News from the Cobble Hill Assocation

As was reported on this blog last January, Fortis still has not provided a more detailed plan for its proposed development of the LICH site. However, the Cobble Hill Association has been hard at work on a number of fronts relating to the LICH development, as well as organizational issues of the Association.

Legal developments. As we wait for Fortis to file a ULURP for the LICH project, our attorney Marvin Mitzner has been actively corresponding with the Department of Parks and Buildings to have public access restored to the northern Henry Street playground and the Pacific Street pedestrian walkway.

Urban Planning Issues. CHA's Urban Planning Committee—nine members including architects, urban planners, a landscape architect and community members—has met weekly since late February to formulate "foundational principles" that will serve as guidelines for evaluating the components of Fortis’ ULURP proposal once it is filed and the review process begins.

CHA Nominating Committee. A Nominating Committee has been formed to propose a slate of new board officers for the next two-year term. Service on the board is open to all Cobble Hill Association members in good standing. The election will take place at the May 11 spring meeting.

Membership Drive. A membership campaign will be taking place over the coming weeks.  Watch for forthcoming emails and mailings, and please consider joining or re-joining. Your engagement and support will be so important over the coming year.

SAVE THE DATE!

Cobble Hill Association Spring General Meeting

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

7pm

P.S. 29

All are welcome! Please attend! Make your voice heard!

Public Meeting with NYU Langone

This Wednesday, representatives from NYU Langone will present updates on their Cobble Hill healthcare operations to the Community Board Six Human Services Committee. The committee will discuss the current, and future, healthcare offerings in the neighborhood. Community Board committee meetings are open to the public. The meeting details are below, and available on the Community Board Six website.

6:30 pm Wednesday, January 27th 

Cobble Hill Health Center 

380 Henry Street 

(Congress & Warren Streets) 

An Update on the Proposed Redevelopment of the LICH site

A few days before Christmas, the Cobble Hill Association and all the elected officials who have been involved on the community’s behalf were asked to attend a meeting at City Hall because Mayor de Blasio's administration was taking a direct interest in the redevelopment process and had a new ULURP proposal to present.

The CHA agreed to participate in the meeting so we could understand the new ULURP proposal as fully as possible.  We made it clear to the administration that we were not indicating any acceptance or agreement with City Hall or Fortis as part of the process of information gathering that the meeting represented.

CHA representatives had also attended a December meeting where NYU described their plans for the new medical center to be developed on the former LICH site, regardless of what type of residential development occurs.  After this meeting, CHA and the Brooklyn Heights Association, which also attended, sent a letter to NYU outlining a number of concerns about infrastructure issues relating to the medical center.

In the pre-Christmas City Hall meeting, two members of the de Blasio administration outlined a new ULURP plan that includes a reduction in market-rate residential and affordable housing square footage, but a larger school than previously proposed.  During the meeting, CHA representatives made it clear that the plan does not fully address the community's issues with the original ULURP proposal, and that our information from the NYU meeting and the proposal of a larger school raised many infrastructure- and traffic-related issues.  The City Hall representatives asked that the CHA to develop a list of information requirements and that we attend a second meeting early in the new year.

The list of information requirements requested after the first City Hall meeting included questions relating to basic infrastructure issues, such as traffic, parking, safety, access and entrances to the medical center and school, and other subjects relating to neighborhood open spaces and environmental issues.  At the post-New Year meeting at City Hall, some information was provided and additional information promised.

CHA is continuing to pursue information gathering on all the elements of the new ULURP plan and intends to communicate its best understanding of the plan to the community at the earliest possible time.

It's Petition Delivery Time!

Let's deliver our message to Mayor de Blasio together. 

Date:  Wednesday morning, December 16th
Time:  9:15 am
Where: In front of the gates of City Hall Park, Broadway at Murray Street.
How:   4/5/6 to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall, R to City Hall, A/C to Chambers, or 2/3 to Park Place

Bring ID.

Can you make it?  Your presence will have an impact.  If you can be there, an email confirmation would be appreciated. Send your RSVPs to CobbleHillAssociation@gmail.com.

On Wednesday morning, City Councilman Brad Lander and State Senator Daniel Squadron will stand with Cobble Hill residents (and neighbors!) to deliver over 2017 signed petitions to City Hall.   (We actually have more than that but the number should have special significance for the Mayor.)  Our request is simple:  we want a better plan for the Long Island College Hospital site.
Bring one of the Save Cobble Hill posters or make your own, Just keep it family friendly!

