Borough President’s Recommendations

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On October 30, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso published his recommendations regarding the Arrow Linen rezoning – “Approve with Modifications/Conditions”. We encourage you to read the whole letter, but please keep reading for a summary of his recommendations:

  • No compromise at all in height – R71 is still fully supported, which will leave us with 19 stories or more after City of Yes passes.
  • As a “compromise” on height, investigate shorter bulkier buildings that do not reduce the number of units or square feet that would be built.
  • The non-applicant-controlled lots should not be removed from the Project Area but be considered
    for an R6B district rather than R7-1.
  • Increase the percentage of affordable units and depth of affordability with one of these plans:
    • construct between 30% and 40% of units permanently affordableto be leased and monitored through a regulatory agreement with HPD
    • Construct the project in two phases—one MIH-only (mandatory inclusionary housing, as proposed by Arrow) building, and one 100% affordable housing building financed through an HPD new construction program.
    • Construct one or both of the buildings using NYCHA Section 8 vouchers.

To summarize the Borough President’s points with which we disagree (distinct from his recommendations):

  • Reynoso acknowledges uncertainty about affect of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity on this application, which will be decided on by City Council prior to the review of Arrow’s application.
    • But this had no effect on his decision to support the full zoning Arrow’s owners have asked for!
  • Any modifications to the building’s design to respond to community concerns should not limit the unit production potential at this site.
    • This will leave us with 19 stories of luxury housing that displaces residents in the neighborhood.
  • “…there is no community consensus on how to best proceed. The Borough President received he
    testimony that expressed a wide range support, opposition, and requests for modifications”
    • At the hearing, 22 people testified against the rezoning, 21 of whom were from the neightborhood; 9 people testified in favor, only one of whom was from the neighborhood.
  • This application has been referred to as a “spot rezoning” due to its relatively small Project Area. The removal of non-applicant-controlled lots would accentuate this aspect of the application.
    • This means that the application would be outed as exactly what it is, a spot rezoning meant to enrich the owners of Arrow Linen.
  • Windsor Terrace has the lowest level of risk on the City’s Displacement Risk Index, making it a place that can accommodate new growth with a lower relative risk of indirect and direct displacement.
    • The City’s Displacement Risk Map does not have the detail required for the Borough President to understand that the blocks directly surrounding Arrow Linen are the most affordable in the neighborhood, and this project represents a high level of displacemeent risk for the residents here.
  • Despite the “low level of displacement risk”, there is intermediate and high market pressure, as the area is in high demand. The Borough President contends that new housing options here will help alleviate, rather than create, additional market pressure in Windsor Terrace.
    • In project after project and rezoning after rezoning, this has been proven incorrect. Ask our neighbors who were displaced from Greenpoint and Crown Heights!

We encourage you to send an email to the Borough President expressing your disapppointment in his recommendation to the City Planning Commission. Please feel free to use our one-click email template. Click here to send the following email, or feel free to send your own with our link or by emailing AskReynoso@brooklynbp.nyc.gov –

Dear Borough President Reynoso

My name is: 
My address: 

I'm writing to express my disappointment for your recommendations to the CPC regarding the rezoning proposal on Prospect Ave submitted by Arrow Linen.

While you discussed a smaller zoning, you limited that to the non-applicant-controlled properties in the rezoning area, ignoring the wishes of the community which were overwhelmingly presented to both CB7 and you. You acknowledge that we don't know the effect of City of Yes on what the zoning Arrow applied for will allow, and yet you are giving Arrow's owners a green light to build whatever is allowed at this zoning.

You said that removing the non-applicant-controlled properties from the rezoning would highlight that this is a spot rezoning, which it surely is, designed for nothing more than enriching the applicant.

It's clear that you don't know well the neighborhood where Arrow Linen is proposing to build luxury high-rises, as you've conflated the most affordable blocks in South Slope / Windsor Terrace in with Windsor Terrace as a whole. You have disregarded a real risk for real people in this community.

At your public hearing, 22 people testified against the rezoning, 21 of whom were from the neighborhood; 9 people testified in favor, only one of whom was from the neighborhood, and all of whom were affiliated with Open New York.

For an issue so important to us, our community, and our families, we had hoped that we could count on your leadership to support us. You missed an opportunity for compromise, and I'm disappointed.