in Sunset Park is one of the highest points in Brooklyn —
offering panoramic vistas of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, and the
harbor.

But soon the view of Lady Liberty could be obstructed. Digging has
already begun for a high rise planned here, on the site of a former
parking lot.

"We were not consulted. We were not even given any information,”
said Loretta Holmes of the Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors. “The only
way we realized it was our houses were shaking."

Residents convinced the Buildings Department to issue a stop-work
order for complaints including construction after hours, lack of proper
permits, and structure stability.

And they formed a coalition called Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors.

"To put up a 12 story and plus monstrosity of this size and this
nature on a block with so many low-rise family buildings is unjust and
unfair," said David Galarza, a member of SPAN.

"We’re not going to let this developer come and develop all of a
sudden,” said another SPAN member, Johnny Trelles. “They have to come
and work with the community because we’ve been here 30, 40 years."

Most homes in the neighborhood are three stories. The tallest
structure, seen for miles, is the tower of Saint Michael’s Church —
but the proposed building would rise higher that that.

Plans filed with the Department of Buildings at this location
include more than 30 units of housing along with a day care center and
medical facility.

Residents say the local community board should have been on top of
this, especially after it helped another part of the district — the
area of Greenwood Heights — get rezoned to limit the height of new
construction just last year.

"We should have been having rezoning done as soon as the other
neighborhoods were done,” said Tom Murphy of SPAN. “They just let it
lag."

But Community Board 7 says it cannot initiate a zoning change, only
support residents who ask for it. The board says the City Planning
Department has to step in for change.

City Planning says it will look at whether a zoning change is
warranted. In the meantime, the developer says he is resolving the
permit issues and plans to resume construction as early as next week.