The City Council has scheduled a public hearing on the Arrow Linen rezoning on Thursday, Jan 9, from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (click here to add to calendar) in the Council Chambers in City Hall. We need everyone to send written testimony to the City Council – and everyone who can to come and testify against the rezoning! Testimony is limited to 2 minutes, and everyone will have a chance to speak.
If you can’t make it in person, you can participate remotely. Please see the City Council’s Planning & Land Use webpage. for instructions to register to attend and testify via Zoom. Pre-registration is required to join via Zoom! If there’s any way you can come to the meeting in person, your being there will have even more impact!
As important as it is to show up to the City Council’s Franchising and Zoning committee’s public hearing, it’s vitally important that you submit written testimony to the City Council!
Please click here to send the following email:
To: landusetestimony@council.nyc.gov
Cc: district39@council.nyc.gov, mperez@council.nyc.gov
Subject: Arrow Linen Rezoning, 441 & 467 Prospect Avenue, Brooklyn
To the NYC City Council:
I am opposed to the rezoning application at the Arrow Linen site at 441 & 467 Prospect Avenue in Brooklyn.
I welcome new housing in my neighborhood and am looking forward to seeing contextual housing built on the Arrow Linen site that works for the community. If you limit the rezoning to 7 stories and increase the percentage of Mandatory Inclusionary Housing from 25% to 40%, this will result in more affordable units than Arrow's proposal, and at a scale that does not threaten to displace existing renters.
I ask you to disapprove Arrow Linen's radical upzoning application for the following reasons:
Lack of Community Engagement:
This is a greedy move by Arrow Linen to massively profit from the facility they have owned for 40+ years, while operating off a 25-year tax abatement subsidized by city taxpayers. Arrow has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying elected officials, and did not spend any time or resources meeting with the community. Arrow stands to profit hundreds of millions of dollars from this application, and the community has had zero input on this transformational project. I ask the Council listen to Brooklyn CB7’s findings and uphold DCP’s stated mission “Work with neighborhoods to develop sound ground-up frameworks for growth”.
Renter Displacement:
The block around Arrow Linen has 59 units of rent-stabilized housing, and Prospect Avenue has the most affordable rents in the neighborhood. If Arrow is allowed to build 15 stories of luxury high-rises, this will encourage speculators to price out our neighbors. Arrow Linen is also proposing to rezone 11 privately-owned, multi-family buildings, and these owners have already been victims of predatory speculators. These buildings are at great risk of acquisition and tenant displacement due to this application. Please vote to limit this application to no more than 7 stories so we can treat housing as a public good rather than a vehicle for massive profit.
Environmental Impacts:
Stormwater issues and flooding are frequent occurrences across the neighborhood. There will be thousands of new fixtures flowing into the ancient, combined sewer system. Our sewer systems are beyond capacity and this project will exacerbate unsanitary flooding. Arrow is also kicking the can down the road for environmental contamination impacts from over 100 years of dumping hazardous waste. There is no plan and no experienced entity to address remediation.
Contextual Zoning and Neighborhood Character:
I welcome more housing at this site; however, Arrow’s proposal will irreversibly alter the character of the neighborhood and undo prior DCP and community-led rezoning efforts. Arrow claims that up to 15-story towers on a midblock amongst 2 to 3-story surroundings buildings would “match the residential context and character of the neighborhood”. This is an objectively negligent and reckless assessment. I ask for a revised, contextual zoning district based on a rational land use framework. Limiting the upzoning to 7 stories will bring more housing to the neighborhood without triggering a domino effect of developers converting the moderate apartment buildings in the neighborhood to luxury high-rises.
The Myth of Trickle-Down Affordable Housing:
Developers and lobbyists would have us believe that the only way to pull ourselves out of our dire housing shortage is by building new construction. For-profit new construction is overwhelmingly geared toward the luxury market, which has the highest vacancy rates. But it’s lower-income households who face the most severe affordable housing shortfalls, and we have a crisis of affordability. Please vote to disapprove this application so we can treat housing as a public good rather than a vehicle for massive profit.
Limiting the rezoning to 7 stories and increasing the percentage of Mandatory Inclusionary Housing from 25% to 40% will result in more affordable units than Arrow's proposal, and at a scale the does not threaten to displace existing renters. Only the profits of Arrow Linen's owners will be reduced, and the community will be better served than by building 15 stories of luxury housing.