The Department of City Planning is commendably moving ahead with a comprehensive rezoning of Carroll Gardens and the Columbia Street District that will preserve the low-rise character of the neighborhoods to the south and west of Cobble Hill. This is excellent news. The matter is scheduled for consideration by the CB6 Land Use Committee on Thursday, June 25. We have only one objection to the plan: we don’t think Henry and Clinton Streets immediately south of Degraw should be zoned R6A.

Why does it matter? The Cobble Hill Historic District’s southern edge is Degraw Street. R6A zoning allows for heights up to seventy feet. The Historic District has a fifty-foot height limit. We think the zoning of the blocks of Henry and Clinton immediately south of Degraw should not rise so abruptly. City Planning has said that many of the homes on those streets are already quite tall. Even so, we don’t want to encourage more tall buildings so close to the Historic District. We hope that community members will attend the meeting and reiterate this point to the committee.

WHAT: CB6 Land Use Committee meeting on rezoning
WHEN: LICH, Conference Rooms A and B, 339 Hicks Street
WHEN: Thursday, June 6, 2009 at 6 p.m.