THANK YOU for your efforts!  Every voice counts and is vital in our efforts to convince the de Blasio administration to listen and respond to our concerns.  We hope to see you Wednesday morning!

Say It Ain't So, Mayor de Blasio!

“We are not embarking on a mission to build towering skyscrapers where they don't belong. We have a duty to protect and preserve the culture and character of our neighborhoods.”


Guess who said that last February?! Mayor de Blasio!

But somehow the Mayor has lost his way and now he is supporting building high-rise towers right next to our historic low-rise brownstone community.

At Wednesday's community meeting, hundreds of our Cobble Hill neighbors and friends made their feelings loud and clear: No towers in Cobble Hill! Our representatives heard our message and they are behind us 100 percent in this truly momentous effort to stop Fortis Property Group from building their high-rises on the site of the former Long Island College Hospital.

Now we need to make sure Mayor de Blasio hears us, too! Toward that end, we are petitioning Mayor de Blasio to work with us— not against us— in our efforts to significantly downscale the current redevelopment plans. We've already collected hundreds of signatures, but we needs several times that to make an impact.

Please read our petition and-- if you agree— add your vitally needed voice to our campaign. There are two ways you can participate.

1. Please print out a copy of our petition, sign, and mail to: Cobble Hill Association, 123 Congress Street 11201 (or you can drop through the mail slot).

2. Access and sign our petition online. (Your email will be your signature.)

All the community's signed petitions will be delivered directly to the Mayor's office.

Please sign today! The sooner these petitions reach the Mayor the better!

And THANK YOU! for being a part of our community.

The Cobble Hill Community and its Representatives Reject Fortis Redevelopment Plans for LICH site

City Councilman Brad Lander, New York Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, New York State Senator Daniel Squadron, and New York Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez announced at the Cobble Hill Association's fall community meeting that they would not support the current proposed rezoning (ULURP) plans for the former Long Island College Hospital site. "The community does not support this ULURP proposal— and neither do I," Councilman Lander told his constituents, who filled the auditorium of P.S. 29 and also spoke passionately against the Fortis plans, which feature luxury high-rise towers of at least 35 stories.  Cobble Hill Association President Laurel Burr and First Vice President Buzz Doherty also reported that, after holding nearly 20 block meetings to discuss the Fortis proposals, there was a clear consensus within the community that the redevelopment plans were unacceptable and needed to be significantly downscaled to win neighborhood approval. The CHA would like to thank our representatives for their work on behalf of Cobble Hill and our President Laurel Burr for her tireless efforts to mobilize community action on this vital issue. Please follow us on Facebook for the latest developments. 

CHA attends meeting with Councilman Brad Lander and other community organizations to discuss affordable housing

As reported on DNAinfo's website, on November 5 the Cobble Hill Association participated in a meeting organized by City Councilman Brad Lander on the subject of affordable housing as it relates to the needs of the community and the current proposals for the redevelopment of the Long Island College Hospital site. A representative of Assembly member Jo Anne Simon's office; representatives of the Carroll Gardens Association, which works to preserve and develop affordable housing; Heights & Hills, which provides support services to Brooklyn's senior citizens; the Brooklyn Heights Association; representatives of Fortis, the developer of the LICH site; and other stakeholders were also in attendance.

The meeting served to educate community groups and stakeholders in the LICH development about the many intricacies involved in building and maintaining affordable housing units within a luxury high-rise development, including income levels, senior services, apartment size, preferences for certain groups, etc. The developer is proposing affordable housing in two of the high-rise towers they are seeking to build (the tallest of which is 35 stories), one housing primarily seniors. However, the representative of Heights and Hills, which has served seniors for decades, asked a number of thoughtful questions about the senior housing component of Fortis's current proposal and it was clear that Fortis and its partner L&M Development have not made any final decisions about the exact nature of the senior housing or the other proposed affordable units.

CHA is not opposed to affordable housing in any development plan, as long as it is affordable and acceptable to the community. As Council Lander has stated: "The proposals are deeply disturbing to most neighbors, and for good reason: they are dramatically out-of-scale with the Cobble Hill community." A historic brownstone neighborhood with a 50-foot height limit will be overwhelmed by a multi-tower residential complex with heights of up to 400 feet.

On November 18, CHA will hold its fall community meeting. The time and location are TBA. In the meantime, please "like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for latest developments.

When Community Advocates Are Really Paid Political Public Relations Advisors

Cobble Hill Association can now confirm that Hilltop Public Solutions, a political public relations firm operated by former top-level campaign organizers for Mayor de Blasio, is aggressively operating a "messaging" campaign in our neighborhood in support of Fortis's proposed high-rise complexes for the LICH site. Hilltop's campaigners (who say they are working for "the LICH project") are collecting and asking residents' opinions on schooling and playgrounds to forward to New York City Councilmember Brad Lander. What is not stressed by these campaigners is that both redevelopment plans will place high-rise tower complexes over 35 stories high in our low-rise historic neighborhood.

We do not believe a consultancy firm paid for by the real-estate developer of the LICH site should presume to represent our community's opinions to our representatives. We are asking all residents of Cobble Hill and throughout South Brooklyn NOT TO RESPOND to Hilltop's solicitations. CHA is reaching out to Councilman Lander's office immediately to inform him of Hilltop's stealth campaign.

For more on Hilltop's lucrative relationship with the Mayor, read this New York Times article. And in case you missed it, the Wall Street Journal also recently ran an incisive report on Mayor de Blasio's abandonment of LICH and our community. We are updating our Facebook page regularly with news and information about the Fortis redevelopment plans and what we can do to protect our community from falling victim of gross overdevelopment. Please "like" CHA on Facebook and invite your neighbors to follow us on Facebook as well. We need your support!!

Why does Fortis want your signature?

Cobble Hill Association has received reports that representatives of Fortis Property Group are canvassing the neighborhood asking people to sign a petition in support of "affordable housing” and “more parks” for Cobble Hill. Undoubtedly, these signatures are being collected to help Fortis promote its proposed rezoning of the Long Island College Hospital site. This is in addition to Fortis’s efforts on Facebook to solicit support. We are asking that residents NOT sign the petition— either on line or in person. Here’s why:

CHA does not support the current Fortis proposals and there continues to be a number of important unresolved questions over how these towers will be built without causing irrevocable harm to the historic district of Cobble Hill— and to our larger brownstone community.

The petition only addresses what Fortis claims will be the amenities related to the rezoning development they want to build and does not allow participants to express doubts, concerns, or objections about the actual plans.

The petition may not specifically mention the rezoning, but we want to remind everyone that the rezoning would result in a development much larger than they can build As of Right, and that the proposed “public park” could be used as a schoolyard.

Our greatest concern is that residents are being asked to share personal information with a major real-estate developer who may then use the data collected to make spurious claims of neighborhood support for its high-rise towers complex.

If you have any question or concerns, please reach via email, Facebook, Twitter, or leave a comment below.

Letter to Fortis Concerning Current Site Conditions at LICH

Yesterday, the CHA sent the following message in a letter to Fortis, NYU Langone, and SUNY about conditions at the former site of Long Island College Hospital.

Dear Sirs:

We are writing on behalf of the Cobble Hill Association (the “CHA”) and the residents of Cobble Hill to bring to your attention certain matters relating to the former Long Island College Hospital (“LICH”) site in Cobble Hill and your current activities with respect to it.

First, the public areas of the LICH site are not being maintained in a safe and lawful manner. Lights are either broken or not turned on at night. Park gates, to these darkened areas, are often left unlocked at night. Other gates, including those leading to public areas, are improperly locked during the day. Sidewalk snow removal was untimely or nonexistent for much of last winter. We have received reports of bloody sheets and syringes in neighborhood garbage receptacles. Efforts by community members to locate the entity or person responsible for these matters and to get them corrected have proven time consuming and largely unsuccessful. These conditions present a clear and present risk of assault and injury to community residents.

In addition to the lack of maintenance, demolition and construction activities have caused greater hazards for the Cobble Hill community. Construction debris, moving vans, garbage trucks, parked cars and uneven pavement have rendered the public area of the Pacific Street corridor dangerous for its intended pedestrian and recreational use. This area, which long provided recreational space and a safe passageway between play areas under the auspices of the NYC Parks Department, has become almost completely unusable by the public. Elsewhere on the site, especially along Amity and Henry Streets, unsafe construction practices abound, some of which have already led to the issuance of a stop work order. Neighbors have reported unsafe asbestos removal, while the Stop Work Order was in effect, including workmen who were not wearing protective clothing. Behind the “No Parking” door on the Polhemus Building, there is floor-to-ceiling garbage. The gate to the west of the former doctors’ residence (94 Amity) has been seen unlocked and unguarded, compromising the safety of neighboring homes.

Second, the LICH parking garage at 352 Hicks Street has been unlawfully converted from an “accessory” parking facility into a public parking garage. As you well know, LICH obtained the support of the community and its elected officials for the de-mapping of Van Voorhees Park for the sole purpose of providing accessory parking for medical staff and visitors, as is stated in City Planning Commission decision referenced in the garage certificate of occupancy. It is fair to say that this deeded parkland would never have been exchanged for a public for-profit parking garage. This unlawful use must cease immediately.

Lastly, as you must know, the development and maintenance of the LICH site is governed in part by the Agreement between LICH and the CHA dated January 1984, as amended on May 29, 1987, and by an Agreement dated May 29, 1987 (copies attached), as well as agreements with the NYC Parks Department. As successors and assigns of LICH, we expect you to proceed in accordance with these agreements in all respects.

Our demands are simple – we ask that you conduct your activities on the LICH site in a manner that is both lawful and safe for community residents and in accordance with the agreements concerning this site.

Sincerely,
The Cobble Hill Association

First Fortis Conversion: Polhemus Building to Landmarks Hearing

Dear Cobble Hill,

Tomorrow morning, Tuesday, September 8th, proposed alterations to the Polhemus Building, 350 Henry Street, will come before the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). This is the first LICH building to be converted to residential use by the developer, Fortis, and one of the very few LICH structures governed by landmark status.

The hearing is open to the public and attendees need to be at 1 Centre Street, 9th Floor, Manhattan, by 9:30 am.

Here is a link to the architect’s plans:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/presentation-materials/9_8_2015/350_Henry_Street.pdf

I am as sorry as you are about the short notice. I just discovered it was on the calendar for tomorrow. If you are able to attend, could you reply to this with a quick email? Whether you have opinions about the proposed changes to the structure or are able to make a show of community force by simply appearing, your attendance is helpful.

Then on Wednesday morning, there is an important hearing on a proposed change to NYC landmarks legislation in the City Council, called Intro 775. The hearing will take place at 11:00 am, September 9th, at City Hall, City Hall Park, between Park Row and Broadway (bring photo ID).

The Historic Districts Council states that “this bill…has the potential to affect all future designation activities of the LPC”.

If Landmarks and Historic Preservation are important to you, please read about the proposed changes and lend your voice in opposing this bill by attending the hearing or by contacting Brad Lander, our city councilman, at lander@council.nyc.gov, or by phone at 718-499-1090.

Here are just a few articles and posts about Intro 775:

Historic Districts Council:
http://hdc.org/blog/intro-775

Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation:
http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/preservation/intro775/intro775-oped.htm

Curbed:
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2015/08/24/controversial_bill_could_wipe_out_landmarks_backlog.php

September is off to the races.

Laurel Burr
Membership Secretary

The Cobble Hill Association Retains Walden Macht & Haran

Jim Walden, a nationally recognized litigator, has been retained by the Cobble Hill Association to help the community explore legal options regarding the proposed Fortis development on the former LICH Campus. Walden has extensive experience working on behalf of community and preservation groups over land-use disputes. Among his other matters, Walden successfully challenged of the Department of Corrections’ plan to double the capacity of the Brooklyn House of Detention. He also helped lead a trial-court ruling against a massive expansion plan in Greenwich Village (a verdict later overturned on appeal). In another matter, after successfully suing over the illegal conversion of parkland in Brooklyn Bridge Park, he subsequently negotiated a deal to add parkland to the site, while permitting a local theater group to develop part of the parcel. Walden was also then-Councilmember Letitia James’ choice to help her and community groups evaluate legal options when facing expansion of a homeless intake center at Bedford-Atlantic Armory. Walden brought all this litigation and negotiation experience to bear for CHA when SUNY sought to illegally close LICH. His work there resulted in a settlement resetting the RFP process to try to find a hospital operator. Before representing the CHA and other community groups, he was then-Public Advocate Bill de Blasio’s “go to” lawyer in that matter, and once elected, Mayor de Blasio aptly described Jim’s special skills: “If there is magic in the law, Jim Walden has found it because we sometimes seemed out of options. And Jim Walden would typically burst into the room and come up with a new option. And [those options] had the extraordinary tendency to work.”

Jim was the unanimous choice of the Cobble Hill Association's Executive Board.

CHA Response to Fortis' Current Plans

Here is the complete text of the Cobble Hill Association’s response to the Fortis As-of-Right and ULURP Proposals (as they were presented on May 18, 2015). This was first presented on July 14, 2015 to local elected officials including Council Member Brad Lander, State Assemblywoman JoAnne Simon, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Deputy Brooklyn Borough President Diana Reyna, Council Member Levin’s deputy chief of staff, Casey Adams, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez’s Brooklyn director, Dan Wiley, Brooklyn Community Board 6 and the Fortis Property Group development team. This was also handed out in printed form at the meeting held by Council Member Lander on August 6th.

LICH Meeting Recap

Thank you to all who came out to the first meeting with our elected officials and the LICH Developer, Fortis. While the meeting was organized by our local elected officials, the CHA turned out over 200 people with door to door flyer efforts. The CHA presented a strong community consensus document which outlined the major, as well as very specific, areas of concern. A video of the meeting will be posted on YouTube and made available here. We have requested that future meetings occur after the Labor Day holiday, which our elected officials are now working on.

More coverage of Thursday night's meeting:
VIDEO: Pros & cons for LICH site hi-rises aired in Cobble Hill 
- Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Controversial Conversion of Cobble Hill Hospital Chugs Along 

- Curbed NY

'Out-of-Scale' LICH Towers Will Overburden Neighborhood, Locals Warn 

- DNAinfo

Cobble Hill Locals Not Happy with Proposed High-Rise Condo Towers 

- Habitat Magazine

Announcing an Important Public Meeting for the LICH Development Site

Thursday, August 6 from 6:30 to 8:30pm

at the Brooklyn Montessori School

at 185 Court Street (at Bergen Street)

This meeting will include a brief presentation of the options put forth by Fortis, followed by opportunities for community feedback and discussion. All are invited to attend.

The Cobble Hill Association would like to extend our special thanks to Council Members Brad Lander and Steve Levin, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, State Senator Daniel Squadron, State Assembly Woman Jo Ann Simon, and Congress Woman Nydia Velézquez for all their hard work in decveloping htis process, and also to the Fortis Property Group for their commitment to work with the community.
- - - -
Here is Friday's press release:

July 24, 2015: NYC Council Member Brad Lander, Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, NYS Senator Daniel Squadron, NYS Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, NYC Council Member Stephen Levin, Brooklyn Community Board 6, and the Cobble Hill Association issued the following statement regarding the future of the Long Island College Hospital (LICH) Site:

“Local elected officials, Community Board 6, and the Cobble Hill Association are working together to involve the community in the future of the Long Island College Hospital (LICH) site.

Fortis Property Group, LLC was selected to purchase the LICH campus through an RFP process managed by the State University of New York, after it decided to close LICH. This process was staunchly opposed by elected officials and community organizations.

To date, Fortis has indicated that two options exist for the redevelopment of the core LICH site: (a) an “as-of-right” option, which does not require discretionary public approvals, which would include about 400 market-rate units, and (b) a rezoning or “ULURP” option, which would roughly double the number of residential units and include affordable housing units, space for a public school, increased park space and more small retail opportunities. A rezoning would require review by the Community Board, Borough President, and City Planning Commission, and approval by the City Council.

Both of the proposed options present development that is dramatically out-of-scale with the adjacent Cobble Hill Historic District, which has a height limit of 50 feet (in each case, the tallest building Fortis proposes would be over 40 stories). In either scenario, NYU Langone will also build an approximately 108,000 sq. ft. health center at the corner of Atlantic and Hicks.

We will continue to work together to ensure all of the community’s options are explored. This working group will help organize public dialogue about the options. It is not a decision-making body, and will not recommend that Fortis pursue a particular option. Rather it will organize forums where residents, businesses, and stakeholders (including the Brooklyn Heights Association and Atlantic Avenue BID, both of whom represent areas adjacent to the LICH site) can learn more about the various options, weigh in on Fortis’ potential development options, propose alternatives, and provide community feedback. All stakeholders (elected officials, the community board, community organizations, individuals, etc.) will ultimately make their own decisions about Fortis’ proposals.

Over the next 2-3 months, the working group will organize several open, public meetings where Fortis will present their proposals and consider feedback, as well as several smaller meetings with stakeholders to drill-down on specific issues including: urban design, parks/open space, retail/commercial, the health care facility, the potential public school, potential affordable housing, and traffic/parking/transit and other infrastructure concerns.

A public meeting will take place the evening of Thursday August 6 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Brooklyn Montessori School at 185 Court Street, at Bergen Street, in Cobble Hill. The meeting will include a brief presentation of the options put forth by Fortis, followed by opportunities for community feedback and discussion. All are welcome to attend."

Thursday Night Presentation of Polhemus Building Residential Conversion Plans

This Thursday evening at 6:00 pm plans will be presented to the Community Board 6 Landuse/Landmarks Committee regarding Fortis’s repairs and changes to the exterior Polhemus Building, located on the SW corner of Amity and Henry Streets. This building is the first one on the former LICH campus to be redeveloped for residential use, but Polhemus is under Landmarks and there are no zoning changes involved. Fortis plans to convert Polhemus into a 17-unit residential doorman building.

The architect on this building is BKSK, not FX Fowle who presented the overall plans for the LICH campus at the Cobble Hill meeting in May.

If you are interested in attending, the meeting will be held at the 78th Precinct, 65 6th Avenue, between Dean and Bergen streets, at 6:00 pm this Thursday, July 23rd.

What is ULURP?

One week from today, join the Cobble Hill Association for an important discussion about ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure). It is a key component of possible scenarios Fortis would like to see happen in Cobble Hill as they further their development plans for the former LICH property. Join the meeting to learn more and be able to make better informed decisions about the future of Cobble Hill.

LICH Development Survey Results

Dear Cobble Hill Resident,

I want to share with you the results of the online survey that the Cobble Hill Association recently completed to find out how you feel about a number of issues pertaining to the proposed re-development plans for the LICH campus proposed by Fortis at our recent General Meeting.

The survey was just one part of a community ascertainment process that has included block association meetings, two large-scale public meetings and extensive personal outreach to many of you. You will see-- especially in the very moving "Personal Comments" -- just how united and single-minded we are as a community.

While there is no question that change and development is coming to Cobble Hill, it is heartwarming to know just how deeply all of us care and how much we agree on what is important. That unity empowers us to speak with a single, powerful voice.

Thank you,
Roy Sloane, President

If you're interested in volunteering your time to aid the Cobble Hill Association with this ongoing issue please submit a volunteer form accessed below:

Volunteer Sign Up

CUP Presents Zoning 101 Workshop

Join the CHA and the Center for Urban Pedagogy for the Zoning 101 Workshop. The city's convoluted land use and zoning laws can be a challenge to wrap your head around. Which zones are residential or commercial? Why are there height limits in certain areas but not others? These questions are especially important given Fortis' recent proposals for LICH. Attend the workshop to learn the difference between what's allowed as of right, and what's involved in the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). The discussion is designed to leave participants with a basic understanding of land use regulations in New York and will not specifically be about LICH or the Fortis proposals.

The workshop will be held at 7:30 PM on Thursday, June 25th at the Cobble Hill Health Center, 380 Henry Street (between Congress and Warren Streets).

Daily Eagle offers analysis on LICH development

The folks at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle have published a very thorough article about this week's community meeting responding to the Fortis proposal for LICH development unveiled at the CHA's general meeting in May. In addition to presenting the 'need-to-know' facts, the article offers some important insights from CHA leaders. Roy Sloane and Jerry Armer warn the community to be wary of the ULURP option.

Sloane said this [as of right] plan was obviously designed to “scare” the community and thus encourage support for Fortis’ “preferred” plan, which would require zoning changes that could only be approved after going through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP).

Jerry Armer, former chairman of Community Board 6, pointed out that Fortis could proceed with ULURP with or without community support. He also said the city could proceed with its own ULURP plan, which would “probably be very similar to what Fortis wants.” 

You can read the full story at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Cobble Hill residents vow to fight Fortis plans for LICH site.