This is the testimony written by Joe Nardiello, Republican candidate for City Council in the 39th district, delivered by Josephine Carita at City Hall on Monday Oct. 26th, regarding zoning height restrictions across Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens.
NYC CITY COUNCIL – Zoning Committee
Dear Chairman Tony Avella and distinguished Councilpersons:
Good morning, my name is Josephine Carita presenting zoning testimony on behalf of Joe Nardiello — who is a candidate for City Council seeking to represent the very communities of Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens of which we speak today. Joe Nardiello asked me to firstly relay his compliments to Councilman Avella for a truly inspiring candidacy…and to convey Joe’s warm commendation to the many Councilpersons who likewise handled the pressures of campaigning, and the unique way we all must balance our family time, along with the demands of the process.
The subject matter of zoning before this honorable committee has been long-debated and anticipated in my home areas of Brooklyn, which is called “Brownstone Brooklyn”. But, for perspective – this neighborhood’s architecture is as diverse as the people who transverse its streets at any given moment.
As you may know, while it does have a certain character of low-lined limestone, brownstone and brick row houses, and tree-lined streetscapes that have been depicted in movies…
…our areas also have a surprising number of larger apartment buildings interspersed that were built generations ago from Union to Pacific St., and from Degraw to Columbia St. These buildings were designed by size and appearance to blend into the streetscapes. In fact, I (Josephine Carita) live on Sackett St. in a building constructed in 1898 and one of 8 apartments. There’s a duplicate, ‘sister’ building beside it – and there’s another even wider structure that runs the length of Clinton St. around the block to Union. Each has been here for ages – has housed generations of low and moderate income families — and each structure is no higher than 4 stories from the sidewalk.
I mention this fact, because there seems to have been a time when developers & builders – were either thoughtful enough, or restricted previously to not to push boundaries ever higher and distort the character of the community. But that was then, and this is now…
Our local realtors take FULL advantage of the demand for homes and rental apartments – setting skyrocketed pricing… and modern builders have tried to exploit that demand, at every turn. Today, we do absolutely need to apply and enforce stronger restraints for modern builders. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to expect builders to design for the character of these areas – like our older, but larger buildings had done in the past…
Like unruly children, today’s developers need harder rules – and stronger guidelines.
Now, developers usually challenge limits and tempt local Community Boards to oppose monster-sized plans that have made phrases like “air rights” and “sidewalk encroachment” phrases that can be heard as easily at Board meetings, as they could be heard among neighbors simply greeting each other. Larger developments take advantage of space and their property ownership rather than try to blend in. For example, a larger development on Carroll St. off Hoyt St. was stopped due to non-compliance for going 40-feet over its agreed upon restriction – and now, 3 years after its violations were detected, sits unfinished and in the same state it was, nearly as if in a spiteful response to the community itself.
It is imperative to vote for the height restrictions – to keep today’s developers from causing the problems we have seen, and trying to build UP. The historic character and beauty of Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill, overall has got to be protected.
While larger buildings can house more people, and certainly provide more by way of tax income when bought/sold to our City… there’s also the additional aspect of how smaller buildings add to the movement and human interactivity on the street.
Halloween’s “Trick or Treating” which will happen this coming weekend…provides an illustration of the difference larger buildings can have. Children don’t visit larger apartment buildings on their hunt for candy, unless they know someone there in particular. They simply walk by these monoliths. There’s a detachment sometimes, with residents. In smaller buildings, you see & notice the people living there, even in a visual sense as you happen to walk by…2, 3, 4x a day. ..Eventually, you know them.
Smaller buildings are more inviting, and there’s more of a feeling of involvement with what’s going on outside of them. In larger buildings, usually you’re either ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ of them – and generally, there’s not that aspect of Brooklyn architecture that invites neighbors to stop, pause and talk with each other…meaning: “the stoop”. We can lose the character of the community and neighbors have less of a chance to interact, and this is the meaning of what it means to live in our areas. This is why people come here, and stay here – in the first place.
Please side with new zoning and height limits – which were brought to your attention today through hard work of community leaders that worked to push their elected officials and nudge this forward for quite some time. Reward their efforts!
Builders can and will adjust to our new height and zoning regulations – changes and ceilings which are endorsed today wholeheartedly by myself Josephine Carita, Celia Maniero Cacace who is here with me today, and by Joe Nardiello who has been concerned with this particular issue for yours and has voiced his strong belief for new legislation, stricter guidelines…. greater emphasis, process' speed and funding of Community Boards…. and significantly-stronger fines & penalties for non-compliance throughout his campaign.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
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Copies of testimony hand-delivered to:
Committee Chairperson
Tony Avella
Committee Members
Chairperson: Tony Avella
Simcha Felder
Eric N. Gioia
Robert Jackson
Melinda R. Katz
Joel Rivera
Larry B. Seabrook
Helen Sears
Albert Vann