Locals Fight To Protect Botanic Gardens From Developer's Shadow

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — The fight against a proposed 42-story development, which critics argue will cast a plant-killing shadow on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, will heat up next week with several protests planned.

“We are fighting for our homes, our loved ones, our communities, and our Brooklyn Botanic Garden,” said neighborhood organizers from Equality for Flatbush. “We will not allow the real estate industry to use the devastation of our community and our Garden to enrich themselves for Garden Views.”

Volunteers plan to stand outside the Botanic Garden entrances for five hours on Saturday to rally support in their fight against a proposed high-rise tower at 920 Franklin Ave., organizers announced.

And on Tuesday, volunteers from Movement to Protect the People, a grassroots organization based in Brooklyn, will crowd into the Brooklyn Community Board 9's Land Use Committee meeting at the Carroll Community Garden Center to express their concerns to local representatives.

The battle to protect Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s sunlight began in October when developer Ian Bruce Eichner and Lincoln Equities Group announced plans to build a large residential complex near Franklin Avenue and Montgomery Street, Curbed reported.

Eichner’s plans call for six towers, which will range between 15 and 42 stories, and bring 750 market rate apartments and 750 “affordably priced” apartments to the neighborhood, said Land Use Committee chair Michael Liburg at a Community Board 9 meeting on Feb. 13.

But first the developers must get the Department of City Planning to remove restrictions on a 13-block parcel of land, rezoned in 1991 when BBG officials testified that a proposed 13-story development would cast shadows for "detrimentally long periods of time," city records show.

"If the Department of City Planning was concerned about 13 story buildings having a negative effect upon the Brooklyn Botanic Garden," Unity for Flatbush organizers wrote in their call to action on Friday, "then clearly 42 would be catastrophic."

“The conservatories are distinct ecosystems that are very sensitive to light and shadows,” wrote Movement to Protect the People organizers on the website's fundraising page. “We must fight for our garden.”

This is not the first time Crown Heights has fought to protect the zoning regulations on Franklin Street — Cornell Realty backed away from its development proposal in 2014 after facing backlash from residents with similar concerns about the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Paper reported.

Developers did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Outreach
Where: Entrances on Flatbush Avenue, Eastern Parkway and Washington Avenue
When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday

Community Board 9 Land Use Committee
Where: Crown Gardens Community Room 1185 Nostrand Avenue,
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden