Lefferts Gardens Rezoning Plan 'Could Jeopardize the Entire Community,' Activists Warn

Editorial note: The below article unintentionally misrepresented what the Fenimore Street Block Association was requesting from Community Board 9.

As of Nov. 21, when the article was written, the Association had yet to submit a zoning change application to the Department of City Planning. Instead, it was merely requesting CB 9 to co-sponsor that zoning change application, which CB 9 voted to do on Nov. 22.

The application must now be sent to Planning, which will evaluate it, and then send it back to CB 9 for a vote, as dictated by the first two steps of the city's city's Universal Land Use Review Procedure, also known as the ULURP process.

The below article has been left as originally written. You can find Patch's additional reporting on the Fenimore Street rezoning issue here.

By SIMONE WILSON and JOHN V. SANTORE

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS, BROOKLYN — The quiet row of two- and three-story homes along Fenimore Street between Bedford and Rogers avenues could be in jeopardy of being infiltrated by new types of buildings and businesses under a yet-to-be-revealed plan to "rezone" the block, the local anti-gentrification organization Equality for Flatbush warned Monday.

The plan was drawn up by the Fenimore Street Block Association, and has been certified as legitimate by the city's Department of City Planning — meaning it's now two steps into the six-step process, known as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP process, necessary to rezone a street, area or neighborhood.

The next and third step? Approval from Community Board 9, a group of community leaders in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens who give recommendations on this sort of thing to city officials.

The Fenimore Street Block Association is scheduled to present the rezoning plan at the next general meeting for Community Board 9, which will take place on Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. at M.S. 61, located at 400 Empire Blvd.

Rezoning plans can allow for new types of businesses and buildings to be constructed in a certain area. Each neighborhood's community board typically gets the chance to vote on whether or not to back a rezoning plan that would affect the neighborhood. And although these votes are merely advisory, a vote against a rezoning makes it much less likely to be approved by city officials during the next five stages of the ULURP process.

However, as of Monday, the specifics of the Block Association's plan remained a mystery. A staffer for the community board told Patch that CB 9 has yet to receive the proposal.

For what it's worth, though, activists with Equality for Flatbush recently flagged the meeting on their Facebook page, warning that the plan "could jeopardize the entire community."

Imani Henry, who leads E4F, said he hadn't seen the plan, either, arguing that the lack of transparency was one of the reasons locals are worried about it.

"CB9 residents demand that a hardcopy of Fenimore Block Association's Rezoning application be made available to the public and include certain parameters that will protect the rest of the community before a vote is taken on whether or not CB9 should support this association’s application," the group wrote on Facebook. "Members of this community have kept the Department of City Planning out of CB9 for over 2 years. We must remain diligent and skeptical of those that have shown themselves to be disrespectful of 'public' opinion/opposition."

The activists warned Lefferts Gardens residents to learn from previous rezonings in Williamsburg, Harlem, Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights that they believe changed the nature of those neighborhoods — as well as "countless other rezonings and promises that went unkept."

On an unrelated note, at the Nov. 22 board meeting, CB 9 will also vote on a wine, beer and cider license for the New Era Restaurant and Lounge Corp., a proposed business that would be located at 366 Utica Ave.

Pictured at top: Fenimore Street between Bedford and Rogers avenues. Image via Google Maps